FCAC - Franklin Cultural Arts Center

FAQ

Where will the Franklin Cultural Arts Center be located?

We are primarily looking at the new retail development area, Fountains of Franklin, on Rawson Ave. We like the proximity to the planned retail stores and restaurants in this development. However, we are keeping our options open and evaluating other locations.

How much will it cost?

Estimated cost is over $20 million, including construction and the land purchase.

When sufficient funds are raised, we will hire a professional architectural firm to review the conceptual design with an eye towards cost and functionality. Our goal is to reduce the estimated cost without affecting our goals.

How much have you raised so far?

Our efforts to date have been aimed at building friends not funds. We understand that a Cultural Arts Center requires multiple levels of community support. We are just beginning our efforts to raise start-up funds before initiating a capital campaign.

How will the Franklin Cultural Arts Center be funded?

Our goal is to construct the facility with private donations and grant funding. No property taxes will go towards the construction or operation of the facility. We are looking for ways to cooperatively work with the school districts and local units of government to fulfill their needs for community, school group performance and general meeting spaces for which there would be a fee.

What about after it's built? Will it become a burden on the taxpayers?

No. Our proposed multi-use banquet facility will be a major revenue center for the FCAC. Banquet halls in our area are often booked far in advance. (Example: Oak Creek Community Center�s banquet halls are booked two years in advance.)

We also see activities such as professional performance venues and arts & education outreach programs as major revenue streams. (The Sharon Lynne Wilson Center experiences success with these types of activities.)

The FCAC will be a much sought after destination for rental space.

Who will use the facility?

The FCAC intends to have multiple tenant partners who will have their permanent home in the facility. Groups such as dance studios, community theater, music and other arts & education organizations will conduct educational outreach programs at the Center.

As the largest free-standing performing arts center in the greater suburban Milwaukee area, we will attract high-end regional performing groups such as the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and national-touring performing arts groups. Additionally, community service organizations will be active partner tenants in the facility.

We want to work closely with the school district in a mutually beneficial relationship (patterned after the Sharon Lynn Wilson Center in Brookfield). That means instead of the schools, and ultimately the taxpayers, bearing the expense of constructing, staffing and maintaining a facility attached to the schools, they would only pay a use fee for a contractually specified number of days (much like a time-share).

We believe it is far more cost effective to build a central multi-use facility to be used and supported by the greater community than to build a facility primarily used only by the schools. (For example, in Brookfield, the school district pays an annual fee of $150,000 for 100 days use, far less than the annual cost of staffing and heating a facility.)

Does the Franklin Cultural Arts Center only serve Franklin?

The Franklin Cultural Arts Center will be a regional attraction serving the needs of over 500,000 people who live within a 15 minute drive of our proposed site. Communities such as Greendale, Greenfield, Hales Corners, Muskego, New Berlin, Oak Creek, Raymond, and others will all benefit from the Center.

Is "Franklin Cultural Arts Center" the official name?

The Franklin Cultural Arts Center is our "working name." We are currently seeking major donors who will be granted naming rights to the facility.

When do you plan on opening the facility?

With the support of key stake holders, in the spring of 2011.

What community needs will the center fill?

A group of parents banded together to form the FCAC to address the lack of an auditorium in the Franklin schools. Currently performances take place in a converted cafeteria. One referendum which included an auditorium has already failed. We offer a low cost alternative to this problem.

The city needs a senior center and the FCAC will be well suited to fill that void. The Center will provide educational outreach programs for young and old (we envision services such as art therapy), and will be home to community theater groups as well as a wide range of service organizations.

We believe that it would be wasteful for the city and the school district to construct separate community and senior centers and an auditorium. Why not unite them all under one roof?