PACE Receives $6 Million Grant for Capital Campaign
Contact:
Cheryl Engstrom, for PACE, 425.487.0682, 
BELLEVUE, WA (June 11, 2008) – The Performing Arts Center Eastside (PACE) today announced a $6 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the completion of a new 2,000-seat performing arts facility in Bellevue, Washington. With this gift, the Campaign For PACE has received $30 million in contributions toward a capital and endowment campaign goal of $160 million.
A premier center for the performing arts, PACE will offer a performance season of nationally and internationally celebrated artists and provide a top-quality venue for established Seattle and Eastside groups and emerging regional artists. Located in the heart of downtown Bellevue, PACE is scheduled to open in 2010. The mission of the center is to enrich Eastside cultural life with a wide diversity of live entertainment, arts, and education.
"We are very appreciative of this grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation," says Karen Lytle, co-chair of the Campaign For PACE along with her husband, Chuck Lytle, and Betty and Kemper Freeman, Jr. "The growth experienced in this region has led to a transformation of the Eastside into a thriving and diverse area with its own distinct identity. PACE will be the centerpiece of an increasingly vibrant cultural life, creating a focal point and inviting an even greater participation in the practice and enjoyment of the arts."
"There is a growing understanding that the arts play an important role in developing healthy communities," said John Haynes, executive director and CEO of PACE. "They are a means to enhance our sense of place as a community, to support our young people, to educate and entertain, and to attract the best and brightest to our schools, businesses, and civic life. The addition of PACE will provide economic, educational, and cultural advantages that will help to enrich the Eastside's quality of life and elevate its reputation as one of the most desirable areas of the country in which to live and work."
About Performing Arts Center Eastside
Performing Arts Center Eastside will be a 2,000-seat premier regional center for the performing arts. Its mission is to enrich cultural life with a wide diversity of live entertainment, arts, and education. PACE will stimulate the arts region-wide; attract new audiences; heighten arts awareness and education; provide a performance home for select area arts organizations; and serve as a cultural center for the Eastside. PACE plans to open in 2010 and it will be located in downtown Bellevue on the corner of NE 10th Street and 106th Avenue NE. The Campaign For PACE has raised $30 million.