By Greg Halbleib
BLOOMINGTON – The Bloomington City Council has agreed to let the city’s parks and recreation department get creative with funding the Creativity Center.
The center is located a block north of the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts and is owned by the city. About $1 million has been raised to convert the facility for arts education activities, including music and theater, but $5 million is needed to complete the plans. Assistant City Manager Steve Rasmussen said the council has agreed to let the parks department work on the rest.
“They (parks department) said they will work with private donors to raise the rest of the money to create the center as it was designed,” Rasmussen told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin, “if then the city would take care of the ongoing maintenance on it.”
Rasmussen said work on the center can be done in stages as funds are raised.
“For example, if you raise a little bit of money for the little theater, you can build that room and begin using it,” Rasmussen added. “You don’t have to have the dance studio completed to do that. We can do them one at a time.”
The Creativity Center already houses offices for the Center for the Performing Arts.
Greg Halbleib can be reached at greg@wjbc.com.
