ORLANDO -- The Orlando Performing Arts Center Corp. has hired Community Counselling Services Co. Inc. of New York City to do a feasibility study on raising millions of dollars for a downtown multi-use performing arts complex.

It's a pivotal step in proving not only that the long-desired complex can become a reality, but also that it can sustain itself financially.

The Orlando Performing Arts Center Corp. is working to put together a detailed proposal for the downtown performing arts complex by the end of March to present to Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty. At that meeting, the group will ask for the public land and money it needs and tell the mayors about the private resources it can come up with itself for the project.
Cadillac vs. Chevy

That's why it's important to express exactly what is needed to create a great performing arts center, said Jim Pugh, president and chairman of the Orlando Performing Arts Center, at a Dec. 1 board meeting. "We don't want a Chevrolet if we can afford a Cadillac."

Community Counselling Services was selected to do the feasibility study because the firm is "very innovative and creative," explained Rita Bornstein, fundraising committee adviser for the arts group, at the board meeting. "I've never seen fundraising materials like these."

In order to do the feasibility study, Community Counselling Services will assign a leadership team to the project, says Orlando Performing Arts Center Executive Director Kathy Ramsberger. One of those team members will work out of the arts center office in downtown Orlando, she adds.

The feasibility study will start immediately and should be done by the end of March, says Ramsberger. It will show exactly how much money is needed to build the arts complex and where that money will come from, she says.

Founded in 1947, Community Counselling Services is a fundraising firm for cultural institutions, schools, charities, medical centers, religious organizations, and civic and human service agencies.

Some of its cultural projects include the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York, the Children's Museum of Los Angeles, the Nashville Symphony Association and the Michigan Opera Theatre.

Community Counselling Services has offices in New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Detroit, Seattle, Toronto, London, Dublin, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
Ready to take off

Meanwhile, the Orlando Performing Arts Center is in negotiations with its top pick for an architect and a master planning firm to work on the project, says Ramsberger. The candidates include: Rafael Vinoly Architects, Robert A.M. Stern, Arquitectonica, Barton Myers Associates, Pei Cobb Freed and Ehrenkrantz Eckstut. Ramsberger declines to reveal which of the firms is the No. 1 choice for the job.

"We're looking at development opportunities on the site," said Chuck Watters, vice president of Houston-based Hines International, the development partner of the arts center, at the Dec. 1 board meeting. "We need to get an architect and planner on board and start putting these pieces together to make it economically successful."

In addition, the fact that the University of Central Florida might pull out of the project will not cause the dream to die, said Pugh at the board meeting. He pointed out that if the school backs out, it will leave room for for-profit endeavors, such as a hotel, which would help sustain the arts complex financially.

In fact, Pugh believes the project will only continue to move forward. "This spaceship is about to take off in the next three months," he said. "We are on the cusp of making history."