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The initiatives below are the most pressing funding priorities for the NTC Foundation. Please help us establish a Creative Community that will increase the quality of life for all San Diegans.

Expansion Plans for NTC Promenade in 2010

Need: $750,000; Secured: $0

As the NTC Foundation begins our 10th year of service to the community, we need your help to continue to advance the community’s vision for a vibrant arts and cultural district. Please consider supporting the NTC Foundation with a tax-deductible gift of $25, $50, $100, $250 or more to help us continue this adventure. 

Recognize Your Loved One with a Dedicated Rosebush

Honor your loved one with a gift that recognizes unshakable love, commitment, trust and perseverance.

The NTC Foundation offers you a special opportunity to dedicate a beautiful rose bush in the Sybil Stockdale Rose Garden at NTC Promenade in the heart of the new cultural district at Liberty Station…a new destination that itself is blooming into a San Diego landmark.

A commemorative plaque with your personal message will be implanted adjacent to your designated rosebush.  This is a limited opportunity with only 110 tribute rose bushes available.  Your $500 donation to the NTC Foundation will be used to help preserve the historic buildings at the former Naval Training Center and their new mission as a cultural center. 

The Luce Auditorium Renovation Campaign

Need: $35,000

Where once Bob Hope, Tommy Dorsey, Kay Kyser and Nat King Cole entertained Navy recruits, our 1,800-seat auditorium, built in 1941, has sat dark for over 12 years, awaiting its next mission.

Already there is much demand from the dance groups at NTC Promenade, San Diego film festivals, area theatres, and the region to have a fully equipped and state-of-the-art theatre and cinema center for film, performances and presentations.

What We Now Know
Thanks to donor support, we engaged former Old Globe managing director Tom Hall of AlbertHall Associates, to undertake a study in 2008 to provide an independent assessment of the feasibility of various proposed adaptive reuse scenarios for Luce Auditorium that constitute its best and highest use, and mitigate the sound from airplanes overhead.

  • The solution: An innovative a “building within a building” concept that will allow us to build a new 3-venue state-of-the-art facility that will meet the needs of cinema and performance, while retaining the historic features of the Auditorium.

We recently received preliminary design approval from the State Historic Preservation Office and the National Park Service, allowing us to move forward.  We have one final step to complete before we invest in the development construction drawings.

Show Business is a Business
In Autumn 2010, the NTC Foundation will once again engage our consultant Tom Hall and his team to conduct a study to Develop and Refine the Operating Model for Luce Auditorium in order to establish with some certainty its operational and financial feasibility.  This will help assure that if we “invest to build it, they will come.”

The proposed Scope of the Study would include, but not be limited to the following:

  • Identify User Groups from among cinema, dance, music and performance groups
  • What do we need to equip the cinemas and performance venues with in order to meet the requirements of our primary User Groups?
  • What are the Rental Rates of similar venues in San Diego
  • How much will it cost us to operate the new facility each year? - Determine Annual Operating Expenses
  • How much will our User Groups pay to use the new facility?  Determine Potential Operating Income Rental and Use Revenue
  • Will we need to provide an annual operating subsidy?

Please Help
Starting in August 2010, the NTC Foundation is seeking $35,000 to conduct this comprehensive Operating Model Study, which we expect to complete this Autumn.

We ask your support with a gift of $25, $50, $100 or more to help us take this next critical step to help restoring this historic auditorium for its new mission as a performance and cinema center for San Diego.

Point Loma Legacy Project

Need: $3 million; Secured: $1.28 million

The Point Loma Legacy Campaign is a community effort, led by long-time Point Loma residents Roberta and Malin Burnham, to commemorate Point Loma’s history and leadership through sponsorship of the restoration of the NTC Command Center. A special feature of the NTC Command Center will be a historic display honoring the Point Loma families and many Peninsula attributes that contributed to the growth of San Diego. Leadership support for this project has been generously given by the Burnham Family, the Hervey Family Fund, the Peter Peckham Family, and Conrad Prebys. Join us today as we honor our past and celebrate the future through the creation of this new legacy for generations of children and families to enjoy.

Tribute to Vice Admiral Jim & Sybil Stockdale

Need: $1 million; Secured: $200,000

This heroic American couple will be commemorated with the creation of an exhibit about their lives, two meeting rooms named in their honor and dedication of the Sybil Stockdale Rose Garden in Honor of Navy Families. Led by Rear Admiral Francis Holian, this initiative has secured over $200,000 of the $1 million goal from Northrop Grumman Corporation, North County Island Credit Union and San Diego County Supervisor Greg Cox. Join us in this special tribute to a heroic American couple and the brave American men and women who continue to serve our country around the world.

Advance Dance

Need: $15,000; Secured: $2,000

The Advance Dance Campaign supports the ongoing maintenance and new enhancements to Dance Place at NTC Promenade. The 2009-10 Campaign will allow us to replace worn out furniture in the Weisz Green Room, resurface and refinish the wooden floors in Studio 103, and installing a hanging rail system in the Mandell Weiss Gallery so we can increase the professionalism of future exhibits.  With 12 dance studios boasting natural light and open spaces, totaling over 16,000 square feet of dance space, Dance Place opened on January 20, 2007. Dance Place is home to Malashock Dance, Jean Isaacs San Diego Dance Theatre, San Diego Ballet, Actors Alliance of San Diego and the Performing Arts and Athletic Restorative Training Specialists. In addition, over 85 Groups have used the community studios.   Everyone who finds joy, fulfillment, and inspiration at Dance Place will benefit from your support.

Support Liberty School

The NTC Foundation received a $500,000 grant from San Diego National Bank (Community Reinvestment Act funds) to support this project, but these funds must stretch a very long way – and for at least three years.  Sustaining the program will require aggressive fundraising from individuals, corporations, foundations, and government agencies. The cost per student is $1,500 per year.  Our goal is for The Liberty School to be in session five days a week throughout the school year, and during school breaks and the summer to offer special camps.