Fund Drive for Arts Center Under Way : Simi Valley: Contributors will have their names displayed on trees, benches, rose gardens or the theater itself. Goal is $3 million.

What does it take to become a pillar of the community? In Simi Valley, a cool $10,000 will do the trick.

That handsome fee will ensure your name on one of 20 stately columns at the city’s new Cultural Arts Center.

The city this week began a fund-raising drive for the center, and contributors will be remembered on everything from palm trees and rose gardens to the theater itself. The minimum contribution is $2,500.

The drive is being engineered by Development Services Group, a Thousand Oaks-based company that hopes to raise $3 million for the theater, which is scheduled to open in a renovated church in the fall.

DSG comes to Simi Valley with an impressive local credential--the agency led fund-raising efforts for the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza in a drive that has raised more than $10 million.

In mapping out the Simi Valley drive, the agency surveyed 38 community and business leaders and mailed surveys to 700 residents.

About 15% of the surveyed residents responded. Most had heard about the center and said they planned to attend events there.

The business leaders were overwhelmingly supportive, according to DSG, with 90% saying they would contribute to the campaign and 38% pledging to join in the fund raising.

With the naming program, there will be ample opportunity to contribute--and to have that donation acknowledged with a special plaque prominently displayed at the theater.

At the top of the scale, a $1-million donor could lay claim to the entire theater. The four cornerstones will run $100,000 apiece, while a stained glass window will go for $20,000.

But you don’t have to be a millionaire to get your name on a piece of the new center. A palm tree or a theater bench can be had for $5,000. And at the bottom of the scale, a mezzanine seat will run $2,500.

The 300-seat theater, at 3050 Los Angeles Ave., will make use of a stately, 71-year-old church that had been boarded up for years. The fund-raising drive will help establish an endowment for the theater.

The Simi Valley City Council agreed Monday to hire the Ventura County Community Foundation to handle the funds raised in the drive.

Formed in 1988, the foundation manages 110 funds worth $13 million. The foundation will handle all administrative and legal work and all tax reporting.

Mayor Greg Stratton said he felt comfortable entrusting the art center funds to the foundation.

“We want it someplace reasonably safe,” he said. “Not Orange County.”

Council members were enthusiastic about the naming campaign and unanimously endorsed the fund-raising plan.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Councilwoman Barbara Williamson said. “I think a lot of hard work went into this.”