Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Beneath the marquee of the Historic Paramount Theatre Wednesday night, dignitaries held a ceremonial groundbreaking for the theater’s historic renovation and expansion project.

It was the central part of a night dedicated to the upcoming project which will soon be underway.

“This is a real milestone and turning point for the Paramount,” said Austin Area Arts Executive Director Tom Robbins said, harkening back to the excitement of when the theater was built on the site of the former Park Theatre. “That’s what we’re hoping to recapture with this project.”

The renovation/expansion, which has been target project for nearly 10 years, will get underway soon with the theater going dark up until the target date of the Austin ArtWorks Festival

On Wednesday night, people were able to get a look at the place as well as enjoy one final bag of popcorn.

They were also able to learn a little bit more about the upcoming project as a presentation scrolled through the theater’s screen. As well as being able to ask those planning the renovation/expansion questions.

“What a fun project. The city of Austin comes in and we have a great network in town,” said Co-Chair of the committee, Randy Kramer. “It’s all about quality. We’re going to raise the bar of quality performances at the Paramount.”

Total cost of the project comes in at a little over $4.3 million dollars with a large chunk of the project’s funding coming from a gift from The Hormel Foundation for $3.67 million.

“We really appreciated the Paramount sizing it to our affordability range,” said the foundation’s Tom Dankert.

That amount will account for 85% of the project’s total cost with Austin Area Arts needing to contribute 15% or $647,674 to the renovation and expansion.

To date, the capital campaign has raised $559,635. The ultimate goal of the campaign is to raise $1.2 million, with additional funds going upkeep following the project’s completion.