CITY TO HELP COLLEGE BUILD 950-SEAT VENUE.

Byline: Angela M. Lemire Staff Writer

A new partnership between the city and College of the Canyons drew a standing ovation this week when the City Council kicked in $2.4 million toward a new state-of-the-art theatrical auditorium at the campus that would be shared with the community.

The Santa Clarita council's decision Tuesday night to budget $800,000 annually for the next three years toward the project enables College of the Canyons to expand its current design plans by 400 seats and creates the city's largest indoor venue for public performances and conferences.

``There's a tremendous need in the community for this,'' Rick Putnam, the city's Parks and Recreation Department planner, said Wednesday. ``The cultural arts master plan that the city adopted in December specifically outlined the need for such a facility.''

The partnership entitles the city to a 40 percent usage of the college's proposed 950-seat auditorium for professional musical and theatrical performances, conferences, seminars, and major holiday season productions, as well as a variety of other community uses, Putnam said.

City officials envisioned that a suitable venue to host cultural events would be built eventually, but had foreseen it occurring in the distant future, he said.

``We never thought something like this would come so quickly because money was the main issue . . . suddenly, here was an opportunity to commit $2.4 million, rather than $16 million for such a project,'' Putnam added.

The city would have no financial obligation toward the facility beyond its three-year investment, Putnam said.

Discussions and planning between the two groups moved quickly in the past two months, especially when the governor on June 28 appropriated $542,000 in next year's budget toward the design and construction of a state-of-the-art 450-seat auditorium for $14.2 million off Rockwell Canyon Road.

Coincidentally, parks planners had proposed in early June that the city offer the college an additional $2.4 million to expand the seating capacity in the plans to 950 seats.

Once completed, the facility also would include a 150-seat rehearsal space, scenery construction shop, storage space for costumes and props, orchestra pit, control booths, makeup and dressing areas, locker and shower rooms, administrative offices, practice rooms, lobby with gallery, ticket booth, and snack bar, according to College of the Canyons officials.

The extra accommodations for the additional 400 seats are projected to cost $2.3 million, but city officials rolled an additional $100,000 into its offer to fund public art to be displayed at the new theater, officials said.

``We took a good opportunity and ran with it in less than two months. We're just grateful that the City Council and COC board of trustees was willing to work together,'' Putnam said.

``It's pretty exciting,'' College of the Canyons spokeswoman Sue Bozman said Wednesday of the council's approval to fund the additional seating capacity. ``This partnership benefits both our college and the community.''

While the venue would create new possibilities for cultural events that the city or local groups might host, the facility also would enhance existing theatrical arts programs, such as drama and dance, Bozman said.