WAITE PARK — U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar came to Waite Park to visit GREAT Theatre on Monday afternoon and talk about the federal funds doled out to stages, museums and theater companies that were forced to go dark by the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 220 Minnesota venues have received grants through the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant Program.
The funding came from the Save Our Stages Act, a law cosponsored by Klobuchar. GREAT Theatre benefited from the program and hosted Klobuchar Monday.
“We are using the Save Our Stages funding to hire staff, rebuild the organization and continue to deliver transformative theater experiences at the three venues that we perform at as well as in schools and throughout the community,” Managing Director Lacey Schirmers told the St. Cloud Times on Monday.
The Save our Stages funds have been used to keep venues afloat, pay employees and otherwise preserve the live entertainment sector.
Nationwide $8.7 billion had been awarded in Shuttered Venue Operators Grants as of Aug. 17, according to data from the Small Business Administration. That includes nearly $177 million in Minnesota for venues of local, regional and national stature, including First Avenue in Minneapolis.
Klobuchar said the program has been especially vital for outstate Minnesota communities. “If you have everything just in the big cities it’s not gonna work. To me it’s way beyond the theatre itself. It’s just about how we want to run our country and how we want to foster ideas and entrepreneurship,” Klobuchar said.
Here’s a list of local organizations benefiting from the federal program:
- Paramount Center for the Arts in St. Cloud — $563,000
- TBA Entertainment in St. Cloud — $148,000
- Cinema Entertainment Corp. in Waite Park — $10 million
- Great River Educational Arts Theatre (GREAT) in Waite Park — $468,000
- Owatonna Theatre in Waite Park — $3.46 million
- Rockhouse Productions in St. Joseph — $616,000
- Shaun Johnson Big Band Experience in Sauk Rapids — $39,000
- Quarry Cinema in Cold Spring — $235,000
- Main Street Theatre in Sauk Centre — $214,000
- Theatre L’Homme Dieu in Alexandria — $70,000
- The Barn Theatre in Willmar — $89,000
The Save Our Stages act became law with lobbying by the National Independent Venue Association led by Dayna Frank, owner and CEO of First Avenue Productions in Minneapolis.
GREAT Theatre has hired back all staff and added a few positions, Schirmers said. The company also benefited from Paycheck Protection Program and raised around $600,000 in the community through a challenge match program.
“We’re just really grateful to the community for their support during this time, really grateful to Sen. Klobuchar for her advocacy of the arts and co-authoring this funding,” Schimers said. “We look forward to bringing the community together through more transformative theater experiences as we continue on.”
