The Alaska Children’s Institute for the Performing Arts, known better as the Triumvirate Theatre received an award of $1 million from the Rasmuson Foundation after a fire destroyed the building in February 2021. The $1 million was part of a larger sum of $15 million that the Foundation Board approved in projects promoting economic development, recreational opportunities, educational programs for children and more.
According to a release from Rasmuson Foundation, the $1 million will be split between an outright grant and a 1-to-1 challenge grant, to help rebuild Triumvirate Theatre, which means $500,000 will have to be matched.
Joe Rizzo, Director of the Alaska Children’s Institute for the Performing Arts, told KSRM:
“Well, the board and folks that are involved in Triumvirate Theatre are very, very excited about receiving these funds. It really gets us into the realm of reality of being able to make it happen. Up until the point where we were just raising money on our own, it was just kind of a scrappy group of theatre folks trying to get this building put together. With this foundation funding, it really helps us in approaching other funders and get to the big number that we need in order to build this building.”
Rizzo says that between $40,000 and $50,000 has been raised so far since applying for the Rasmuson Foundation grant. In addition, he says they are applying for foundation grants that are in the $500,000 range to cover the additional funding.
If someone wants to donate:
“If people want to donate, they can go to www.theshowmustgoon.help and that will take them right to our account with the Alaska Community Foundation who is collecting online donations for us. If they want to avoid the donation credit card fee, they can send a check to P.O. Box 322 in Kenai.”
The new 7,800 square foot theater will be designed for live performances to seat 120 people with an actual parking lot in the middle of Kenai located near Walmart.
