San Jose State may operate Hammer Theatre for up to 35 years
The former home of San Jose Repertory Company stage troupe has a new longterm lease on life as a key venue in the San Jose downtown arts scene, thanks to an operating deal between San Jose and San Jose State University, officials have announced.
A new contract calls for the university to continue operating the Hammer Theatre Center, which is owned by the city, for the next 15 years, with an option to renew the deal for an additional 20 years — through 2055.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
“This contract allows the Hammer Theatre to bring high-quality arts programming to San Jose for decades to come,” says SJSU College of Humanities and the Arts Dean Shannon Miller. “It also gives our music, theater and dance students the opportunity to perform on the Hammer’s professional stage, and connects our campus community to the cultural and economic corridors throughout the downtown area.”
The theater opened in 1997 as the home of the San Jose Repertory Theatre, but sat vacant for two years after San Jose Rep went bankrupt in 2014. In 2016, the Hammer — named for former mayor Susan Hammer and husband Phil Hammer — reopened under the wing of SJSU. The university has invested approximately $2 million to renovate the venue.
It has since served as both the home theater for San Jose State productions as well as a venue for local and touring dance, theater, music and holiday performances. Equipped with a large film screen, it has also broadcast productions from London’s National Theatre and hosted films and presentations from National Geographic Live, Sundance Film Institute, and other organizations. The venue’s website has been offering livestreamed National Theatre productions since the coronavirus pandemic shut down live arts performances.
Kerry Adams Hapner, San Jose director of cultural affairs, is happy to see this partnership continue.
“This has been such a successful model in so many ways,” she says. “We are looking forward to continuing a fruitful partnership that increases the cultural vibrancy of the downtown and brings longlasting benefits to the city and SJSU.”
Christopher Burrill, executive director of the Hammer, says one of the hallmarks of the venue “has been the diversity of our programming.”
“We have been attracting new audiences with a wide range of interests — not only theater lovers, but also fans of dance, music, film, live talks and much more, with programs that speak to all sectors of our multicultural community,” he says.
The center includes a 532-seat main stage and 120-seat black box theater. Officials are at work on a project to install a state-ofthe-art sound and recording system to enable livestreaming of performances even after shelter-at-home orders are over and live arts return.