Reports of the death of the Confluence Project seem to have been exaggerated: On May 27, the state Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee approved $15 million in funding for the public-private performing arts center, which is slated to be built in downtown Eau Claire. That’s a reversal from a vote taken three weeks earlier, when the committee cut state funding for the project from the two-year state budget.

Within hours, the arts center got a second piece of good news: Nearly 35 physicians from OakLeaf Medical Network pledged $1 million toward the project, boosting philanthropic promises to about $9 million of a $13.5 million goal. The $40 million arts center will be built with funds from donors as well as the state, county, and city.

State funding will take the form of bonds – in other words, the state will borrow the money – instead of directly out of the state’s general-purpose funds, as had been the case in the original proposal, which was rejected May 7. The vote was hailed by Confluence supporters in Eau Claire, who for three years have been pushing for the $40 million arts center, which would be shared by UW-Eau Claire and the community.

“The $15 million investment by the state of Wisconsin in the Confluence Arts Center demonstrates tremendous value for state taxpayers by providing UW-Eau Claire with significant and much needed upgrades to our performing arts facilities at a fraction of what it would cost to build a similar facility on campus,” UWEC Chancellor James Schmidt said in a press release. “This is truly a win-win-win for UW-Eau Claire, the greater Eau Claire community and Wisconsin taxpayers.”

Next, the budget will go to the full Legislature for approval. After that, it will still require Gov. Scot Walker’s signature. Walker’s approval of the Confluence provision seems a safe bet, considering he included the $15 million in general-purpose funding for the project in his original budget proposal earlier this year.