A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to appropriate funds for the mariam and Robert Hayes Performing Arts Center.
Whereas, the Mariam and Robert Hayes Performing Arts Center is a new community arts facility located in the Town of Blowing Rock; and
Whereas, the Hayes Performing Arts Center is dedicated to the exhibition of several genres of performing art, including theatre, music, comedy, film, dance, as well as the preservation of these disciplines, as they relate to the local community and region; and
Whereas, the center is home to the Blowing Rock Stage Company, a professional theatre company that not only produces and performs plays, but also helps to train and educate children and adults about theatre through its various educational outreach programs; and
Whereas, the Hayes Performing Arts Center rents space to various governmental, educational, nonprofit, and business organizations from across the State for meetings and conferences; and
Whereas, during its first year of operation in 2007, the Hayes Performing Arts Center attracted 43,000 visitors representing 37 states and five countries; and
Whereas, the Hayes Performing Arts Center had over 340 students who attended or performed at the Center, many of whom came from schools in Watauga, Avery, Caldwell, and Catawba Counties, and other surrounding areas; and
Whereas, in 2007, the Hayes Performing Arts Center had a $9 million economic impact in the region and expects to have a greater impact in 2008; and
Whereas, the majority of the funds raised to build the Hayes Performing Arts Center came from private donations; and
Whereas, the Hayes Performing Arts Center is an asset to the High Country region and the State of North Carolina; Now, therefore,
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Blowing Rock Community Arts Center Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit organization, the sum of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) for the 2008‑2009 fiscal year to assist the organization with expenses incurred in constructing the Mariam and Robert Hayes Performing Arts Center.
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2008.