There are two possible arts venues on the horizon for the city of Santa Clarita, but neither involve a large traditional performing arts space, according to a local arts and events official who shared information about upcoming plans.
A flurry of development is creating excitement for Santa Clarita, which realistically could see more than 9,000 new homes approved before the end of the decade: The current City Council is expected to look at the Valencia Town Center adding 2,200 units; Sunridge adding another 6,500; and several other developers looking to add hundreds of for-sale condo units.
One of the questions the city’s Arts Commission is working on involves what the cultural offerings would be for all these new residents.
Phil Lantis, Santa Clarita’s arts and events manager, said the city has a pair of new venues currently in the plans, with the two spaces envisioned more as cultural centers, as opposed to a large performing arts or theater space as a regional draw, which was previously discussed.
Just what those venues end up looking like is going to depend on the reports from a pair of consultants the city hired.
The first plan revolves around an arts space for seniors and veterans, which would take the place of the former Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center, Lantis said. The former center on Market Street officially becomes city property when Santa Clarita takes over William S. Hart Park from L.A. County, which is scheduled to happen in July.
The city will have a needs assessment for the property completed before any decisions about programming there are made, Lantis said.
“And then one we’re currently working on is the museum and cultural center plan, which has consultants working on a feasibility study for that,” Lantis said, “and I’m hoping it will wrap up very shortly, in the next month or two, to have proposals for that and what that could look like.”
Those two venues are the priorities the city has identified, which are being worked on in conjunction with a new arts master plan, he said.
“We have hired consultants for the development of a new arts plan, and they’ll be coming to town later this month for their first ‘discovery visit,’ is what they call it,” he said. “They’ll lead the process, but definitely the Arts Commission will be a large part of that, as well as the community.”
The city’s previous arts master plan was approved in 2016. The City Council then commissioned a study in 2017 that looked at the potential for an “amphitheater feasibility study,” which came back with a few options in 2018, but none ultimately deemed feasible.
Some of the venue discussion has been spurred by speculation about plans for Sunridge, the centrally located Santa Clarita Valley property with nearly 1,000 acres of land — larger than the 843-acre Central Park in New York, according to Mayor Bill Miranda.
Two of the locations looked at in the 2018 study involved the Sunridge property, but neither was deemed feasible.
John Musella, a spokesman for Sunridge’s developer, New Urban West, said in a phone interview Thursday there are a few options being looked for the property.
“We are looking at including small, outdoor gathering places that could be integrated into park and recreation spaces to accommodate local outdoor music opportunities,” he wrote in a follow-up email. “We’re also looking to plan a large sports facility, which could host a variety of activities.”
That’s not to say there hasn’t been any discussion of new performing arts venues in Santa Clarita — in addition to the two on Main Street, the Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center at College of the Canyons and the Newhall Family Theatre.
A recently formed nonprofit, the Santa Clarita Theatre Center, created a website to tout its efforts toward a “community-based, collaborative project, developed by arts and business leaders of our community and composed of theater companies, producers, directors, playwrights, performers, patrons and sponsors.”
The proposed project would offer both indoor and outdoor performing arts space in one location, according to its website. A message to an email address for the center did not immediately draw a reply Thursday.
