City of Tracy Announces Grand Theatre Opening.

Weekend of Activities Open to the Public

TRACY, Calif. -- City of Tracy Cultural Arts Division announces a weekend of celebrations to observe the grand opening of the Grand Theatre Center for the Arts, September 15 and 16, 2007. The Grand Theatre Center for the Arts is located at 715 Central Avenue, between Seventh and Eighth Streets, in downtown Tracy, Calif. It will house the 560-seat ETK Theatre, a 120-seat studio theatre, an art gallery, a dance studio and eight art classrooms for City-sponsored visual arts, ceramics and music instruction.

Grand Opening festivities will begin with a ribbon cutting at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 15, and will be followed by tours of the facility until 3:00 p.m. There will be make n' take activities in the art studios and entertainment on both stages.

At 6:00 p.m. that evening, an Artists' Reception for the inaugural fine arts exhibition, The Making of an Artist, will take place in the Grand Galleries. Admission is Free.

At 7:00 p.m. Keith Arlen Lack, Purveyor of Fine Prestidigitation, will provide family entertainment in the Studio Theatre, followed by a concert by The Jeff Bordes and the Jazz Desperados with special guests in the ETK Theatre at 8:00 p.m. The Jeff Bordes concert will feature The Tank Town Concert, with two pieces composed especially for the Grand Opening.

Grand Opening festivities will continue on Sunday, September 16, with tours beginning at 11:00 a.m. A screening of Gone with the Wind in the ETK theatre will take place at 2:00 p.m.

"We are thrilled to invite the citizens of Tracy and the surrounding area to the Grand Opening of the Grand Theatre Center for the Arts," says Arts Program Manager Theresa Yvonne. "The weekend will kick off a whole season of arts entertainment and education that will take place at the Grand, including professional theatre, four music series featuring jazz, classical and contemporary artists, fine art exhibitions, and family shows. In addition, Tracy's Cultural Arts Division will be offering a full calendar of arts education classes for all ages and talents.

"In addition to the two shows on Saturday, we invite the community to step back into the old days of the Grand and attend the screening of Gone with the Wind on Sunday afternoon. Admission will be 25 cents, just as it was in 1941, and will include popcorn and a soda."

Tickets to the Jeff Bordes show are $50, $45, $35, $30 and $25. Tickets to the Keith Arlen Lack performance are $15 for adults and $7 for children under 12 years of age. Tickets to all shows will be available beginning August 22, 2007 at the Grand Theatre Box Office, 209-831-6TKT (6858).

About the Grand Theatre Center for the Arts

The four buildings on the corner of Central Avenue and Seventh Street originally included two early hotels, retail space and Tracy's original firehouse, constructed in 1900. The Grand Theatre opened in 1923 as a vaudeville theatre and centerpiece of downtown Tracy. Its Art Deco tower and marquee, which were designed by prominent San Francisco architect Alexander Aimwell Canton, were added in 1939. The theatre building closed in 1977 and was used as a storage facility for the next two decades.

In 2002, the City of Tracy purchased the Grand Theatre and the adjoining properties and hired the architectural firm of ELS Architecture and Urban Design of Berkeley, Calif. to develop a renovation design for the new arts center. McFadden Construction Inc. of Stockton was awarded a $12.2 million contract to build the center and broke ground in June of 2005.

Total cost for the Grand Theatre Center for the Arts project is $18 million, which includes acquisition of the city block and relocation of residents. The funding for the project came from redevelopment funds and contributions raised by the Arts Leadership Alliance. None of the money for the CIP (Capital Improvement Project) came from the general fund.

The Arts Leadership Alliance Gala Benefit on featuring Linda Ronstadt on September 14 is a fundraiser to benefit the ongoing programs in the Grand Theater Center for the Arts for years to come.