Our New Home at The Shops at Willow Bend
We’ve secured a home for NTPA for the NEXT ELEVEN YEARS at the Shops at Willow Bend!
We are grateful to our new landlord Centennial for its support for NTPA!
To make way for the mall’s redevelopment, we will have to move from our current space to a new location within the mall complex. This creates a unique and exciting opportunity for us to reimagine and rebuild our performance theatres, our studios, and move into a new and even better home for our youth, adult, disability, and deaf theatre actors on stage and screen.
We need your help to pull this off!
We need your ideas, your skills, and your support to help us design our new home and manage this move within the next twelve months. We also need to raise over $250,000 to build and sustain our new theatre complex. Whether it’s through sponsorships, donations, or hands-on help, your support will be the difference.
We’re grateful to Centennial for its generous gift to our community, and to Plano Mayor Muns, the City Council, and the Planning and Zoning Commission for their unwavering service on behalf of Plano.
Join Us!
Project Willow Bend
Town Hall Meeting
APRIL 9 at Willow Bend (or via livestream)
6 PM Reception, 6:30 PM Program
PROJECT KICK-OFF, OVERVIEW & RECEPTION
We want your input and ideas on:
- Floor Plan Design Concepts
- Interior Design & Decorating
- Special Amenities
- Facility Move Considerations
- Signage Considerations
- Sponsorship Opportunities
- … and so much more!
We need your ideas, skills, and support to design and manage this transition, and we will need to raise funds to build, improve and sustain our new home. We’ll also be recognizing the members of the incredible “Team of Steel” that were so critical creating our current home.
How Can YOU Help?
1. Volunteer your time and talent.
We need help with Project Management, Design, Interior Decorating, Move planning and SO MUCH MORE! If you would like to be a part of this team and would like to learn more about what you might be able to do to help, please complete this quick volunteer application.
2. Offer ideas to improve our theatre!
We all LOVE our home at the Willow Bend Center of the Arts. Our current facility was largely created by NTPA volunteers and they did a GREAT job with design, construction and MORE — and now we want to make our new home EVEN BETTER! Do you have ideas for improvements you believe we should consider? Submit your ideas for improvements!
3. Make a financial pledge!
WE HAVE A GOAL TO RAISE $250,000 to pay for our part of of the buildout, theatre improvements, and to cover increased operating costs in our new facility. PLEASE MAKE A PLEDGE NOW to support us! You can pledge for a STAR on our HONOR WALL, a new PHOTO in our Student Gallery, or want to sponsor a room, studio or theatre, please let us know how you can support! make a pledge now!
FAQs
The actual schedule has not been communicated with us and will be determined by our landlord. We will have to work through design of the new space, construction, buildout and inspections, and then move, which could take close to a year. We are anticipating that process to start in early 2024.
A space of a size equivalent to our current theatre complex has been identified within the current mall structure, and we hope to announce the new location very soon.
We believe we will be able to work through the transition without impacting any production dates, though will ask our patrons to be patient with us through this process. The plan is to complete the buildout of the new theatre, and we will then have a month to move and transition. We may have productions operating in both theatres during that period.
The agreement we have with our landlord is very generous, and the bulk of the cost will be paid by their support. We do want to make improvements and create an even better theatre, and it will cost us more to operate the new facility, so to pay for these items, we will have to raise money.
We are so grateful to our sponsors and patrons that have supported us over the years through theatre, studio, photo, chair and star sponsorships. We will continue to honor our commitment made with each sponsorship, and those with ongoing benefits will be moved to the new theatre.
Our new agreement allows us to call our new theatre something other than the Willow Bend Center of the Arts, and so we are seeking a new sponsor … Imagine the AT&T or Tesla Center of the Arts. We would appreciate your help in securing an exciting new sponsor!
We will need help with project management, design, overseeing construction, signage and so much more, together with fundraising support — there is SO MUCH to be done and so many opportunities to make a difference! Simply fill out the form to volunteer, pledge, or offer your ideas!
What brought NTPA to Willow Bend?
This video traces the history of what brought NTPA to the Shops at Willow Bend and its creation.