{"id":48828,"date":"2021-02-01T17:17:13","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T00:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/city-of-farmington-granted-additional-money-for-totah-theater-renovations\/"},"modified":"2021-02-02T00:17:13","modified_gmt":"2021-02-02T00:17:13","slug":"city-of-farmington-granted-additional-money-for-totah-theater-renovations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/city-of-farmington-granted-additional-money-for-totah-theater-renovations\/","title":{"rendered":"City of Farmington granted additional money for Totah Theater renovations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The historic Totah Theater on Main Street in downtown Farmington was built in 1949. The theater has been awarded a $135,000 grant, which will go toward new digital projection and sound equipment.<\/span>Morgan Mitchell\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

FARMINGTON \u2013 The Totah Theater has been listed as one of four projects to be awarded funding for revitalization from the New Mexico MainStreet and New Mexico Economic Development Department.<\/p>\n

Department spokeswoman Jessica Mraz released a statement saying $1.5 million was awarded to the districts in Farmington, Deming, Lovington and Truth or Consequences.<\/p>\n

For a project to be considered, it must be \u201can economic driver, demonstrate impact on the local economy, improve the appearance and functionality of the district, create connectors and engage local property and business owners,\u201d according to a news release from NMEDD.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese public infrastructure projects will aid New Mexico\u2019s economic recovery efforts from the COVID-19 pandemic because they create jobs, build confidence in business owners and incentivize commercial property improvements,\u201d Economic Development Secretary Alicia J. Keyes said.<\/p>\n

The project in Farmington, to which the money will be dedicated, is the historic Totah Theater.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Totah Theater is a historic gem for our downtown core,\u201d city of Farmington Director of Economic Development Warren Unsicker said in the release. \u201cThe ability to not only restore the structure, but provide it with state-of-the-art amenities that will make it an asset to the community, as well as the film industry, is an exciting opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a separate news release, San Juan County spokesman Devin Neeley outlined a few renovations taking place, including upgrades for Americans with Disabilities compliance, infrastructure improvements and equipment upgrades to \u201cmake the half-century-old theater state of the art.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the $1.5 million, $135,000 was granted from the New Mexico MainStreet and New Mexico Economic Development Department and will be used to purchase digital projection and sound equipment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is imperative to have fully digital equipment to be able to screen new media, otherwise you are stuck only screening old-run movies,\u201d Unsicker said in an email to The Durango Herald<\/em>. \u201cLikewise, if we hope to attract screenings, allow studio execs to screen \u2018dailies\u2019 or host film festivals, having up-to-date equipment is a must.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the news release from Neeley, it says the county and the city are partnering to support incentives to help \u201cbolster\u201d the local economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe film industry in N.M. creates direct spending in the state in excess of $500 million and climbing,\u201d the release from Neeley says. \u201cProductions in San Juan County are eligible for an additional 5% \u2018Out of Zone\u2019 tax credit, on top of New Mexico\u2019s already competitive incentives. New Mexico offers up to 35% tax credit.\u201d<\/p>\n

The theater will be a place for productions, screenings and have dedicated office space for production companies to work out of.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis historical jewel in downtown will be restored to its former glory for non-film uses also, like live music, stage shows and as a valuable education facility for local schools,\u201d Neeley said in the release. \u201cAdditionally, the state-of-the-art equipment will allow for grand premieres and screenings of local work.\u201d<\/p>\n

mmitchell@durangoherald.com<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

$135,000 will go toward new digital projection and sound equipment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[799,2661,28,2401,138,29,443,910],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-48828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-farmington","tag-film-festival","tag-headlines","tag-musical-theater","tag-new-mexico","tag-newsletter","tag-san-juan-county-new-mexico","tag-theatre"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48828"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=48828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}