The Fox Tucson Theatre has received a four-year, $2 million commitment from the Bert W. Martin Foundation to help fund the revitalization of the 95-year-old movie house, the Arizona Daily Star reports.
The award from the Chicago-based funder with ties to Tucson and southern Arizona will contribute $1.6 million to the Fox Tucson Theatre Foundation’s “Just Around the Corner” capital campaign, which aims to raise $26.4 million and expand the footprint of the theater by 20,000 square feet to include the adjacent property, which was acquired in 2022. The remaining $400,000 will help fund the theater’s general operating expenses. The latest commitment boosts Martin Foundation support to more than $3 million in the past decade.
Fox Tucson, which has raised $6.4 million to date, expects to complete the expansion in time for the theater’s centenary in 2030. In 2022, Rio Nuevo, a state-financed redevelopment district in downtown Tucson, sold the building—which is on the National Register of Historic Places—to the Fox Tucson Theatre Foundation for $100 and contributed $2 million for the theater’s expansion…