Bob Banghart, the Owner’s Rep for the New JACC, speaks to the Juneau Chamber of Commerce on Thursday. The New JACC could start construction next April, Banghart said. (Alex McCarthy | Juneau Empire)

Bob Banghart, the Owner’s Rep for the New JACC, speaks to the Juneau Chamber of Commerce on Thursday. The New JACC could start construction next April, Banghart said. (Alex McCarthy | Juneau Empire)

New JACC entering new fundraising phase

Organizers of the new Juneau Arts and Culture Center (JACC) are finished with the “quiet” fundraising period and are ready to make some noise.

In a presentation to the Juneau Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, three representatives for the new JACC detailed the fundraising process, the economic benefits of the center and the design of the building itself.

John Clough, one of the organizers, said the new JACC is about to become a reality and it’s time for the fundraising process to kick into gear.

“That’s why I’m up here talking to groups like you,” Clough said. “We’re here trying to get the word out about exactly what’s happening with this project because we’re about to start the active part of the fundraising.”

As of now, the organizers have raised just shy of 20 percent of the project, which is estimated to cost around $26 million when all is said and done. The construction project is estimated at $19 million. That construction process is slated to start in April 2018, Owner’s Rep and Program Manager Bob Banghart said Thursday. He estimated the construction process would take between 18 and 20 months to complete.

[New JACC ‘full speed ahead’]

Peter Jurasz, another of the organizers, said he hopes that the entire price tag can be covered through private donations instead of state or city funding. He’s “cautiously optimistic” that this can happen. Clough said there are chances for organizations or even individuals to earn naming rights with donations, whether it’s the whole center or the individual rooms. He said there are basically three prongs to the new JACC’s fundraising events, and with the quieter portion now in the past, the next two parts are about to start.

“We have this great chunk of money already from the ‘quiet’ part,” Clough said, “but now we’re actively working with naming opportunities, we’re going to be starting with our ground campaign in a month or two, which is gonna be at a more local level, probably for smaller amounts.”

At Thursday’s presentation, Clough presented a few studies that showed that cultural centers can actually drive economic growth. He pointed to the Arena Stage Theater in Washington, D.C., an example of a community growing as a result of a cultural center.

The McDowell Group, a marketing consultant in town, did an economic feasibility study into both how the cultural center would fare and how it would affect the community. The study showed that not only could the cultural center be functional, but could be “economically self-sustaining within three years of opening its doors,” Clough said.

Part of the reason for this expectation of growth is the high demand the JACC’s services. The JACC was in use for 352 of the 366 days in 2016, and 40,000 individual visitors attended the JACC for a show or other event (2016 was a leap year, hence the extra day). The current building, which was built as an armory in 1959, just doesn’t have the capacity to comfortably host that many people any longer, the organizers said repeatedly throughout their presentation.

With a new center, one that includes more seating and more venues, Clough and the other presenters see the new JACC would serve not only those who appreciate the arts in town, but the whole community.

“That’s what we’re looking for the new JACC to be,” Clough said, “an economic engine for Juneau.”


• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at alex.mccarthy@juneauempire.com.


More in News

(Juneau Empire file photo)
Aurora forecast for the week of March 25

These forecasts are courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute… Continue reading

The aging Tustumena ferry, long designated for replacement, arrives in Homer after spending the day in Seldovia in this 2010 photo. (Homer News file photo)
Feds OK most of state’s revised transportation plan, but ferry and other projects again rejected

Governor’s use of ferry revenue instead of state funds to match federal grants a sticking point.

The Shopper’s Lot is among two of downtown Juneau’s three per-hour parking lots where the cash payments boxes are missing due to vandalism this winter. But as of Wednesday people can use the free ParkSmarter app to make payments by phone. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Pay-by-phone parking for downtown Juneau debuts with few reported complaints

App for hourly lots part of series of technology upgrades coming to city’s parking facilities.

A towering Lutz spruce, center, in the Chugach National Forest is about to be hoisted by a crane Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, for transport to the West Lawn of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to be the 2015 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service)
Tongass National Forest selected to provide 2024 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree

Eight to 10 candidate trees will be evaluated, with winner taking “whistlestop tour” to D.C.

Annauk Olin, holding her daugher Tulġuna T’aas Olin, and Rochelle Adams pose on March 20, 2024, after giving a presentation on language at the Alaska Just Transition Summit in Juneau. The two, who work together at the Alaska Public Interest Research Group’s Language Access program, hope to compile an Indigenous environmental glossary. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Project seeks to gather Alaska environmental knowledge embedded in Indigenous languages

In the language of the Gwich’in people of northeastern Alaska, the word… Continue reading

The room where the House Community and Regional Affairs Committee holds its meeting sits empty on Tuesday. A presentation about an increase in the number of inmate deaths in state custody was abruptly canceled here. (Claire Stremple/Alaska Beacon)
Republican lawmakers shut down legislative hearing about deaths in Alaska prisons

Former commissioner: “All this will do, is it will continue to inflame passions of advocacy groups.”

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
Police calls for Monday, March 25, 2024

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

Employees at the Kensington Mine removing tailings from Johnson Creek on Feb. 17 following a Jan. 31 spill of about 105,000 gallons of slurry from the mine, although a report by the mine’s owners states about half slurry reached the creek 430 meters away. (Photo from report by Coeur Alaska)
Emergency fisheries assessments sought after 105,000-gallon tailings spill at Kensington Mine

Company says Jan. 31 spill poses no risk to Berners Bay habitat, but NOAA seeks federal evaluation.

Dozens of people throw colors in the air and at each other during a Holi festival gathering Monday night outside Spice Juneau Indian Cuisine. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Holi festival in Juneau revives colorful childhood memories for some, creates them for others

Dozens toss caution and colored cornstarch to the wind in traditional Hindu celebration of spring

Most Read