ALLENDALE - Officials at the Salkehatchie Leadership Institute are moving ahead with plans to implement a $357,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the renovation of the USC-Salkehatchie theater in downtown Allendale.

The grant was awarded in July of 2007.

Leadership Institute director Anne Rice says this project is actually the second phase of a full-scale effort to bring the arts, tourism, and economic development to the five-county region that the institute serves.

“The first phase involved the opening of the Salkehatchie Arts Center in 2006, which concentrated solely on flat arts,” Rice said. “The renovation of the theater will give us a place for the performing arts. This second phase goes hand in hand with our plans to stage community performances and storytelling at the facility.”

The land on which the theater sits is owned by the Western Carolina Higher Education Commission, which also owns land that encompasses the USC-Salkehatchie campus. The Salkehatchie Leadership Institute is undertaking the renovation project for the commission.

Although the theatre was renamed the USC-Salkehatchie Civic Center when the branch campus took it over, Rice said she requested that the original name be used when the Leadership Institute began the process to restore the facility. Upon completion, the newly renovated facility will again be known as the Carolina Theatre.

Rice said, “The Leadership Institute has already received bids from six architectural firms to draw up proposals for the renovation. A committee made up of members from the Institute, the Western Carolina Higher Education Commission and USC-Salkehatchie will begin meeting later this month to review those proposals.”

Mark Craig, director of budget and finance at USC-Salkehatchie, is responsible for coordinating the information received from the architectural firms for the review committee. Craig says the commission has agreed to kick in some funds for the theater project.

“The commission has promised to find some money to help out with the new construction on the theatre,” Craig said.

“It has agreed to provide up to $12,000, an amount that should cover necessary repairs on the roof. The review committee anticipates making a decision on which architectural firm will be chosen by early or mid-August. The USDA also has to approve the committee’s choice before the process can continue,” he said.

Rice says the facility has been allowed to lie dormant since the last state budget crunch in the early part of the decade.

“The air conditioning in the building went out, and there just wasn’t money available in the budget to repair it,” Rice said. “The town of Allendale has since taken out a false floor that had been in the building, thereby taking the interior back to its original audience seating that slopes down to the stage area. If all goes well, we hope to have the entire renovation project completed by the spring of 2009.”

Allendale Town Administrator DeWaney Ennis said the town provided work on the theater within the last year as part of the Institute’s matching portion of the USDA grant.

“The town of Allendale supports the efforts of the Salkehatchie Leadership Institute to improve this facility. We strongly believe it will improve downtown Allendale and add to the overall quality of life for our citizens through the enrichment the perfoming arts can provide,” Ennis said.

Rice said she and Leadership Institute staff assigned to the theatre project traveled to Colquitt, Ga. and Jonesboro, Tenn. to work with groups that are experienced in the style of performing arts that they wish to attract.

“We worked with the people at the International Storytelling Center in Jonesboro, which sponsors the annual National Storytelling Festival,” Rice said. “That event promotes the power of storytelling and its power to make positive changes. We also collaborated with a group that puts on yearly community performance plays in Colquitt.”

Rice said that there are big plans for the theatre once its renovation is complete.

“The Lowcountry Players of Colleton County and the Hampton County Arts Council have agreed in principle to come and put on performances here. The availability of funds will also determine if we can eventually use the theater to show movies to USC-Salkehatchie students.”

T&D Correspondent Phil Sarata can be reached by e-mail at pmhsarata@aol.com.

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