FOH grateful for donations, big and small

Recently, the theater and its campaign have received support from local businesses and organizations such as The Cup Truck and the Lion’s Club, and several others, including an anonymous donor who pledged $200,000, who are eager to raise the necessary finances to put the building back in its former, adequate state.

At the Fairmont City Council this past week, Executive Director Blake Potthoff, Administrative Assistant Katelyn Langwith and several board members were in attendance while Potthoff exhibited a slide-show presentation before the council. Following Potthoff’s presentation, the council didn’t provide an abundance of questions regarding the Fairmont Opera House’s Capital Campaign which was launched this past July, but received answers for any pending concerns they may have had before Potthoff’s speech.

“It was an update to the council,” Potthoff explained, “…and the public if they watch the city council meetings. We want to find ways to partner with the city and find avenues of support…maintain an open line of communication,” he said.

After inquiring about what they expected as an outcome of the meeting, Langwith and Potthoff mutually agreed that they weren’t particularly ‘expecting anything’ from the council (especially since Potthoff was asked to present by the City Administrator Matt Skaret) and rather presented their campaign in-depth as a means of providing spectators, including the Martin County community, with accurate information on what their funding project regards.

“We went in with the thought of, ‘How many questions can be answered?’”explained Langwith.

Potthoff delivered as much necessary and accurate information as possible during the duration of the presentation. Many of his presentation slides not only broadly explained the project at hand, but also combated common areas of community misunderstanding regarding the Capital Campaign and the necessary repairs needed.

As spectated by staff, these misunderstandings are commonly voiced on popular social media platforms, building diverse opinions. As stated by Potthoff, a common misconception is the idea that the organization recently received $1 million towards repairs and roof repair between 2003 and 2018. At the said meeting, Potthoff explained that the $350,000 that was put into investments was used as a ‘survival’ fund to persevere during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the repairs made between 2003 and 2018 included truss and parapet repairs after severe cracking and water damage. Potthoff emphasizes that the repairs weren’t ‘for nothing’, and the construction that was completed was preventative for further damage.

All in all, both Fairmont Opera House staff members commented that they hoped they left the councilmen and spectators in attendance with the answers to any questions or clarification of assumptions that they might have had prior to the presentation regarding the project.

“Most importantly, leave them with the knowledge that we need money. We provide updates to the community–we have ’til the end of next year. But we need one thing, and it’ll only become more expensive the longer we wait,” Potthoff emphasized. “It’s in our best interest to update the city council and county commissioners.”

Potthoff and Langwith encourage community members and opera house supporters to reach out about how they can learn more about the capital campaign. Right now they both work in the Behind The Scenes section, off of the opera house towards Blue Earth Avenue. There, people of Fairmont are welcome to contact the staff and schedule a tour and talk about how they bring meaningful support to the repair-funding journey.

At the time of writing this article, the Fairmont Opera House has accumulated approximately $261,421.76 (of the $4 million goal), with 112 donors and two registrants. After a recent $200,000 pledge made by an anonymous supporter, along with an uptick in donations, the percentage of fundraising completion fluctuated from two percent to seven percent in one day.

“We’d definitely be open to more of those,” Langwith said with a laugh regarding the $200,000 pledge. “If we had 19 more of those identical pledges, we’d be done fundraising.”

Because of the pledge, Potthoff and Langwith hope that such generosity will encourage more and more donors to support the campaign, big or small. Potthoff expressed he is curious about if donors will underestimate the impact their support has, regardless of its size or quantity.

“I like the word, ‘local’, not small. Because no matter how big or small [you donate and support], it makes a big impact,” Langwith said.

“What’s meaningful to you? If it’s $5 or $5 million–it’s meaningful to us,” added Potthoff. “I’m worried that people will perceive, ‘If I give $5, what will it do?’ I don’t want people to see $4 million and think $5 is bad.”

Potthoff and Langwith described they would like to build connections through everyone in Fairmont.

“We might both know one person, they may see you as someone close, but they may see me as just the opera house guy,” Potthoff said. “We build connections and there’s now currently 60-plus people in the FACT program. We want to increase networks. Everyone is connected to everyone through different networks [between people]. Who are you connected to?”

Donations can be made to the official Capital Support website page at fairmontoperahouse.org/capital-donate