A Jacksonville organization has signed an option to purchase the historic Illinois Theater building in the city’s downtown and has embarked on an ambitious three-month, $8.8 million fundraising campaign to finance the purchase and pay for the building’s transformation into a new multipurpose civic center.

“This civic center will become not only a cultural hub but an economic hub, and it will add to the renaissance that’s going on around the square,” said Jacksonville Center for the Arts Board member Larry Kuster. “It will create another reason why people should come to Jacksonville, not only to find opportunities for entertainment, but also to see this community as someplace where they can live and work.”

The Center for the Arts Board plans to exercise the purchase option from current ow

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