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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