The Danville City Council will consider a budget amendment to account for grant funds from the National Endowment for the Arts at its regular meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The funding would support a feasibility study and develop a business plan for a project to transform the historic City Auditorium into an arts and culture center.
The $40,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the largest funder of the arts and arts education in the country, would be matched by $40,000 in local funds, for a total of $80,000, according to the staff report in the meeting’s agenda packet.
The NEA was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent federal agency to advance arts participation and practice, according to the organization’s website.
Danville’s City Auditorium, on the corner of Floyd Spring and Spring Street, is an almost 100-year-old building that, until recently, housed the city’s parks and recreation department.
In December, parks and rec moved into new offices in Dan River Falls, a rehabilitated former Dan River Mills building that is now a mix of residential and commercial space.
The City Auditorium had housed parks and rec since the late 1960s or early 1970s, said Bill Sgrinia, director of the department. Its space constraints and lack of hot water and central heat and air necessitated the move to Dan River Falls.
The building also has a 1,400-seat auditorium and basketball courts.
Previously, the City Auditorium was the “principal public auditorium in the downtown area of Danville,” according to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. It provided space for public entertainment, conventions and sporting events.
During the city’s civil rights movement of 1963, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at the City Auditorium to a crowd of more than 2,500 people, according to the River District Association.
The city’s 2024 Arts and Culture Plan lays out a framework for publicly supported art throughout Danville and includes a suggestion to consider a renovation project of the City Auditorium.
“The city should consider dedicating the City Auditorium to local historical figure and vocalist Camilla Williams,” the plan says.
Williams, an opera singer who was born in Danville, was the first Black person to receive a regular contract with a major American opera company, the New York City Opera. She performed at the City Auditorium when it was used for shows.
The plan also suggests a feasibility study and business plan for a performance arts center or cultural arts center in the space, once it’s renovated, and a process to put out requests for proposals to attract developers to take on the project.
The budget amendment item to accept funds from the NEA for such a study is a first reading, which means that the council will hear it for the first time at Tuesday’s meeting. A vote on the item will occur at a later meeting.
City staff recommends that the council approve the budget amendment to advance the feasibility study and business plan process.
The council meeting will be followed by a work session.
Also meeting in Danville this week is the board of zoning appeals at 10 a.m. Thursday.
In Pittsylvania County, the board of supervisors and school board will convene in a joint meeting at 3 p.m. Tuesday. The board of supervisors finance committee will meet at 4 p.m. Tuesday, followed by a board work session at 4:30 p.m. and a regular board meeting at 7 p.m.