Undiscovered Earth has raised $1.5 million to put the iconic Chief Theater under local ownership but executive director Dagny McKinley is reaching out to the community for help as a critical Friday deadline draws near.

“We’ve been kind of in a quiet phase of fundraising to see what we could get to, and we are now in crunch time,” McKinley said Monday. “We know there are other people interested in the building, so we were looking for help from the community.”

Undiscovered Earth is currently $1 million short of the $2.5 million needed to purchase the property before it sells to an out-of-town company from Aspen on March 15.

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McKinley said Undiscovered Earth, a nonprofit organization, has a bold vision for the future of The Chief Theater, located at 813 Lincoln Avenue in downtown Steamboat Springs.

“I don’t think anyone’s going rip out the brick facade and do anything like that,” McKinley said. “My bigger concern is it going to be bought by somebody who is from out of town, and who’s just interested in making a dollar. Somebody who is not interested in working with our local community, and then becomes competition for Schmiggity‘s, Strings and our other music venues.”

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The building’s history dates back to 1926 when it was built by Mark Schafermeyer, who owned the property and deeded it to local visionary “Chief” Harry Gordon for $25,000. Gordon, a descendant of the Miami tribe, opened a motion picture house in the building in 1927. It was the second movie theater in Steamboat Springs and the first to feature talkies. The space was home to a movie theater until 2010, when it closed it’s doors.

It was purchased for $1.45 million by the Friends of the Chief with help from private investors in 2012. In the summer of 2013, The Chief Theater opened its doors as a cultural and performing arts center.

For the first year, efforts to achieve the board’s mission to create a vibrant and dynamic venue were gradual. Then in December, Friends of the Chief Foundation sold the building to longtime supporters Mary and Jack McClurg for $1.45 mil­lion. The sale allowed the non-profit Friends of the Chief to lease the space and remain in operation without worries of mortgage payments.

When COVID hit in March of 2020,  business at the performing art’s theater came to a standstill, and the theater  was shuttered by the owners of the building in 2021 after the nonprofit could no longer keep up with lease payments. The McClurgs planned to renovate the space, and reopen as a for-profit performing arts venue, but the theater has never reopened.

Undiscovered Earth believes the Chief Theater stands out as an iconic cultural building that should be kept in the hands of locals. The organization was created by locals who have served the arts community in Steamboat Springs for a combined eighty years and are committed to supporting local performing arts organizations and creatives, first and foremost. With the Chief, Undiscovered Earth would create model for affordable rehearsal and venue space, with affordability dictated by the nonprofits.

The group would also work with nonprofit performing arts partners in the community like Strings Music Festival, Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School & Camp and Steamboat Creates to make sure they are collaborating on programming for balanced offerings for the community including dance, opera, theater and more.

Since late December, the Undiscovered Earth has been working to raise the money to purchase the building and has managed to come up with $1.5 million.

At this point, McKinley said Undiscovered Earth is hoping for a large donor to come to the rescue in the final hour, but said she also doesn’t want to close out smaller, grass-roots donations that are also very important.

“We kind of went back and forth on the right time to go public because if somebody is interested in donating $20, which is amazing, we want to make sure they’re seeing that money be put to use right away,” McKinley said.

If the group is not able to reach its $2.5 million dollar goal, and the building is purchased by an out-to-town developer, McKinley said any money raised to purchase the building would be returned. If Undiscovered Earth can purchase the building, McKinley said there is plenty of work that needs to be done in order for the theater to reopen.

“We are so close to our goal of owning the building and beginning the transformation of the interior that will keep the Chief relevant for the next 100 years,” McKinley said. “I worry what will become of The Chief Theater if we don’t make our goal and an out of town organization buys it and programs it without understanding community needs. Imagine what would happen to Strings Music Festival if there were year-round musical programming like they have done with the Belly-Up in Aspen?  That’s direct competition for an organization that has elevated the cultural landscape of the area through music.”