User:Tm1000/Victoria Gardens Cultural Center

The Victoria Gardens Cultural Center is a community library and live entertainment facility attached to the Victoria Gardens lifestyle center in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. The building links the Lewis Family Playhouse, Paul A Biane Library and the 4,500-square-foot Celebration Hall under one roof, it opened officially on August 19, 2009. It is supported, in part, by The Rancho Cucamonga Library Foundation and the Rancho Cucamonga Community Foundation. These two organizations joined together in 2002 to create the Promoting Arts and Literacy (PAL) fundraising campaign. Since then these two groups have continued to hold their annual fundrasing events: the Rancho Cucamonga Public Library Telethon and the Community Foundation Gala for the sole benefit of the PAL campaign.

The $33.8 million project was completed without the use of any City of Rancho Cucamonga's General Fund through a $7.8 million State Library Grant, $5.7 million partnership with Victoria Gardens regional town center Developer Forest City, private partnerships, Community Development Block Grant funds, and Redevelopment Agency Tax Allocation Bond Funds.



Lewis Family Playhouse
Lewis Family Playhouse is a city owned and operated performing arts center in the city of Rancho Cucamonga, California. The Playhouse is unique in that 65 percent of it's shows are also owned, operated and produced by the city.

Resident Theatre Companies
The resident companies, which are owned and operated by the city, include the MainSteet Theatre Company, Rancho Cucamonga Community Theatre, Broadway at the Gardens and Black Box Productions. The MainStreet Theatre Company is an equity theater company producing theatrical productions especially for children and families. Previous shows included Ferdinand the Bull, Suessical, James and the Giant Peach and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie The Rancho Cucamonga Community Theatre program is designed to provide a quality learning and performance experience for youth, teens, and adults in the community. Previous shows include A Christmas Carol, Oliver! and Steel Magnolias Broadway at the Gardens presents a single high quality, high tech, high energy musical theatre production each year. Their opening year production was Sweeney Todd The Black Box Productions are presented in the Studio Theatre and offer more intimate, more dramatic works. Shows include The Diary of Adam & Eve and Proof

Seating
The Playhouse has a total of 536 seats. This includes 8 spaces for wheelchairs. Additional assisted seating is available by removing seats in row G. An additional 24 seats are available when the apron of the stage is at floor level.

The 536 seats are distributed as follows:

190 Lower Orchestra (including 6 wheelchair spaces)

196 Upper Orchestra/Mezzanine

150 Balcony (including 2 wheelchair spaces)

Stage
Proscenium Opening: 40' wide x 22' high

Stage Width: 78' - 5" clear from fly rail stage left to stage right wall

Stage Depth: 34' - 9' clear from smoke pocket to face of rear wall.

Grid Height: 57' - 6" from finished floor

SR Wing: 21'-1 from Proscenium to SR Wall

SL Wing: 17' - 4" from Proscenium to Locking Rail

Fixed Stage Apron: 7' - 10-1/2" depth from face of main drapery to edge of pit

Orchestra Pit (Covered): 9' - 11-1/2" deep, maximum radius point at center line

Orchestra Pit (Open): 9' - 0" below stage, 18' - 4" depth (6' - 10"' apron overhang)

Fly system
The Playhouse has a single purchase Counterweight fly system with 33 lines available. These general purpose battens are 54' long, 1.5" schedule 40 black pipe, with a loading capacity (live load/arbor space) per batten approximately 30#/linear foot.

Paul A Biane Library
The Paul A Biane Library opened along side the Lewis Family Playhouse with the Victoria Gardens Cultural center in August of 2006. The building was named after San Bernardino County Supervisor Paul Biane who secured more than $1 million USD in tax money to build the library. Currently there are talks to expand the Biane Library, which has 14,000 square feet of space on the second floor that is not utilized. The proposed concept for the space is a childrens center.

The Library features a 21 computer technology center, 5 study rooms available for public use that accommodate anywhere from 2 to 6 people, a quiet reading room a 'Boutique Bookstore' and free wireless internet provided by the city of Rancho Cucamonga. The library also has a wide variety of programs designed especially for children and adults. They also occasionally team up with the Lewis Family Playhouse to put on events that use the 4,500 square foot Celebration Hall rental facility, The Lewis Family Playhouse, the imagination courtyard and the library itself.