The gift for the 300-seat facility, which will be named Hanesbrands Theatre, also kicked off the public announcement of The Arts Council's $26 million capital fundraising campaign that will be used to transform the Sawtooth Building into a Downtown Center for the Arts and create an endowment to sustain it.
“Hanesbrands is proud to support the performing arts. Our company is a major charitable giver in the community, and our employees have a long history of supporting Arts Council programs,” said Hanesbrands chief executive officer Richard A. Noll, who presented a ceremonial check at the announcement ceremony on behalf of the company's 3,400 employees in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County.
“Through our annual Arts Council fundraising campaign, our employees have made our company the top corporate contributor locally in terms of employee-based giving,” Noll said. “We are delighted to be able to add to our employees' generosity by making this pledge to bring us to the $2 million mark and allow construction of the new theatre.”
Hanesbrands Theatre will be a black-box theatre located in the former AC Delco Battery garage at Second and Spruce streets. A black-box theatre provides maximum flexibility because seating and staging can be configured to accommodate theatre, dance and film presentations. Hanesbrands Theatre will also feature state-of-the-art lighting and sound equipment. Construction will begin in September and the theatre's grand opening is expected in 2010. Hanesbrands and the Downtown Center for the Arts will hold a special performance each year at the theatre for Hanesbrands employees.
In the past decade, Hanesbrands also has been the largest corporate contributor to United Way of Forsyth County, with employee and corporate gifts totaling more than $22.5 million since 1999.
