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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
<br />For years, many have been dreaming of creating a Cultural Center to serve the central and northern
<br />part of Orange County: a home for cultural events, plays, concerts, film, arts programming and classes
<br />for children and adults, community events, literary readings, and a gallery. There is currently no
<br />existing facility nearby Hillsborough that is large enough and still affordable for groups who have
<br />struggled to find space to host these types of events and classes.
<br />The Orange County Cultural Center (OCCC) will successfully fill this void by providing a
<br />conveniently located facility, dedicated for cultural events. The proposed space will be walkable to
<br />historic downtown Hillsborough, with enough flexibility to allow for performance as well as
<br />conference space, providing additional rooms for classes, art- related events, and other cultural
<br />offerings. The Center will benefit the economic vitality of the region by not only providing the open
<br />space and infrastructure to foster artistic and historic enrichment, collaboration, and education, but also
<br />by serving as a cultural incubator to spark innovation.
<br />The OCCC was formed by a core group of artistic, cultural, and educational organizations that
<br />recognized the need and banded together to create a new organization to address the lack of accessible
<br />and affordable space to fulfill the cultural needs of the community. Representatives from the Orange
<br />Community Players, the Hillsborough Arts Council, the Historic Hillsborough Commission (the
<br />Burwell School), the Historical Foundation of Hillsborough and Orange County (the Orange County
<br />Historical Museum), the Chapel Hill Orange County Visitor's Bureau, the Orange County Artist Guild,
<br />the Orange County Arts Commission, the Alliance for Historic Hillsborough, and the Orange County
<br />School System are all part of this `dream team' and are committed to making the OCCC a huge
<br />success!
<br />The OCCC seeks to lease 12,000 square feet of the historic Whitted building, the first floor of
<br />Building A, to provide long- and short-term rental space for cultural organizations that reside in
<br />Hillsborough and the central and northern portions of Orange County, and a performance space for
<br />both local and non -local cultural entertainment.
<br />The Center will offer yearly rentals of 7 unique studio /office spaces for creative professionals such as
<br />visual artists, teachers, musicians, and writers, and /or other cultural organizations. Two large
<br />classroom rentals will be available to provide hourly rental space for mid -sized events, including after -
<br />school and adult programming, black -box theatre, rehearsal space, and off -site conferences and
<br />business meetings.
<br />An auditorium that comfortably accommodates 250 to 300 seated people (200 at tables) will be
<br />available for hosting plays, lectures, dances, reunions, banquets, conferences, and other large
<br />gatherings. The OCCC will boast an on -site coffee shop and event bar, and offer gallery, exhibition
<br />and storage rental spaces as well.
<br />The OCCC Board will create interest in the Center and continuously develop community awareness
<br />via a variety of marketing communications tools. An ongoing publicity campaign will be conducted
<br />by developing relationships with news media representatives, writers and editors of local newspapers,
<br />arts magazines, and industry publications. Additionally, Board members will actively build local
<br />Orange County Cultural Center Confidential Page 4 of 30
<br />Strategic Business Plan (v.1.0) 9/8/2011
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