The Great Falls Civic Center building, which is home to the Mansfield Theater was built in the 1930s, under the Works Progress Administration. The Works Progress Administration was renamed in 1939 to the Work Projects Administration (WPA). The program was created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidential order and funded by Congress with passage of the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act on April 8, 1935.
The plush Mansfield Theater, located at the front of the Civic Center, showcases its historic elegance through intricate architecture and acoustics that are unrivaled in the state. The intimate 1,782-seat venue is adaptable for concerts, ballet, grand opera, road shows, country and rock music spectaculars, musicals, stage productions, travelogues, conventions and lectures.
Where your money will be invested:
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Seat restoration and redesign
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Update ADA seating and access
- Sound and lights
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Internet and other IT capabilities
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Dressing Rooms - Green Room – Rehearsal Rooms - Catering Area
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Equipment and storage
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Infrastructure
The Restoration of the Mansfield Theater will:
• Improve the economic vitality of downtown Great Falls.
• Provide an updated space to attract additional cultural activities for residents and visitors.
• Provide needed break out and flexible space for conferences and meetings. It will make The Mansfield Center for the Performing Arts a conference destination to continue our role as an economic for attracting visitors to Great Falls.
• Provide classroom space – for example, a Youth Choir could perform an evening concert, but need classroom space-for-the-day prior to the concert for an educational presentation. The renovation could serve this need and open the door for The Mansfield Theater to attract more educational enrichment programs.
• Rehearsal Rooms - are needed for current events at the theater. Addition of rehearsal rooms would provide an additional revenue stream when rented for use by musicians, dance classes and visiting or local artists.