Gowanda Organization Secures Grant from Preservation League

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Gowanda's Historic Hollywood Theater.

ALBANY, NY (08/10/2012)(readMedia)-- The Preservation League of New York State has awarded a $3,000 Technical Assistance Grant to Gowanda's Historic Hollywood Theater in Gowanda. The grant will support the completion of a feasibility and reuse study for the 1926 National Register-listed theater.

Located in the heart of the downtown district, the historic theater has been undergoing a phased rehabilitation for nearly a decade. Built to accommodate 990 people, the original seats were removed and stored for future use. Public events, from summer youth theater productions to a regional film festival, use folding chairs from the fire department. Gowanda's Historic Hollywood Theater, Ltd., a 501c3 corporation, plans to renovate the theater as a regional center for the visual and performing arts, movies, concerts and live entertainment.

Flynn Battaglia Architects of Buffalo will complete the study, which will address how best to meet state- and federally-mandated accessibility requirements, design a new seating plan and determine how some of the historic seats can be restored and re-installed.

The Preservation League of New York State launched the Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) program in 2012 to support discrete projects that preserve New York State's cultural and historic resources. Grants of up to $3,000 are available to not-for-profit arts and cultural groups and municipalities managing historic sites, museums, arts facilities and other culturally important institutions that are located in historic buildings and structures open to the public.

"In a very competitive grant round, applicants sought funds for technical studies carried out by preservation and design professionals which included building conditions surveys, engineering and structural analyses, and feasibility and reuse studies," said Tania Werbizky, the League's Regional Director of Technical and Grant Programs in western New York. "The Preservation League is delighted to help advance the preservation efforts of Gowanda's Historic Hollywood Theater with this grant."

The first of two grant rounds in 2012 awarded $19,495 to seven projects in seven counties. Each grant recipient must provide a $500 match.

According to Mark Burr, President of Gowanda's Historic Hollywood Theater, Ltd., "This grant brings us another step closer to completing our restoration project. We are very grateful to the Preservation League for recognizing and supporting our efforts."

The Preservation League of New York State is a private, not-for-profit organization that works to protect and enhance the Empire State's historic buildings, landscapes and neighborhoods. The Technical Assistance Grant Program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

"The TAG program builds on the track record of excellence the League has established with the similarly NYSCA-funded Preserve New York Grant program," said Jay DiLorenzo, President of the Preservation League. "Our TAG program fills a significant funding gap. It is tailored to provide support to worthy projects in New York that are ineligible for grants from other sources, or may not have the scope or scale to compete at regional and national levels."

Organizations and municipalities receiving TAG support in the first funding round of 2012 are: Albany County: Shaker Heritage Society; Cattaraugus County: Gowanda's Historic Hollywood Theater; Delaware County: Hanford Mills Museum; Rockland County: Garnerville Arts Project; Tioga County: Newark Valley Historical Society; Tompkins County: Trumansburg Conservatory of the Fine Arts; Wayne County: Village of Palmyra.

For more information on the League's Technical Assistance Grant program, please call 518-462-5658 or visit the League's website at www.preservenys.org.