Here’s the short version:
This summer, HUGE Improv Theater moved from its original home at 3037 Lyndale Avenue, to a new, larger space at 2728 Lyndale Ave. This has the potential to be amazing, but transforming that facility into a theater and education space is cost upwards of $750,000! We vitally need financial support right now to reach that goal. If you can help, please do!
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
SPONSOR A CHAIR! Individually or as a team, group, or family, make a $500 donation, and you can get your name or preferred dedication on one of the 125 seats in our new theater! We also have other sponsorship opportunities.
DONATE IN ANY AMOUNT! If a sponsorship isn’t in the cards right now, every bit helps! We’re thrilled to welcome donations in any amount you care to give.
HELP RECRUIT A MAJOR DONOR/SPONSOR! Might you, someone close to you, or the company you work for be in a position to make a major gift or sponsorship? We would LOVE to discuss the difference that gift could make, and the recognition we are able to provide. Email Managing Director Sean Dillon.
Here’s the longer version:
When HUGE opened its doors in 2011, it hosted around 50 performances and a handful of classes. The growth in the Twin Cities improv community since that time has been explosive, and in 2019 HUGE had over 700 class enrollments with long waitlists, and over 450 performances for over 17,000 ticketholders with numerous sell-out performances. It became clear that our current space could not meet the needs of the people — students, performers, and audiences — that we’re dedicated to serving. While the pandemic put a dent in those stats, we are already seeing steady progress back to that level of activity. We need room to grow.
In 2017 it also came to light that our current landlord financially supports extremist causes that are incompatible with HUGE’s values. At that time, we committed to ending our business relationship with that landlord as quickly as possible. While it was not feasible to break our lease, that lease expires in August 2023, just months from now.
So it is time for us to move. And luckily, we were able to secure a lease on a new space at 2728 Lyndale, a building that we had previously tried to purchase in 2019. While the financing for that purchase fell through, we are thrilled to be able to move forward with many of the plans we developed at that time, as renters. And the possibility of eventually purchasing the building outright still exists.
Because of pandemic supply chain problems, construction costs have skyrocketed since our last build-out in 2011, and it may cost as much as $750,000 to complete construction on our new space. And because we don’t own the building, many lenders have been hesitant to approve a construction loan to get the work done. And so we are depending on our own cash on hand, grants, major gifts and sponsorships, and lot of individual donations.
What happens if we don’t have the funds? We have to build out in phases. And the new space will look unfinished and only be semi-usable perhaps for years. In the long run, it will cost more to complete and will force HUGE to tighten its belt in ways that worsen our service to our community (higher ticket prices, fewer scholarships, less taking risks and funding programs that don’t pay for themselves). So we need help. And quickly — construction begins in May.
Thank you for anything and everything you can do! There will be further opportunities — to help us move, paint, etc. — coming down the line. But for now, unfortunately it is all about those funds friends.
P.S. - To all of you who gave to HUGE’s building campaign in 2019, thank you and we have not forgotten you! Those funds are sustaining the building effort RIGHT NOW. Those that gave $1000 or more to that effort will be getting a “brick” plaque on the walls of the new space as promised to commemorate your amazing gifts!