What's New KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, has received a $2.5 million contribution from the Moody Foundation of Galveston, Texas. The gift, which is the largest single gift in the station’s history, requires a one-to-one match and is the lead gift in a $6.5 million capital campaign to equip the new state of the art Austin City Limits venue in Austin’s central business district. In recognition of the Moody Foundation’s gift, the new venue will be named “Moody Theatre.”
“The Moody Foundation is one of America’s finest organizations and the Moody name has great historical and cultural significance across this state,” said Bill Stotesbery, KLRU’s CEO and general manager. “We are very proud to be a beneficiary of the Foundation’s generosity and we are honored that they believe this project is significant enough to the community to warrant an investment of this magnitude.”
Ross Moody, KLRU Board member and trustee of the Moody Foundation, said, “I have attended Austin City Limits tapings for many years and am a huge fan. But more than that, I know what Austin City Limits means to this community and to the creative economy of Austin. Austin is the city it is today, known internationally as the ‘live music capital of the world’ partly because 35 years ago Austin City Limits recorded a pilot with Willie Nelson in the original studios. The Moody Foundation is proud to lead the effort to take Austin City Limits to the next stage of its future.”
KLRU announced the Moody Foundation’s gift and the station’s capital campaign Thursday. The capital campaign is seeking to raise $6.5 million, the majority of which will be used to purchase and install HD production equipment in the new venue. The capital campaign will also support continued improvements in the station’s existing facility at Dean Keeton and Guadalupe and provide funds for preserving thousands of hours of Austin City Limits’ tapes by digitizing them.
The Moody Theatre and the ACL Studio are part of a major project in Austin’s central business district under development by Stratus Properties. In addition to the Moody Theatre and the ACL Studio, the development includes a W Hotel, condominium residences and retail/restaurant space. The Theatre will be a state-of-the-art performance and production venue, in addition to the new home and next stage for Austin City Limits. The cost of the venue is fully supported by the developer; KLRU’s contributions to the facility are restricted to the production and broadcast equipment necessary to record ACL tapings and other events in the venue.
“This is a remarkable opportunity,” said Stotesbery. “KLRU will be able to take Austin City Limits to a new, $30 million studio that maintains the intimacy of our existing space while vastly increasing the capacity but without having to raise the dollars for bricks and mortar. Instead, we will work with the developer to create a state-of-the-art recording and broadcast facility in the heart of downtown Austin that we believe will be a great economic benefit for the entire community.”
