LCRA, CITY OF BRENHAM AWARD $25,000 GRANT TO UNITY THEATRE

  

The Unity Theatre Company will buy two new air conditioning units with a $25,000 community development grant from the Lower Colorado River Authority and the City of Brenham.

The grant will help buy and install the new units and pay for ductwork in the Brenham Theater, which puts on four main-stage productions, two studio productions and a children’s musical annually, and offers dance and drama classes, as well as other educational programs.

“During the hot months, our old, large air conditioner runs constantly in an effort to cool the areas where we have students and patrons, and it’s still blazing hot in there,” said Kate Revnell-Smith, executive artistic director for the theater. “The theater has been in this building for 16 years with a single 10-ton unit to serve four separate areas, which is ineffective and inefficient.”

The grant will pay to replace the old unit and add another to the theater, giving staff more control over temperature and its budget. The theater building includes a studio, administrative offices and a costume-production shop. The theater recently finished improvements to its main stage air conditioning.

“Now we will have zoned cooling that will allow us to efficiently cool only the areas we need, so we are not pouring so much money into our air conditioning costs,” Revnell-Smith said. “Before, we had to wastefully run the air conditioner in all four areas of our building just to try to lower one room to a tolerable temperature in the summertime.”

Unity Theatre provides two productions a year and offers dance classes, a class for home-schooled children, a play-reading club for adults, and drama camps for young people.

“The play-reading club allows adults to get involved with their community in group discussions – we analyze and discuss the plays in depth,” Revnell-Smith said. “The programs for school-aged children give them opportunities to experience acting and play adaptations, and improve their public speaking, communication and team-building skills.”

The community grant is one of a number of grants recently awarded through LCRA’s Community Development Partnership Program. The program provides economic development and community assistance grants to cities, counties, volunteer fire departments, regional development councils and other nonprofit organizations in LCRA’s electric and water service areas. The program is part of LCRA’s effort to give back to the communities it serves. The City of Brenham is one of LCRA’s wholesale electric customers and a partner in the grant program.

Applications for the next round of grants are due Jan. 31. More information is available at lcra.org/cdpp.