Target donates $5 million toward Orchestra Hall renovation
Gift marks largest corporate donation towards campaign
Minnesota Orchestra’s Building for the Future Campaign
now reaches $82 million of $100 million total
(June 14, 2010) -- The Minnesota Orchestra announced today
that Target Corporation has donated $5 million for the
renovation of Orchestra Hall, marking the single largest
corporate gift towards the building project. The Minnesota
Orchestra has now raised $82 million towards a comprehensive
Building for the Future Campaign goal of $100 million—and has
surpassed its $40 million Hall renovation goal by $3 million.
Designed by Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects
(KPMB), the Orchestra Hall expansion focuses on a reinvention of
the venue’s public lobby spaces and creates a dramatic exterior
that better connects the Hall to the city. The project doubles
the available lobby space, adds exterior terraces and creates a
flexible new lobby space facing the Nicollet Mall—for which
Target will hold naming rights and which will be one of the
Hall’s signature gathering spaces.
“Target has always been an exceptional partner to the
Minnesota Orchestra – and, indeed, its support creates an
extraordinary foundation for arts access across this community,”
says Minnesota Orchestra President and CEO Michael Henson.
“Target’s leadership and enthusiasm regarding the Orchestra Hall
renovation is an important endorsement of our vision—for an
expanded Orchestra Hall in the heart of downtown Minneapolis. We
are thrilled to have this support.” The Minnesota Orchestra
received $14 million in State bonding support for the Orchestra
Hall renovation and raised an additional $29 million in private
funds towards the project (including the Target gift).
“Surpassing our $40 million goal offers us the opportunity to
add value strategically to aspects of the project,” says Henson.
“We will continue our Hall fundraising to enhance the quality
of the project while we have this extraordinary momentum. But
we now have the opportunity to focus more time on other critical
elements of our overall fundraising campaign, of which the
renovation is only one part.”
The Minnesota Orchestra’s $100 million Building for the
Future campaign comprises three components: the capital
renovation of Orchestra Hall ($40m goal), endowment fund support
($30m goal), and artistic and education initiatives ($30m goal).
“The rationale behind the Campaign is clear,” said Minnesota
Orchestra Board Chair Richard K. Davis. “It is imperative that
we tend to our venue’s renovation needs—and also that we build a
strong foundation to support the high-quality music making that
will happen within Orchestra Hall for decades to come. We are
thankful to Target and our other generous individual,
foundation, state, and corporate partners who have helped us to
raise over $80 million towards our ultimate goal.”
“Target understands that the arts help shape our children’s
academic success by opening their minds to new traditions and
points of view,” said Laysha Ward, president of community
relations for Target. “We are proud of our long-term
partnership with the Minnesota Orchestra and this recent
contribution aligns with the Target commitment to provide
opportunities for families to experience world-class music
together.”
The expanded Orchestra Hall is expected to open in June 2013.
Design schematics, which were unveiled by KPMB in April, are
available at
minnesotaorchestra.org.
About Orchestra Hall
When Orchestra Hall was built in 1974, it was developed in
two parts: the auditorium and the wrap-around spaces including
the lobby and backstage areas. The bulk of the resources at
that time were appropriately directed into the creation of a
first-class auditorium and acoustic—with budget constraints
causing project designers to create a wrap-around shell to house
the lobby, office and backstage spaces. Now more than 35 years
later, the building exterior and public lobby spaces will
undergo a major renovation that will double the available lobby
space, simplify circulation, add two exterior terraces and
create the City Room. Located on the Peavey Plaza side of the
venue, the City Room will flexibly accommodate a range of
catered receptions, dinners, performances and education
activities – and open directly to a generous open-air terrace in
warm months. “The expanded lobby will be one broad,
interconnected space, and it will feel more inclusive,” says
KPMB architect Marianne McKenna. “This project offers an ideal
opportunity to renew a great venue and recreate Orchestra Hall
as a wonderful gathering place.” The project will also include
modest renovations to the auditorium and backstage areas.
About Minnesota Orchestra
The Minnesota Orchestra performed its inaugural concert in
November 1903, just six weeks before the Wright brothers made
their first airplane flight. Now recognized as one of America’s
leading orchestras, the ensemble presents nearly 200 concerts
annually, heard live by 400,000 people and by hundreds of
thousands more through broadcasts produced by Minnesota Public
Radio and featured in American Public Media’s national programs,
as well as in a series aired by BBC Radio 3. The Orchestra
tours regionally, nationally and internationally, earning rave
reviews in the great concert halls of the world. It has received
many awards for adventurous programming and much acclaim for its
vast collection of recordings—including the complete Beethoven
Symphonies—which date back to the 1920s.
About Target
Minneapolis-based Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) serves
guests at 1,740 stores in 49 states nationwide and at
Target.com.
Target is committed to providing a fun and
convenient shopping experience with access to unique and highly
differentiated products at affordable prices. Since 1946, the
corporation has given 5 percent of its income through community
grants and programs like Take Charge of Education. Today, that
giving equals more then $3 million a week.
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PRESS CONTACTS:
Gwen Pappas, Director of Public Relations
(612) 371-5628 • gpappas@mnorch.org
Sandi Brown, Public Relations Coordinator
(612) 371-5641 • sbrown@mnorch.org
