ROGER THAT
At an event held Thursday evening at the Sierra Light Gallery in Mammoth, local philanthropist Roger MacFarlane announced he had funded a $1 million endowment for the Eastern Sierra Arts Alliance (ESAA).
The donation was made via MacFarlane’s Tambour Foundation.
ESAA’s Executive Director Shira Dubrovner, who has produced theater locally for the past 17 years, said the endowment, and the interest it generates, will support the organization indefinitely.
The gift stems from a relationship forged between MacFarlane and Dubrovner over the past dozen years.
As MacFarlane joked, “Shira took me to lunch at the Side Door, and I was seduced!”
MacFarlane and his wife Ruth have owned a second home in Mammoth for the past two decades.
Mr. MacFarlane, a native South African, made his fortune in international logistics. “We helped industrial companies move product,” he explained succinctly for the benefit of the slow-horse reporter.
Now onto the future location of ESAA productions …
As MacFarlane said, he was greatly impressed by Dubrovner’s winter production of “Clue,” which she pulled off at Mammoth High School’s MPR.
“The staging was amazing,” he said. “Just imagine what she could do in a real theater.”
That real theater is coming to a town near you. And soon.
Town Manager Rob Patterson helped lay out the timeline/details.
He said the Town has reached a tentative agreement to purchase approximately eight acres from the Mammoth Lakes Foundation for $4.5 million.
The eight-acre site will include the MACC (Mammoth Arts and Cultural Center), which will boast a 250-seat theater.
The Town will operate the MACC upon its completion.
$15.5 million has been set aside for the project.
The Mammoth Lakes Foundation has promised to donate back $3 million of the money it will receive for the land. That will go towards the MACC construction.
The MACC will NOT be a sprung structure. This is expressly forbidden in donor agreements.
The eight-acre site will also include a child care facility and a dog park.
At the outset, facility operations will be supported by a $350,000 annual contribution from Measure U, and another $150,000 annually from the Town’s general fund.
Further, the Tambour Foundation has dedicated another grant to pay the rent for Chamber Music Unbound’s use of the facility during its first ten years of operation.
