HOLYOKE — Efforts to restore the 100-year-old Victory Theatre in Holyoke have received a significant boost: $250,000 in funding from the federal government’s American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA.
The money is part of $4 billion in spending that has been approved by Gov. Charlie Baker from the state’s share of ARPA monies. Altogether, the state has allocated $135 million for arts and cultural facilities and tourism in the commonwealth.
Donald T. Sanders, artistic director of the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts (MIFA), the Holyoke organization that owns the Victory Theatre, said he’s thrilled with the new funding. He sees it as a recognition by state officials of the critical role the arts play not just in enriching people’s lives but in generating income.
“I’m really happy that our legislators see this as an important project not just for Holyoke but our whole region,” he said. “The support has been tremendous…. It validates all the hard work we’ve done so far.”
The 1,600-seat theater, which opened in 1920, initially presented theater, other live shows, and movies before becoming a full-time movie house in the early 1930s. It closed in 1979, and MIFA, which presents arts events in different locales in the region, bought the rundown property in 2009.
MIFA’s plan is not just to restore the long-vacant theater, but to make it the centerpiece of an arts and community center that Sanders believes can be a linchpin for supporting existing Holyoke businesses and attracting new ones, as well as creating new jobs and increasing tourism to the area.
“One of the key parts of this project is that of social equity,” he said, noting that communities like Holyoke with large minority populations have suffered disproportionately during the pandemic.
With 1,600 seats, the Victory Theatre would also be the only venue in western Massachusetts able to host large-scale Broadway shows and other theater productions, Sanders said.
It’s a huge project. The estimated total cost is now pegged at about $54 million — costs have risen during the pandemic, Sanders says — with most of that tied up in construction. The rest would be allocated for staffing, an operations budget, education programming, and a “safety fund” of reserve monies.
Sanders says MIFA has already secured around $12.5 million in state and federal tax credits and other funding, and the organization may seek additional assistance through ARPA.
He’s also counseling patience on the project, noting that construction has to be complete before MIFA can secure its tax credits for the theater. “I think the wait will be worth it, not just for Holyoke but for the whole region.”
Other Valley arts and cultural organizations have just received grants, in this case from the Mass Cultural Council, which has provided nearly $149,000 to some 99 groups across the state for hosting festivals.
Among those groups are 15 organizations in the Valley, from Springfield to Greenfield, which have all received $1,500 grants for activities ranging from arts festivals to holiday markets to poetry readings.
The Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, for instance, was awarded $1,500 for its annual Tell It Slant Poetry Festival, while the Northampton Arts Council also received $1,500 for its First Night Northampton 2022 New Year’s Eve festival.
Other organizations receiving funds include the Community Music School of Springfield, Wistariahurst Museum in Holyoke, the Bombyx Center for Arts & Equity in Florence, and the Belchertown Arts Council.
In a statement, Michael J. Bobbitt, the Mass Cultural Council’s executive director, said even given the challenges posed by COVID-19, festivals provide opportunities for connecting people.
“This extraordinary group of festivals will create those opportunities, and I am thrilled to see that more than one-third of them are first-time Festivals grantees,” he said.
Steve Pfarrer can be reached at spfarrer@gazettenet.com.