The Camelot Theatre in downtown Talent installed solar panels on the rooftop above the auditorium in 2021 and plans to add solar panels above the costume shop using money from an M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust grant.

A six-figure grant years in the making will help Camelot Theatre boost its curb appeal in downtown Talent while significantly reducing its electricity costs.

Camelot Executive Director Dann Hauser said the nonprofit theater plans to use a $200,000 grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust to make technological improvements that include a rooftop solar panel installation over the costume shop and a new marquee sign designed to blend art deco style with modern technology.

Hauser said in a phone interview that the grant involved a roughly two-year application process. Some elements were planned years earlier, but shelved due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Almeda Fire.

The latest solar panel project is slated to begin installation in roughly two weeks, Hauser said. The first phase of the solar project in 2021 — covering the rooftop above the auditorium — was funded by a roughly $90,000 Pacific Power BlueSky grant through the Energy Trust of Oregon, and the Murdock trust covers the second phase and a host of efficiency upgrades.

Those upgrades include replacing its incandescent-based theater lighting with LED fixtures that draw less power and generate less heat.

“It works against us now,” Hauser said, describing how the incandescent lighting adds to the theater’s air conditioning costs. The incandescent lights also use bulbs no longer available.

The theater currently pays between $1,500 and $2,000 per month on electricity. Hauser said the goal with these upgrades is to bring costs down to zero.

“Our goal is to get to a zero-based need for energy,” Hauser said.

He expects the solar system will help the theater’s bottom line for at least two decades, if not longer.

Another addition covered by the grant is a new blade-style marquee sign. The sign uses efficient LED technology, but resembles neon lights.

Hauser described the sign as “art deco to a degree, with a little bit of technology.”

The sign is designed to blend with the building codes of Talent’s historic downtown district, yet mix old and new by incorporating a new digital display.

Hauser said a core benefit of the digital sign is that it allows staff to make changes without using a ladder.

Camelot will bring their signage proposal to the Talent Planning Commission on June 20. If approved, installation could begin by September.