The glimmer of hope that Paramount Theatre supporters were holding onto disappeared Monday with the news that all arts funding had been dropped from the state bonding bill.

Tuesday, May 09, 2000

The glimmer of hope that Paramount Theatre supporters were holding onto disappeared Monday with the news that all arts funding had been dropped from the state bonding bill.

The city of Austin had requested $550,000 in funding from the bonding bill for the restoration of the atmospheric theater, which would have been matched by city and county no-interest loans to the non-profit group renovating the 70-year-old theater on Fourth Avenue NW.

"Before we had been waiting with guarded optimism, but we heard from (state Sen.) Pat Piper (DFL-Austin) yesterday afternoon that all the arts funding had been taken out," Janet Anderson, president of the Austin Area Commission for the Arts, said this morning. "From what I understand, the governor’s office said there would be no arts funding."

While she and others are disappointed, Anderson is not going to dwell on the failure.

"We’ll just have to find other sources," Anderson said. "This is certainly not the demise of the restoration project. It simply means that finishing the renovation will take a lot longer, unless something unforeseen happens."

Already the AACA has been working 10 years on the restoration project. It’s taken many volunteer hours and donations to get the theater to the point it is now: every bit of the interior has been repainted, tuck-pointing done on the exterior, the asbestos out, most of the seats in, and it is once again, a place where music and plays can be enjoyed.

Funding options Anderson said the AACA will be exploring include challenge grants, private donations, and funding from the city and county.

"We’re hoping the city and county will continue to work with us at some level," Anderson said. "And you never know when there’s another Virginia Wilder out there," she added, referring to Wilder’s generous donation of $55,000 to put a replica marquee on the theater.

The AACA director and long-time volunteer didn’t know whether the group would pursue a grant from the state in the future.

"I don’t regret asking for this one, but it takes a lot of time and work," Anderson said. "We would have to talk to the powers-that-be at the state level."