Photo by Doug Duvall
The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities has finally selected a contractor to take over operations of the woebegone Lincoln Theatre. But, the name of the winning bidder is being kept secret, Washington Business Journal reports.
According to Washington Business Journal, DCCAH told the D.C. Council today that it has found a preferred contractor to take over management of the 90-year-old theater at 1215 U Street NW. But the commission is withholding the new operator’s identity until the Department of General Services can complete its offer letter formally extending the contract.
The commission opened the bidding process last December when it announced that, after a year of running the theater itself, it was looking for an organization with experience running mid- and large-sized entertainment venues. The Lincoln fell under direct control of DCCAH in January 2012 after its previous operators nearly ran the place into bankruptcy. But under D.C.’s purview, the theater has been as little used as ever. It’s also in bad need of major infrastructural work, especially to its heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, as well as to the sound system in the main auditorium and the back-of-the-house amenities. (Those jobs are will be awarded in a different contract.)
The mysterious winning bidder, Washington Business Journal reports, was able to prove to DCCAH that it could resuscitate the Lincoln as a major entertainment venue:
“The operator was selected because on [sic] its demonstrated capacity for providing quality arts programming based on an established vision that is competitive within today’s strong market for theatre and arts events, and particularly that within the U Street corridor,” the commission told the council.
The commission continues, “The operator equally understands that the city is committed to ensuring the sustainability of the Lincoln Theatre by its ability to support the financial wherewithal for the Theatre independent of District Government funding.”
But the commission’s statement to the Council offers no hints about who the Lincoln’s new operator will be. The Lincoln was an anchor of U Street’s Black Broadway in its prime, but for more than a decade has been a little-used shell of another era.
And DCCAH has been fairly opaque about the whole process. At a public meeting in February, which brought more people into the Lincoln than it’s seen in years—save a pair of Jeff Mangum concerts in January 2012—the commission’s executive director, Lionell Thomas, had few answers for the many who asked that the Lincoln be geared toward local performances, mostly limiting his responses to saying that “the city is looking at all options.”
Now it seems the city has settled on an option. It’s just not saying which one, or even what the options were.
