Historic State Theater project awarded millions of dollars towards renovations 

South Bend, Ind. -- The Historic State Theatre will benefit from an awarded $4 million dollars towards a revitalization project.

The Community Foundation of St. Joseph County has been awarded a grant through Indiana's READI Program, a state-funded program designed to attract, develop, and retain talent. The initiative awards grants to regional partnerships for infrastructure, housing, and quality-of-place projects.

The proposed State Theater project hopes to transform the historic theater in downtown South Bend into a multiscreen cinema and performing arts venue. The reimagined State Theater layout would include five theaters of varying sizes, allowing multiple events to happen at the same time.

“It started with the simple question of what do other cities do with their old movie theaters? We found some really exciting examples of vintage movie theaters from around the country that have been renovated into multi-screen movie houses," President of Community Foundation of St. Joseph County Rose Meissner said.

The goal is to expand programming, including a variety of films, live performances, lectures, educational programming and community events. “The beauty about having multiple screens is that you can have a variety of offerings that appeal to all sorts of different people," Meissner said.

The grant is not yet enough to get started on the project, but it will help towards their goal. Meissner says their team is in the process of connecting with potential partners and The City of South Bend to make more progress. The total estimated expense of the project is nearly 28 million dollars.