The Board and Staff of Diversionary Theatre hosted guests from Las Patronas, The Parker Foundation and San Diego City Councilmember Todd Gloria at the ribbon-cutting at the completion of the wheelchair lift installation project on Tuesday, July 14, 2009.
The new lift was part of a $294,000 project that replaced the 14-year-old wheelchair lift and brought the installation area up to current building codes and ADA standards. The lift provides access for elderly and differently-abled patrons to get from the first floor to the second floor theatre space.
Diversionary raised $171,000 in gifts over the past fourteen months for the project, including lead gifts of $36,635 from Las Patronas and $35,000 from The Parker Foundation. Las Patronas is committed to providing financial assistance to nonprofit organizations in San Diego County that provide valuable community services in the areas of health, education, social services and cultural arts, and to continuing our tradition of service to enhance the quality of life in our community. The Parker Foundation was founded in 1971 for charitable purposes leading to the betterment of life for all people of San Diego County. Former City Councilmember Toni Atkins allocated $12,000 from District 3 for the project through discretionary TOT (Transient Occupancy Tax) funds designated to each Council District. An anonymous donor gave a challenge match of $25,000, and the following Foundations each gave $5,000 each: Blachford-Cooper Foundation, Mandell Weiss Charitable Trust, Kenneth & Harle Montgomery Foundation and Price-Galinson Collaborative Fund. Community member Maureen Steiner also gave a major gift.
In addition to the lead and major gifts, more than 440 households gave gifts of $10 to $1,000 in support of the project.
The Board of Trustees funded the project with the $171,000 in these gifts, plus $25,000 from the theatre's reserve fund (Henderson/Ramsey Estate Gift) and $98,000 from the refinancing of the mortgage when the Theatre took ownership of the building in January 2007.
According to Board President Mary Stockton, "Fritz Klein gave us an extraordinary gift of the building. The building had a mortgage, and we knew that some repairs would have to happen to bring some components up to code, so when we refinanced the mortgage, we planned ahead to accommodate the costs of these repairs."
Started in 1986, the mission of Diversionary Theatre is to produce plays with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender themes that portray characters in their complexity and diversity both historically and contemporarily. Diversionary presents six mainstage shows per year, plus special events, many of which are collaborative events with other arts and LGBT organizations. The 2009-2010 annual operating budget is $535,000, with 43% coming from ticket sales; 39% coming from individual contributions, foundation grants, fundraising events and from the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture; and 18% comes from rental and miscellaneous income. Diversionary owns the building at 4545 Park Boulevard, but carries a $576,000 mortgage. More information on Diversionary is available at
www.diversionary.org.
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