Editor’s Note: The incoming foundation board for the Newhall Family Theatre is expected to create its own meeting dates and times during its formation.
The Newhall Family Theatre for the Performing Arts will soon have the backing of a nonprofit foundation and board to support and enhance the newly-renovated theatre at Newhall Elementary School.
Tentatively named the Raising the Curtain Foundation, the nonprofit will support the theatre’s programs and enhance its fundraising.
“It’s really going to support the different types of programming we can bring to the theatre and help staff those events, as well as fundraising to help support those events and programs,” Newhall Family Theatre for the Performing Arts Manager Thomas Lund said of the foundation.
In addition to forming the foundation, the Newhall Family Theater is hoping to install seven to nine people who are experienced with nonprofit organizations, small business, public education and/or the entertainment industry to its Board of Directors.
“I think that it’s really going to get the dedication that this type of venture requires,” Lund said. “I’m hoping that we get the people that are really supportive of the arts, and arts specifically for elementary kids.”
Community members interested in applying for a seat on the nonprofit’s founding Board of Directors can obtain a candidate questionnaire by calling Lund via email at [email protected]. Questionnaires must be completed and returned by Jan. 26 for a candidate to be considered.
“I have deadline as Jan. 26 so we’ll probably review them during the last week of January and look to install the first week of February,” Lund said.
According to Lund, the foundation’s founding board is expected to determine the board’s meeting frequency and times, and determine each member’s term length.
In March 2016, the Newhall School District broke ground on renovations to the 529-seat family theatre. The $4.8 million renovations improved the theatre’s acoustics and audio-visual capabilities, expanded the stage, renovated the lobby and added a new outdoor patio area.
This is the first time the art-deco style theatre has been updated since it was originally built in 1941.
The theatre served as Newhall Elementary School’s auditorium and as a community resource until the 1970s when it was converted to storage space to satisfy the state’s space usage requirements for schools.
It remained a warehouse for approximately 40 years before community advocates worked to restore the theatre as a performance and gathering space.
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