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June 10, 1999
By Eric Swanson
A statewide association is trying to convince people that supporting historic theaters is good for their community. The Kansas Historic Theatres Association was formed a year ago to support non-profit historic theaters across the state and to convince communities to support them. The association's board of directors had a meeting Wednesday afternoon at the Dodge Theatre. The Dodge Theatre joined the association as its first associate member in March, said association president David Jenkins. "When I saw this theater and I met Mike (Burkhart, owner of the theater), I was so impressed that I came back and told the group that we had to find some way to get for-profits in there," said Jenkins, who is executive director of the Fox Theatre in Salina. As an associate, the Dodge Theatre can participate in all association activities except fund-raising. Membership will also allow Burkhart to exchange information and ideas with the other directors, he said. The association currently has 11 members, including the Jayhawk Theatre in Topeka, the McPherson Opera House in McPherson and the Orpheum Performing Arts Center in Wichita. Its directors are either the executive directors of non-profit theater associations or presidents of those associations' boards of directors. The members believe that supporting historic theaters is good for a community's economic and artistic health, said board member Doug Jernigan, who is affiliated with the Jayhawk Theatre. The association scored a major triumph during the last legislative session, when the Legislature approved a bill that helps communities redevelop historic theaters. The House approved the bill 122-3, and the Senate approved it 33-6. The bill allows a non-profit historic theater to estimate the amount of sales-tax revenue it will generate over a certain number of years, Jenkins said. The theater's directors can then go to local government officials and ask for that money in advance. The city can use whatever method it chooses to give the theater the money, and the theater will repay it with the sales tax money that would otherwise have gone to the state. "This is not a handout from the state. The state isn't giving us a cent," Jenkins said. "Nothing like this has been passed in this country for historic theaters. Kansas is the first." The legislation does not apply to for-profit theaters such as the Dodge Theatre, he said. |
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Movie House History - Classic
Theaters Of Kansas © 2007
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