{"id":49422,"date":"2021-01-06T17:57:23","date_gmt":"2021-01-07T00:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/farmington-hopes-for-starring-roles-with-ownership-of-historic-totah-theater\/"},"modified":"2021-01-07T00:57:23","modified_gmt":"2021-01-07T00:57:23","slug":"farmington-hopes-for-starring-roles-with-ownership-of-historic-totah-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/farmington-hopes-for-starring-roles-with-ownership-of-historic-totah-theater\/","title":{"rendered":"Farmington hopes for starring roles with ownership of historic Totah Theater"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The city of Farmington will take ownership of the Totah Theater from San Juan County after a grant-funded renovation is complete. The historic theater located on Main Street in downtown Farmington was built in 1949.<\/span>Morgan Mitchell\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

FARMINGTON \u2013 The city of Farmington will soon take ownership of the historic Totah Theater in downtown Farmington from San Juan County after City Council approved a full deed transfer and cost-sharing agreement at its Dec. 8 meeting via Zoom.<\/p>\n

The historic theater located on Main Street in downtown Farmington was built in 1949 as a movie theater, said San Juan County spokesman Devin Neeley, and then closed in the 1980s. Almost 20 years later, the theater was sold. Since then, the theater served as a live music and performance venue with an expanded stage to accommodate more than just a screen. While updates have been made since the original theater was built, some features such as paintings on the walls retain their original theatrical magic, with a Southwest twist.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe style of the building is as unique as its name, and with its fantastic acoustics, this gem is poised to be Farmington\u2019s central film studio,\u201d said Councilwoman Linda Rodgers.<\/p>\n

The name of the theater is a Navajo word meaning \u201camong the waters.\u201d The area where the three local rivers meet is also known as the Totah.<\/p>\n

While the theater is outfitted for live performances, the Totah still has remnants of the silver screen\u2019s yesteryear \u2013 more specifically the projection booth, which still furnishes a toilet and a sink for the movie master who, at that time in history, couldn\u2019t leave the booth during the films.<\/p>\n

\"From
From the back of the Totah Theater, rows of seats lead up to the expanded stage.<\/span>Morgan Mitchell\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The theater facility is three stories with offices on each floor, which Neeley said could be available for production companies to use while in the area, a space for screenings and high-speed internet.<\/p>\n

The county was able to secure a grant in 2019 and in 2020 totaling $1.5 million to be used to \u201cplan, design, construct, acquire, equip, expand and improve film studio facilities in San Juan County.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the last decade, the film industry has branched out in the state and has become a focal point for economic development. Neeley said the county wants a piece of the pie.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal was to spur some economic development in the film sector in this area,\u201d Neeley said. \u201cThrough a hired consultant, it was recommended that the county purchase the Totah as a studio hub and build a separate back lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neeley added that productions that work in San Juan County can end up getting a 35% tax credit. Hear that, J.J. Abrams?<\/p>\n

\u201cKeeping this beloved theater in our community preserves a part of Farmington\u2019s past while providing a stepping stone into our future,\u201d Rodgers said. \u201cThe film industry in New Mexico is an important economic driver.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodgers added Farmington has already been host to several movies, such as \u201cTransformers\u201d (2007), \u201cThe Lone Ranger\u201d (2012), \u201cA Million Ways to Die in the West\u201d (2013) and \u201cJumanji: The Next Level\u201d (2019).<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dream is that we continue to build on this industry by providing the space for national and international filmmaking right here in beautiful Farmington,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Once the grant-funded renovation is complete, the county will transfer ownership of the theater to the city.<\/p>\n

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

County to transfer building to city<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49423,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[246,799,28,138,443],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-49422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-arts-general","tag-farmington","tag-headlines","tag-new-mexico","tag-san-juan-county-new-mexico"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49422","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=49422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49422"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=49422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}