Hoogland Center ?at a crossroads’

Springfield’s Hoogland Center for the Arts turned five years old Tuesday.During a small ceremony rededicating the downtown facility came a big plea: More financial support is needed.Many pledges made by donors five years ago to support the center are nearly completed, but the center still owes $3.5 million in bond debt.“We are at a crossroads,” said Grace Luttrell Nanavati, vice president of the center’s board of trustees and chairwoman of the operations committee. “We need our community to continue and renew their support to assure a home for the family of our arts organizations and the many benefits this facility delivers to our community.”When it opened five years ago, the center, which is at 420 S. Sixth St., brought together a variety of Springfield arts groups under one downtown roof. The facility houses 15 arts and community groups, and an additional 200 organizations use the Hoogland each year. An estimated 10,000 people visit the center each month.“Many of our arts organizations, because of the location right here at the Hoogland Center for the Arts, have been able to expand their programming and their services,” Nanavati said. “We have dance. We have drama. We have visual arts. We have music. … We have it all right in this building.”Representatives of The Roxy Group agreed Tuesday that the center gives it the ability to reach out to new audiences and help revitalize downtown Springfield.“It’s a beautiful, comfortable space for the audience, and that is fantastic,” said Scott Richardson, a producer for the Roxy Group, which will be performing “Christmas Wishes” Friday through Sunday at the Hoogland. “It’s pretty much state-of-the-art.”Mary McDonald, the organization’s costume coordinator, said moving from a theater in New Salem to Springfield has given the group an opportunity to reach out to a new crowd. The New Salem crowds often were comprised of tourists and Lincoln aficionados, whereas Springfield crowds often appeal to theater enthusiasts, she said.“We believe it builds up the city of Springfield. We want to basically provide the arts inside the city, and we too want to be part of the revitalization of downtown Springfield,” she said. “It gives us a lot flexibility to do some cool stuff that we can’t do in most other facilities.”However, McDonald said scheduling problems at the Hoogland sometimes make it difficult for her organization to cover its costs.“We would like to do shows two weekends in a row, and we can only do it one weekend,” she said. “Usually the second weekend is when we break even.”The building was constructed as a Masonic Temple in 1909 and expanded in 1960. A major renovation transformed the former temple into a community arts center.The Hoogland name was added to the building in 2004 after Kathleen and Charlie Hoogland donated $1 million to the endowment fund for the Center of the Arts.Nanavati said money is needed to retire the Hoogland’s debt, to pay for day-to-day operations and to “create a healthy endowment.”“Help us with this dream, because through the arts everything is changed and changed for the better,” Nanavati said.Deana Poole can be reached at 788-1533. 

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