The Schine's Theater project is a very large and important project for downtown Auburn.

This project supports the preservation and redevelopment of a historic theater, furthering downtown development.

This project also addresses the added component of enhanced tourism spending by providing a cultural destination in downtown.

The arts and culture, unlike many other industries, generates event-related spending by its audiences. Related commerce includes money for restaurants, parking, hotels and retail stores. Citing an Americans for the Arts Study, non-profit arts and cultural audiences generate $103.1 billion in revenue for local merchants annually, creating 3.1 million jobs. The findings also cite spending of non-local attendees as twice that of local attendees, demonstrating that attracting cultural tourists harnesses significant economic rewards when part of the downtown revitalization effort.

Non-profit organizations are also valuable contributors to the business community as employers, producers, consumers and key promoters of their cities and regions. Their spending was estimated at $63.1 billion in 2005.

The total national economic impact of the arts and cultural industry was $166.2 billion with this activity in the United States providing 5.7 million full-time jobs, household income of $104.2 billion, and local government revenue of $7.9 billion. State government revenue was $9.1 billion and federal revenue was $12.6 billion in 2005.

The Cayuga County Arts Council is seeking funds to create a visitor center for theater interpretation, council offices for arts services, a media-arts gallery and retail space, within the lobbies at the Auburn Schine#'s Theater on South Street. This phase of rehabilitation is the first component - a self-contained project within the strategic plan - to bring life back to this important, sadly vacant structure, and enable the people of Auburn, the county and all regional visitors to understand and support the renovation process.

The ultimate goal is complete renovation with a full range of programming in the arts - film, music, dance, theater and media contributing to Auburn's cultural nightlife, providing jobs and advancing the cultural health of the region.

When the theater closed, in 1978, it was converted into many uses. There was a video store, a nightclub and a music hall. Eventually, the auditorium was closed and all that was inhabited was the lobby. These all had mixed success and shortly closed. Its rehabilitation was halted for decades by antipathy and cynicism. The theater was allowed to deteriorate to almost a point of wreckage. The roof had a hole in it the size of a semi-truck. It sat vacant and for sale for years.

Lack of money, lack of perceived value, and lack of support had its toll. It was under the wrecking ball to become a parking lot, when, through the realization that this was a building eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and the State Register, it was saved. It was, in this, its most sorry state, purchased by the Cayuga County Arts Council in 1998.

Since that day there has been a very dedicated volunteer group, working against the constrains of their own professional commitments and the vastness of the rehabilitation costs, slowly advancing this project.

They have raised funds to replace the roof, reroute the drains, replace parapets, resurface and repoint the glazed brick facade, replace the sump pumps and put in electric, and begin the asbestos abatement that has kept the public and any volunteer efforts outside the building. They have raised nearly $1 million and donated as much in-kind time.

This is a new day. There are pledges of support from all of our senators, congressmen, and representatives. The Arts Council has support from the New York State Council on the Arts, the major arts funding entity in the state and has hired an executive director, a professional manager, dedicated to this project's completion. There are partnerships with our community college and local universities. We are a major component of the blueprint for a theater renaissance. We have, historically, the support of the county, the city council, the mayor and the state.

We most importantly, have the will of the people of Auburn who have waited for this so long. The theater is a reinstatement of a unique and genuine community identity which has been fragmented by urban renewal and the removal of many historic downtown buildings. As such it is a key component for any regional marketing plan.

We must see what we are and cherish our city and our history. We must provide jobs and opportunities for our children. This project addresses those issues in a functional and positive way. We hope for everyone's help and ask for a new spirit of cooperation to get it done.

Thank you sincerely for this opportunity to explain this endeavor more fully.

Harris is executive director of the Cayuga County Arts Council