Triumvirate Theatre is on track to complete $50,000 worth of landscaping improvements to its new Kenai Playhouse. That’s after the Kenai City Council voted to donate some city money toward the effort during their meeting Wednesday.
The theater was awarded a $40,000 grant money from the Anchorage-based Richard L and Diane M Block Foundation, which supports nonprofits around the state. But that grant is contingent on a local contribution from the City of Kenai.
During the meeting, Triumvirate Theatre actor Briar Oden read the council a letter on behalf of Joe Rizzo, the theater’s executive director.
“These two combined grants will help a great deal in sustaining the day-to-day operations that serve kids in Kenai year-round,” she said.
The council unanimously approved the donation, which Mayor Henry Knackstedt says aligns with other city initiatives, like its storefront improvement program. The program offers grants to businesses wanting to make their building facades or landscape more attractive.
“This is not exactly that, but kind of,” he said. “And it’s a little bigger, but it’s along those lines. But it supports our community and that brand new beautiful facility that you have over there.”
Glenese Pettey was another council member to offer enthusiastic support.
“I think it's a great way to support our community and the children in our community to provide ample opportunity for safety, education, and performance,” she said.
With the two grants, Rizzo says they’ll repave the theater’s parking lot in addition to landscaping improvements. The city wrote landscaping improvements into the terms of its donation of the land on which the theater was built.
It’s been almost a year since Triumvirate’s new playhouse opened. The youth theater program’s former facility burned down in 2021.
