MOULTRIE, Ga. — The Colquitt County Arts Center is working to upgrade the lights in its theater, and an iconic Atlanta theater announced last week that it would be giving them a helping hand.

On Nov. 28, the Fox Theatre Institute announced 13 recipients of its 2017-18 Historic Preservation, Historic Structure Studies or Planning, and Technical Assistance and Service grants. In all the grants total $470,541.

The Colquitt County Arts Center will receive a Historic Preservation Grant of $14,640 toward its lighting upgrade, according to the press release. It’s the first time the arts center has received an FTI grant.

The Colquitt County Arts Center is housed in the former Moultrie High School on Fourth Street at Seventh Avenue Southwest. The school was built in 1921 and renovated into the arts center sometime after MHS merged with other local high schools to form Colquitt County High.

“The lighting system that’s in there now is original to the renovation about 30 years ago,” said arts center Executive Director Connie Fritz.

Fritz explained that the system is so old the arts center can’t find replacement parts when things break.

The new system the arts center plans to get uses LED lights, which use less energy themselves plus they burn cooler so the air conditioner will use less energy too, she said.

Initially, the arts center asked the Fox Theatre Institute for $90,000, Fritz said. That’s what it would cost to replace the whole lighting system and the sound system as well.

Since it will receive less than $15,000, the arts center has put plans for the sound system on hold. Fritz said the lighting system must be replaced all at once, while the sound system can be replaced a little at a time.

Nonetheless, the lighting system alone will cost about $50,000.

The arts center is ready to meet part of the expense, Fritz said, due to the recent Grand Ole Opry Salute. The series of performances in August were a fund-raiser for this same project.

Back in the fall, Arts Center Theatre — the performing group likely to get the most use out of the new lights — started its own fund-raiser: dedicating the seats in the auditorium. A plate will be affixed to the designated chair naming it in honor or in memory of the person the giver selects. Center seats are $100, and side seats are $50. For more information on this fund-raiser, call the arts center at (229) 985-1922.

Fritz said when both the lights and sound system are upgraded, the arts center hopes to be able to attract outside groups to perform there.

The FTI grant follows by about 21 months the announcement of a grant from the Waldo Deloache Trust Fund that will pay for renovations to the Arts Center’s building. Fritz said repairs covered by that grant are under consideration by historic preservationists because of the building’s position on the National Registry of Historic Places.