<p>Trinity Church. Submitted photo</p>

ASTORIA With recent funding reductions from the state, Clatsop Community College (CCC) has faced challenges to fund operating costs at the Performing Arts Center (PAC). A coalition of local arts organizations (Partners for the PAC) has joined forces with the college to help maintain the PAC for affordable public arts and educational events through 2013.

The group is working to raise funds to sustain the PAC facility: costs are approximately $20,000 per year. Funds raised will be used exclusively for maintenance and operating costs for the PAC. Any amount raised over the operating expenses will be used to build a contingency fund for emergency repairs and improvements to the PAC facility.

“There is a lot of community support for keeping the PAC open as a performance space”, said Denise Reed, North Coast Chorale director and KMUN radio host. “The Astoria Sunday Market has pledged $2,000 and we are hearing a groundswell of support for this cause. This is a community that was able to save the Liberty Theater: the PAC is equally important to community based groups such as the North Coast Chorale, the Symphonic Band, Maddox Dance Studio, KMUNs Troll Radio Revue, the Symphony and many others.”

A fundraising gala “Bach and Rock Around the Clock” is planned for Friday, Nov. 2, and Saturday, Nov. 3, and will include many local entertainers. If you are interested in getting involved with this effort, contact Constance Waisanen at 503-458-6853, or by email to SupportThePAC@charter.net

If you wish to donate to the organization, donations may be made to CCC Foundation. Put “Save the PAC” on your check and mail to CCC Foundation, 1651 Lexington Ave., Astoria, OR 97103.

The College Performing Arts Center began its life as Trinity Lutheran Church, designed by Astoria architect John Wicks, and constructed during the Depression on the site of the original Convent of the Holy Name. The church purchased the land in 1930 and the construction was financed through a Depression-relief program. The church was completed in 1936 and three years later a 23-rank Espey pipe organ was installed in the church. After the Trinity congregation moved to another building in 1974, the PAC was acquired by Clatsop Community College and reopened in 1977 as a performing arts center. In 1998 the college removed the building from the city of Astoria’s list of local landmarks and removed the upper one-third of the steeple because the structure was “unreparable and a danger.” It housed the college’s theater, music and dance programs until the mid-1990s.