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Dana Parker was in awe during one of her first performances with San Benito Stage Company (SBSC). As a drummer in the band accompanying the 2014 summer production of “Les Miserables,” she found herself amazed at the caliber of talent on stage.
She was not so amazed, however, with the stage itself—located in the Hollister High School auditorium.
“I remember thinking, ‘Hollister’s got to be doing something about a theater,’” she told BenitoLink. “I can only imagine how professional this production could be if they had a real theater.”
Fast forward nearly 10 years. She and her husband, Charlie, were making music for another SBSC musical. But with the high school auditorium under construction, and with limited finances for another venue, the company’s summer production of “Footloose” was staged in the Marguerite Maze Middle School gymnasium at center court.
“A middle school gym—or any gym—is not ideal for musical performances or plays,” she said. “The amount of extra work that San Benito Stage Company has to do when they have to be in a place like a gym—that’s actually what motivated me to start the page.”
At end of the production, Dana created the “Hollister Performing Arts Center” Facebook page.
And just one year later, she and Charlie became founders of their own nonprofit organization, Pinnacle Arts Association. The group now has a board of directors and marketing committee consisting of Dana (as president), Charlie, Amy Redmond Waran (owner and director of Flying Colors Dance & Fitness and SBDA), Rosanna Alvaraz (SBC Arts Council board member), Derek Barnes (SBSC director and SBSC board member), P.J. Crocker (actor and SBSC board member), and Gilroy resident Emily McEwan-Upright (founder and director of 6th Street Studios & Art Center in Gilroy).
SBSC Board President Anne Hall told BenitoLink that finding a venue to hold even non-musicals, with smaller casts, has become increasingly difficult for the company since its lease with the Granada Theatre ended in 2019.
“It took a long time to find a place to hold ‘Steel Magnolias,’” Hall said of the play mounted in February. Although the Barn at Swank Farms worked out “very well, it’s not something community theater can typically afford. It would be really nice to have a permanent stage.”
In response to locals who have suggested that Hollister’s high school auditorium, Veterans’ Memorial Hall or Granada Theatre are sufficient for local performances, Dana strongly disagrees.
“Those theaters are not adequate for the professional production shows that our town is already producing,” she said.
The Facebook page, which now has 398 members, is “for activists who support a brand new state-of-the-art performing arts center in Hollister, Ca.,” according to its description. It‘s become a spot where local artists and organizations can promote dance recitals, music and theater performances, and it’s been a platform for Dana to inform followers of her progress and to share information about public meetings supporters can attend.
Since creating the page, Dana and Charlie had meetings with Hollister Mayor Mia Casey, other members of the Hollister City Council as well as Hollister Parks and Recreation Department.
“We’ve met with [former San Benito Dance Academy owner and director] Lara King; we’ve met with the folks at Gavilan—they’re interested in working with us to put our new center on their new campus,” Dana said.
King told BenitoLink she and her predecessor, former dance academy director and owner Kim Lavagnino, attended the first planning commission meetings for the Hollister Gavilan Campus more than five years ago, hoping to persuade the agency to include a performing arts facility on the campus. COVID-19, however, shifted their efforts into just “surviving” and “getting the performing arts through the pandemic” King said.
King said she sees a “dire need for a performing arts center to be built, not only with a stage large enough for full-stage productions, but also with backstage facilities and practice rooms, among other necessary amenities.”
Bringing ‘The Nutcracker’ home
Since 2011, San Benito Dance Academy has been holding its recitals and annual production of “The Nutcracker” outside of San Benito County—at the Sherwood Hall in Salinas from 2011 to 2022 and the Mello Center in Watsonville, starting in 2023.
“They literally cannot have it anywhere in Hollister because there’s nowhere with a stage that’s big enough,” Dana said.
The Parkers also sought advice from Gary Byrne, former CEO of the Community Foundation for San Benito County, who Dana said has been “a huge help.”
“I was so energized after I met with them,” Byrne said of the couple. “Just hearing their story and the outreach they’re doing—because there is a need.”
Byrne suggested the Parkers attend BenitoLink’s August 2023 Community Vision San Benito County listening session on recreation, tourism and arts. There, they “connected with many people and nonprofits such as [R.E.A.C.H. San Benito Parks Foundation],” Dana said.
The session also gave the couple a template for how to host their own listening session in March, which Jennifer Laine, executive director of the San Benito County Arts Council, facilitated. Dana said Laine has been a “huge support.”
“When we brought the arts group together, several people talked about the same need, a need for a permanent performing arts location,” said Leslie David, with BenitoLink. The nonprofit news organization held 19 sessions to learn about community concerns and goals.
Byrne said he feels the group is taking the right steps, which is what prospective donors would want to see.
“I think they’re getting smart people involved,” he said. “There are angel donors out there, but [donors] want to see a plan; they want to see some consistency, and then they want to see that it is going to be followed through.”
And that means making sure all of their “ducks are in a row,” as Dana puts it.
The Parkers have been visiting other performing arts venues outside the county—ones that faced similar obstacles and ultimately became nonprofit performing arts organizations. A founding member of a theater in Scotts Valley helped Charlie consider coordinating with the fire and police departments.
The group is also currently looking for grant writers.
“We’re focusing on working with the local community—from private funding, grants from the state or any kind of local government agency,” Charlie said. “There are a lot of foundations that are gathering capital donations for things like this.”
A partnership with Gavilan’s Hollister campus is not out of the question, he said, but he also feels it wouldn’t be “a straight line to success” for their organization.
“Having a place that’s just for—and is focused specifically on—the community arts organizations would be ideal,” he added.
The ultimate goal for their organization, he said, is to be available to all performing and visual artists in Hollister.
“Part of the organization that we’re building will be to coordinate programming with folks in the school districts, and all the different performing arts companies and organizations within the city,” he said. “Once a building is built, we want to make sure that if folks want to be involved, there are resources there to help with that as well.”
For more information on the Pinnacle Arts Association, contact pinnacleartsassociation@gmail.com.
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