Future of Escondido's ‘crown jewel' theater in jeopardy as city looks to cut costs

The future of a beloved Escondido theater and cultural arts center is at stake. This comes as the city is facing a budget deficit and is looking for ways to make changes and cut costs.

NBC 7 spoke with the community and current management — the California Center for the Arts, Escondido Foundation (CCAE) — on how they plan to hopefully continue their 30-year legacy.

The CCAE's primary theater can house up to 1,500 people. 

"But in order to get the really big name entertainers, it's not enough capacity to accommodate those kind of performers," said the foundation's CEO Gina Lopez.

Lopez joined the nonprofit foundation, managing the center last year. It's capacity limitations have contributed to the center's financial struggles over the years.

"I mean, it had ups and downs. Obviously in 2008, 2009, it was in a very difficult position," Lopez said.

The main theater sits on a larger campus that's home to a smaller theater, conference rooms and a museum. The center just hosted thousands of people for Día de los Muertos.

Lopez's job is in jeopardy as the city of Escondido looks to other, more cost friendly management options. It has started an RFP process.

The CCAE on Tuesday hosted a town hall for the community and its staff, hoping to come up with a better proposal for the future.

The RFPs are due in January from any interested parties that might present new management plans. That is disappointing to many.

"They're not Escondido residents. They're not Escondido friends, and neighbors, and nonprofits and businesses that all love and appreciate the center for the arts," Colleen Mackinnon said.

Co-founder Jack Raymond became emotional talking about his life's work that has become part of the fabric of the community.

"Just the presence that it presents is always awesome. And interestingly, the world-class performers and artists that have been here say the same thing. They say, 'Wow,'" Raymond said.

He is obviously disappointed and concerned about the future of the CCAE.

"I think there is an emotional attachment, which is why the arts are so important in society and in education," Raymond said. "That component needs to be there. That's part of the human existence."

He hopes everyone comes together with ideas moving forward — to keep the city in the foundation's favor.

"And this is a city-owned facility. It has not been maintained like it should have been because of lack of funding. Now, I hope that can be remedied," said Raymond. "It's sort of a wake-up call, if you will, sort of revisiting some things that we started 30 years ago."

Because sometimes when the future is in question, we look back to our past for guidance.

The Escondido mayor's staff provided the following statement to NBC 7: “I am excited about the future of Escondido and the City is committed to ensuring that the California Center for the Arts facility continues to serve the community with fun, family friendly programming such as the 4th of July event in Grape Day Park. Our City is looking for ways to ensure that this amazing City asset can provide maximum community benefit through programming and jobs and we look forward to reviewing any proposals that we receive.”