The Arts Center of Corvallis has served as a cultural anchor for this community for decades. But as Corvallis has grown, our physical footprint has remained static. Our current facility at 700 SW Madison Avenue is too small, too inaccessible, and no longer capable of meeting the demand we see every day — from students who want to take a ceramics class, from artists who need an affordable studio, from neighbors who simply want a place to gather and create.

The Arts Center Expansion changes that. With the acquisition of the adjacent building at 760 SW Madison, we are undertaking a $9.7 million capital expansion to create a comprehensive community arts center — housing expanded arts education across six disciplines, affordable artist studios, and a welcoming public gathering space that Corvallis currently does not have.

When we talk to Rotary clubs and community groups about this project, three things resonate every time: community space, expanded arts education, and sustainable artist careers. This expansion delivers all three. It also solves a structural financial challenge. Our current facility caps earned revenue and creates operational strain. The expanded facility unlocks a diversified, sustainable revenue model — expanded class enrollment, artist studio leases, and event rental income — ensuring the Arts Center's long-term health.

Originally constructed as the First Congregational Church in 1889, the building at 760 SW Madison is one of Corvallis's most significant historic structures. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1981, it features distinctive exterior columns, an open balcony design, and mid-century stained glass windows that have survived more than a century of use and reuse. Its subsequent life as a mortuary brought decades of unsympathetic renovations — fluorescent lighting, commercial carpeting over original hardwood floors, and exterior modifications that obscured its architectural character.

The Arts Center Expansion includes a careful, historically accurate restoration of this building's most significant features. The scope of preservation work includes stabilizing and repairing the stained glass windows, restoring the exterior columns to their 1889 profile, removing non-historic additions, and applying period-accurate finishes throughout.

This is not a demolition and rebuild. This is stewardship. By funding this specific preservation scope, you are ensuring that one of Corvallis's National Register properties is not only saved from further degradation but returned to active, accessible public use — as a vibrant community arts center that will serve this city for generations.

The Arts Center of Corvallis serves thousands of community members each year — but our current facilities present significant physical barriers that prevent many residents from participating fully. Both buildings feature multiple floor-level changes and lack elevator access to upper floors, effectively excluding individuals with mobility challenges, seniors, and families with young children.

The most critical infrastructure component of the Arts Center Expansion is achieving full ADA accessibility across our entire campus. This includes the installation of commercial elevators in both buildings and extensive floor-leveling engineering at the rear of the structures, creating a seamless, zero-barrier campus for the first time in our history.

These upgrades represent a significant portion of our capital budget — and they are non-negotiable. An arts center that cannot be accessed by everyone in the community is not a community arts center. Funding this specific accessibility scope directly removes the physical barriers that prevent low-to-moderate-income residents, seniors, and individuals with disabilities from experiencing and participating in Corvallis's cultural life.

The Arts Center of Corvallis is a primary driver of cultural tourism and economic activity in downtown Corvallis. Our programs draw visitors from across Benton County and the broader Willamette Valley, generating foot traffic and economic activity for surrounding businesses. The Arts Center Expansion will significantly amplify this impact.

By expanding our facility, we are adding critical infrastructure to the local creative economy. The project creates dedicated, affordable studio spaces for local artists — allowing them to sustain their small businesses within the city center rather than being displaced by rising costs. The expansion of our arts education programs, adding printmaking, digital art, jewelry, and glasswork to our existing ceramics curriculum, creates new teaching positions and draws students from across the region.

The $9.7 million capital construction project brings immediate construction employment to the region while building a permanent economic engine for the local arts sector. The Oregon Cultural Resources Economic Fund exists precisely to support projects like this — capital investments in cultural infrastructure that generate measurable, lasting returns for Oregon communities.