Gladish sets goal of going state-of-the-art

The Gladish Community and Cultural Center in Pullman is preparing to embark on a fundraising campaign to create a multi-million dollar performing arts facility that staff believes will drive tourism and support the arts community.

“Our goal is to create a beautiful, welcoming, easily accessible and modern facility that is better than any facility we have south of Spokane,” said Kristin Lincoln, marketing and development manager for Gladish.

Gladish is planning to completely renovate the Richard L. Domey auditorium, which was built in 1954 and is not adequate for the performing arts groups in the region, Lincoln said.

“It’s a beautiful auditorium but it is just old and it is not up to the standards that the community needs,” she said.

Lincoln said Gladish is working with a new nonprofit, the Palouse Performing Arts Fund, to raise $5 million through major donors, public donations and grants. Staff hopes the new performing arts center will be completed in three years.

There are several issues that need to be tackled.

Lincoln said the seating needs to be changed. The seats on the bottom floor are too low so when concerts are played there, the sound is directed above the heads of the audience members.

Gladish also plans to reduce the seating from 900 to 600, as the current space is too big for most performing arts events. Lincoln said she has never seen the auditorium full since the 1990s. Even when 300 people are in the seats, the space still looks empty because of how cavernous it is.

The acoustics need to be improved for the audience and the performers. Lincoln said it is difficult for musicians to hear themselves on stage because of the auditorium’s design.

The facility also lacks a heating, ventilation and air conditioning system. Lincoln said this makes it “pretty much unusable during the summer,” which is when the Pullman Civic Theatre typically organizes its children’s performances.

When it is cold outside, staff has to turn on the boiler system that heats the entire building. It takes up to 12 hours before the auditorium feels comfortable, Lincoln said. This is a problem for musicians, as cold air is bad for wood instruments.

The lighting and audience sightlines will also be upgraded. Staff also wants to build an entrance that leads directly to the auditorium from the parking lot.

Lincoln said the goal is to create a performing arts center that’s suitable, and still affordable, for local performing arts groups such as the Washington Idaho Symphony, the Pullman Civic Theatre and the Palouse Choral Society. Gladish also wants to attract touring groups to Pullman, such as a festival organized by the Washington State Community Theater Association.

“Our goal is to bring tourism into Pullman, to help support the economy of Pullman, but also help support our performing arts and really strengthen and pull together all of our performing arts so we can have a really strong arts community,” she said.

The symphony currently performs at Pullman High School, which means it has to work around the high school’s schedule, she said. Lincoln said Pullman Civic Theatre’s space is too small to hold a big audience or large number of performers.

“For the arts community here, this is huge, we’ve been in need of a performing arts center in Pullman for many years, many years,” she said. “The biggest struggle with being an arts organization in this community is finding a place to perform.”

Lincoln said another goal is to install a movie screen in the auditorium so Gladish can host movie nights. In addition to the auditorium, Gladish wants to modernize a smaller, 75-seat theater that exists in the building to hold smaller-scale performances.

Lincoln said Gladish wants to benefit a Pullman community that has always been supportive of the local arts programs. She said Pullman did not lose any of its performing arts organizations during the COVID-19 pandemic when shows were canceled.

“That’s incredible, and that’s due to the amazing public support that this community has for the arts,” she said.

She said the public can donate to the project through the Palouse Performing Arts Fund website, palouseperformingartsfund.org. They can also donate to Gladish by mail. The staff is also planning to hold fundraising events in the future.

Design West Architects in Pullman is the firm designing the new performing arts center.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.