For Charleston and Spoleto, It's Clean Up, Paint Up, Fix Up Time Once Again CHARLESTON, S.C. - When the Spoleto Festival USA opened shop here in 1977, its performing spaces were a motley combination of revived old theaters, modern auditoriums and outdoor arenas. To some extent, that's how it still is, but in recent years the festival, the city of Charleston and private groups interested in upgrading Charleston's performing facilities, have been reconfiguring some of the main theaters. Spoleto, the theory goes, is here to stay; its halls might as well be up to date. And renovating them can only encourage the city's artistic life between festivals as well. The star among the festival's homes has long been the Dock Street Theater in the historic part of Charleston. This 450-seat jewel is perfect for chamber music and theater, and the festival gives it a hefty workout: chamber concerts are held there every morning and afternoon, and this year it has hosted several other events, among them the Gate Theater Dublin's production of Noël Coward's "Hay Fever," Guo Wenjing's opera "Feng Yi Ting" and John Kennedy's interview with Philip Glass. The Dock Street was built as a theater in 1736, but it burned down within a few years. It was rebuilt and torn down by the end of the 18th century and built again - this time as a hotel - in 1809. The hotel, along with four adjacent structures, was transformed into a theater in a $350,000 renovation underwritten by the Works Progress Administration in 1935. During the festival's first three decades, the Dock Street was attractive and functional - comfortable and with fine acoustics - but a bit shabby. And the section of the building used as the backstage area had been structurally compromised by earlier renovations. The city, with underwriting from the Federal Emergency Management Agency undertook a two-year, $15 million renovation. The theater, now far more elegant but with its acoustics and its wood surfaces intact, reopened in 2010. Partly to have a place for its chamber concerts during the Dock Street renovation but also with an eye toward future productions of other sorts, the festival covered the $6 million cost of renovating the 700-seat Memminger Auditorium in 2008. Built in the late 1930s, the auditorium was once the city's main symphony, dance and recital hall but fell into disuse by the end of the 1960"s, when Gaillard Municipal Auditorium supplanted it. But the Gaillard (pronounced GILL-yerd) was a mixed blessing. The festival has long presented opera, symphony and dance performances there, but it has always struck me as a glorified high school auditorium. When I said that the other day to Nigel Redden, the festival's general director, he corrected me: "Junior high school," he said. Bringing the Gaillard up to standard has been one of Mr. Redden's goals since he joined the festival in 1986, and he is about to have his wish. Soon after this year's festival ends, on Sunday, the Gaillard will get a $142 million renovation that will involve stripping the room and replacing its insides. Its capacity will be reduced from 2,743 seats to 1,800 and - the tricky part - its acoustics overhauled. Like the Dock Street renovation, this project will cost the festival nothing. The city is picking up half of the expense, and a private nonprofit corporation has been formed to raise the rest. That is not to say that the cost of revamping the Gaillard won't have an impact on the festival. Some of the festival's board members are among those raising money for the renovation, and with the economy already affecting donations to arts organizations, an expensive project could divert funds that might otherwise go to the festival. As it is, contributions have fallen, as they have elsewhere. Gifts and government financing once accounted for 55 percent of the festival's budget, with the remaining 45 percent covered by earned income: ticket sales, merchandising and income from the festival's endowment. This year, earned income accounts for 58 percent of the $6.7 million budget. State financing, $560,000 at its height, was only $14,000 this year. On the bright side, Mr. Redden said, "this year's ticket sales are the best we've ever had at this point in the festival," 9 days into the 17-day schedule. And the festival has a cash reserve that it can draw on to account for shortfalls in contributions. But having an upgraded hall for the festival's major events may be worth the risk. And no doubt the festival will be eager to get back to the Gaillard when it reopens in 2015: during the renovation, performances that would otherwise have been there will be presented at the TD Arena, a 5,100-seat basketball arena that Mr. Redden said would be given "some acoustic treatment to make it useful" and configured to use only 1,800 to 2,000 seats.