The Williamsburg Action Team is dedicated to improving the opportunities of our area.  As our inaugural project, we seek to purchase, restore, and endeavor to develop Lane Theater into the future Lane Community Theater.  This venue will be a resourceful and inclusive center for local cultural activities and a forum for bringing concerts and cultural preservations into our area.

We are seeking to follow in the successful footsteps of the Leeds Community Center in Winchester, and the Centerstage in the Center for Rural Development in Somerset.  We have been in touch with both centers and were privileged to listen to four of the leading players behind the Leeds Community Center development in Winchester.  Our past Vice President, Dr. Harold Wortman, had expressed a desire to bring the Southeastern Kentucky Fine Arts Series into the Community Theater. 

After receiving a $10,000 grant to access the entertainment/cultural interests of our area, Dyan Fairbanks reviewed thousands of surveys, including those of students and faculty at both high schools and a multitude of adult citizens and families.  The overwhelming conclusion was a great desire to use the Lane for a variety of suggested purposes, as well as many new ideas for its use, and a model of community to donate time, labor, and money in support of this community project.  People voluntarily expressed a desire to clean, restore, work at the box office, and help "in any way" they could.

The majority of those surveyed expressed feelings about the Lane being a part of Williamsburg and how much we needed to use it for  community purposes, including civic/club meetings, arts/crafts classes, pop/bluegrass/country concerts, the Fine Arts Concert Series, gospel singings, square dances, occasional dinner theater, Saturday matinees, and a host of various activities and events that would be a great enrichment to our area.  We are more than gratified with the response to the future Lane Community theater!

We are also very grateful to the mayor and city council for giving us support with our project.  Hopefully, this will be a project that all of us can make a contribution in helping to create.  The Action Team firmly believes in bringing our community together in something that will be an opportunity, enhancement, and enjoyment for all within our area.

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