With its amazing abundance of arts-driven programs, concerts and curriculum, Sisters is strangely lacking in the dedicated performing arts venue department, with only the Sisters High School auditorium open to hold events of any size and significance. New Sisters City Manager Andrew Gorayeb is poised to remedy this situation with vision and determination, spearheading an ambitious proposal, named Project Mozart, to deliver a multi-use amphitheater complex in The Sisters Country.
“Where we sit today, from a business perspective, is that Sisters needs assets that are sticky,” he explained. “And by that I mean assets that will cause visitors to Sisters to stay. So from that standpoint we’ve got the trails, we’ve got the adorable western town, we’ve got the national forest and some great golf courses, but aside from a few seasonal events, we don’t really have any significant city-sponsored attractions.”
To achieve this goal, the City of Sisters has taken the first confident steps toward purchasing 11.5 acres within the city limits for this exciting new amphitheater facility and parking zone. The parcel of land is located on the southwest corner of Locust Street and Barclay Drive near the Sisters Post Office, extending west to Larch Street and separately, immediately north of Barclay Drive and west of the former Conklin House.
Their plan is to create a vibrant venue and welcoming artistic space that can hold up to 3,500 people, while being flexible enough to accommodate a variety of year-round events, including parking for up to 450 cars.
In their official release, the City of Sisters declared that, “As a gateway to Central Oregon, Sisters has a unique opportunity to design and construct this amphitheater as a representation of our region and all that it has to offer. Funding for this project will be raised from a variety of sources including sponsor donations, urban renewal funds and financing.”
According to Mayor Brad Boyd, the property is currently under contract and now the heavy lifting is about to begin.
“The City has put up a $25,000 deposit,” he said. “That deposit is fully refundable for the first 150 days – call it five months. We have five months to do our due diligence – sharpen our pencil on design/construction costs and, most important, fundraise.”
Gorayeb believes this is a first fearless leap of a long journey towards building what could be an amazing community asset.
“We need to engage the community in designing something beautiful and functional everyone can be proud of. But first, we need to raise funds to pay for it and I’m committed to working hard to pursue this council goal and help make this project a reality.”
The community amphitheater will ultimately be managed by the City through a number of to-be-formed community partnerships and alliances. The City has already engaged in discussions with several concert and event promoters and intends to maximize the utility and community benefit derived from this important new asset by attracting many well-known performers.
For Gorayeb, luring more commerce to town through enticing venues and activities is just one aspect to revitalize Sisters and increasing the number of lodging options is another.
“We also need hospitality venues for people to stay. Right now we have about 200 rooms for visitors and we need at least 500 to have a viable lodging base to support a viable visitor base. Creating an amphitheater venue with fun events supporting it is the action that we hope will compel and drive some investment in future hotel options. “We need to be able to make progress but we’ve got to start somewhere and finish.
The park at Fir and Main that we just won a grant for is going to be a wonderful small community asset. This amphitheater is going to be a HUGE community asset that will assist in generating revenue to contribute to the vitality of the town. Revenue generating assets that will pay for themselves create additional revenues for the town.”
Gorayeb was hired by the City to fill the position of city manager in April and he has a bounty of intriguing proposals on his strategic agenda to help energize Sisters. The native New Yorker was raised in Long Island, then moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, venturing into the real estate development game where he helped develop a successful shopping and retail center in the famed Fisherman’s Wharf area, as well as numerous other area projects.
Long known for its support of the arts through the Sisters Americana Project, Sisters Folk Festival and regional theatre presentations, a new city-owned facility could attract a wide range of future organizations, meetings, workshops and artistic shows. But citizens wonder why it has taken so long to bring to the table?
“The council has discussed this for the past ten years,” Gorayeb said. “When I came into this job they shared that goal with me but they were talking about putting it on the forest service property west of town. But because of the complexity associated with the U.S. Forest Service and the fact that the property had no views, we decided to go in another direction.
“This property is a natural location for an amphitheater, with ample room for parking, walking distance to town and unconquerable views of the Cascades. It will operate between appropriate hours and we will be sensitive to our neighbors. Sisters always wants to be a good neighbor.”
With a solid plan in place and conceptual drawings and blueprints evolving every day, Gorayeb feels he must get the initial thrust of the fundraising campaign finished by spring of 2014.
“Currently we need to raise dollars and we’ll be approaching major foundations and individual donors to support this important project, including state and federal grant money and corporate entities who support the arts. We’ll get there, I know it.”
