After two years of uncertainty, the Crystal Lake-based Raue Center for the Arts has secured a new building lease with the city as operators move forward with rebuilding programs.

The Raue Center has weathered some funding woes as it approaches its 25th anniversary. According to a fundraising initiative called “Survive and Thrive,” cuts in federal arts funding and “economic uncertainty” caused the nonprofit to slash programming and staffing, according to its website.

In the past year, the organization cut a third of its programs, reduced staff and vacated about 40% of its property.

A new building lease

A major question mark that loomed over the nonprofit for years, which barred it from applying for federal and state funding, was over who owned the building, according to the Raue website.

Previously, the 750-seat theater, located at 26 N. Williams St. downtown, was owned by a city commission called the Civic Center Authority. The commission leased the theater to Home State Bank, which then subleased it to the Raue, according to an agreement from 2018.

Soon after that, the Civic Center Authority became defunct, leaving the Raue in limbo at a time when the building was in need of hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs. Water significantly damaged portions of the historic building, while major heating, ventilation and air conditioning as well as roof repairs also needed to be done.

About a year of negotiations among the theater, the city and the bank resulted in the city reinstating the Civic Center Authority with new appointed board members in October. The authority terminated its lease with Home State Bank and entered into a new lease with the city of Crystal Lake.

The City Council approved the change and the new lease in a unanimous vote in December. The city purchased the building from the authority last month for $10 before consolidating the group into the city, according to city documents.

“For the last two years, we were just focused on surviving,” Raue Center for the Arts Executive Director Richard Kuranda said. “Now, we really want to rebuild.”

The new 25-year lease allows the city to “assume the rights, powers, duties, assets, property, liabilities, indebtedness, obligations, bonding authority, taxing authority and responsibilities” of the Civic Center Authority, according to city documents. The lease allows an option to extend for another 25 years.

“I’m happy because there isn’t this question mark of who owns building, who’s responsible for the building, that type of thing,” Kuranda said.

Moving forward, the Raue is responsible for managing and maintaining the building. The city put money that usually was given to the organization on an annual basis into a capital reserve fund from which theater operators can draw for major renovations and repairs, Kuranda said.

The water damage is currently being fixed, and Home State Bank is helping with roof replacements set to happen this year. The bank is no longer a party to the lease, Kuranda said. But Home State Bank still is involved with sponsoring programming, and its name will remain on the side of the building.

“I don’t think the Raue would have survived without Home State Bank,” Kuranda said. “We’re excited to have their legacy on the wall.”

Money struggles

Over the past two years, the Raue cut about 30 to 40% of its programming as a result of the building and funding issues, Kuranda said. Summer programming, Arts on the Green and the Williams Street Repertory – the Raue’s in-house professional theater company – were all put on hiatus.

With the building lease secured, the organization is now looking at how “to baby-step” the programs back into existence.

“As we look to the future, what we’re really striving to do is be pragmatic and [use] common sense about how we rebuild, and how we listen to the community on what sort of programming they want,” Kuranda said.

The Raue’s “Survive and Thrive” fundraising initiative points to cuts in federal support such as National Endowment for the Arts grants, along with general economic uncertainty, as reasons why the center is at financial risk. Kuranda calls federal funding cuts “a complex matter” that is “so polarizing.”

The fundraiser asks for the public to give a three-year pledge ranging in donation amounts to help the Raue restore canceled programs, rehire staff and maintain its policy of providing free access to veterans.

“We just try to stay focused on what we do, which is providing the arts for all,” Kuranda said. “We’re really focusing tremendously on setting up the Raue so it can service the next 25 years of patrons.”

The new lease also shifts the theater’s finances now that annual city funding will be put into a building maintenance reserve. This leaves a “critical gap” in the nonprofit’s annual operational budget, Kuranda said.

“Our donors have been so wonderful to us, and we’re just, right now, focusing on getting back to normal,” he said.

On top of the major changes, the Raue Center will be needing the community’s help as it starts planning for its 25th anniversary celebration. Volunteers will be needed to help with committees, to serve on the board and to help the Raue in general, Kuranda said.

Rebuilding for the future

So far, the Raue Center has raised $1.3 million toward its $1.7 million goal. To finish the job, the next $250,000 must be raised by Feb. 15, according to the Raue website. About $35,000 has been raised toward a $50,000 matching challenge made by an anonymous donor, Kuranda said.

“It’s not just one big check. That is what is so inspiring to me,” he said. “It’s the $10, the $20, the $30 – it all adds up."

Hope is on the horizon, especially with a multiyear, $150,000 grant from the Illinois Arts Council and the NEA that could support a possible expansion into East Dundee.

The proposed new theater in East Dundee was first pitched by Raue Center officials last year at a former lumberyard property off Railroad Street that the village purchased in 2023 for $800,000 to aid redevelopment.

Since then, developer Sightwell proposed the creation of an 8,000-square-foot performing arts center, which could possibly be run by the Raue, and 6,000 square feet for retail space. Dubbed Heritage Station, the proposal also includes nine to 12 townhouses, along with five to six rental apartments above the retail shops. A space called The Station House would aim to offer 10 “boutique lodging” suites.