New Headquarters Announced For Kentucky Shakespeare

Kentucky Shakespeare announces the relocation of their offices and operations, opening new headquarters in Old Louisville this May. The company is renovating and repurposing a vacant shell building at 616 Myrtle Street, steps away from Central Park. The move will provide an ideally located central hub for the company and a future community space. At the time of this release, the company has fully funded the first phase of the renovation project and is seeking support for the final phase to bring the project to its completion.

For ten years Kentucky Shakespeare has operated out of ArtSpace, a subsidized mixed-use development space for not-for-profit organizations on Broadway. With the sale of the building by Fund for the Arts Properties, Kentucky Shakespeare began an exhaustive search for a suitable and affordable space, evaluating over twenty locations.

Kentucky Shakespeare ultimately selected 616 Myrtle Street in Old Louisville as its new headquarters for office, rehearsal and community space, and costume shop. The warehouse next door at Aztec Flooring will serve as the company's new storage warehouse. This will allow Kentucky Shakespeare to consolidate all of their operations to one location, a first for the company - returning to its Old Louisville roots.

Upon completion of the final phase, the building will also feature a 4,000 square foot community space and rehearsal hall, where Kentucky Shakespeare's many education and community programs will take place, in addition to serving as a community meeting space and rehearsal space for local arts groups.

"Kentucky Shakespeare is a valuable pillar of our community, serving everyone with accessible and inclusive arts programs for 61 years," said Louisville Metro President and District 6 Councilman David James. "We're delighted Kentucky Shakespeare continues to invest in Old Louisville and is contributing to the continual revitalization of our sixth district."

Since January, Kentucky Shakespeare has been quietly fundraising and renovating the vacant 8,750 square foot industrial building at 616 Myrtle Street. The building is across the street from WaterStep and a ½ block from its summer home of Central Park. They anticipate the first leg of renovations to be completed by May, with more work to follow.

"This is truly a dream situation for our company and something we did not think could be possible, to have all of our operations - office, rehearsal, costume shop, and even

storage warehouse - in one location and in such close proximity to Central Park," said Matt Wallace, Producing Artistic Director. "We're incredibly grateful for these generous community members for coming forward to make possible. Our dear friends Charlie and Jenny Marsh led the way as cornerstone donors and helping with the process along the way. It wouldn't have happened without them and twelve other generous stakeholders who've come forward to support this vision. Emerging from these challenging times with ideal new custom-built headquarters, makes this homecoming to our roots in Old Louisville all the more special, setting us up for success."

To date, the company has raised $250K to fully fund the 2,600 square foot office build-out to physically relocate this May. Kentucky Shakespeare is currently working to raise an additional $50K by this summer to complete the costume shop and purchase HVAC for the back half of the building so that summer season rehearsals can commence in the space this summer 2021. Fundraising for the final phase to finish the rehearsal hall/community space and landscaping will take place over the next year with a summer 2022 target date for total completion. A portion of the rehearsal hall/community space will be funded through a recent grant from the Gheens Foundation, with the remainder of funds sought from individual community donors.

Kentucky Shakespeare is currently preparing for its return to live parks performances with the Shakespeare in the Parks ROMEO AND JULIET tour and the 61st anniversary season of the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival in Central Park.

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