2000
Bridging the Centuries
San Francisco, CA
August 2-5, 2000
Realizing
that our member theatres were not only facing new challenges
that arrived with the transition into the 21st century,
but that many had also survived transition into the
prior century, LHAT designed the San Francisco conference
to celebrate the history, importance and magnificence
of the theatres in the Bay Area and provide quality
professional development sessions to help theatre owners
and operators, services providers and interested individuals
define their own problems and needs and arm them with
pertinent, current and useful information to take back
to their organizations and communities.
More
than 200 people from all across the U.S., Canada and
Great Britain attended the 2000 conference, which was
headquartered at the 1928 Sir Francis Drake Hotel at
Union Square. Opening night featured a tour and dessert
reception at the Geary Theatre sponsored by the American
Conservatory Theatre. Docented by theatre historian
Steven Levin, the preconference theatre tour rambled
beyond San Francisco to tour the magnificent Oakland
Paramount, the Orinda and the Scottish Rite Temple.
The main tour traveled to San Jose to visit the Fox
Theatre and to Berkeley, where participants received
a personal welcome from David Packard at his Stanford
Theatre. The War Memorial hosted our education sessions
on Friday and also provided tours of the Herbst Theatre,
the Opera House and Davies Symphony Hall. Several LHAT
members took part in a public hearing in front of the
Board of Supervisors on "Saving Single Screen Theatres,"
offering their support and expertise.
In
addition to 21 professional development workshops presented
by some of the foremost experts in the field of theatre
restoration and operation, for the second year in a
row LHAT offered a preconference seminar presented by
Neill Archer Roan, director of external affairs for
Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. Branding Strategies
for the Arts taught attendees how to compete in an increasingly
virtual world and how these concepts are applied within
the world of historic theatres and the arts.
