An Anchor For Community Building
Friends of the Alger Theater is a 25 year old nonprofit organization that has worked to stabilize and restore the historic theater. The group recognizes that the prominent location of the theater at the corner of East Warren Avenue and East Outer Drive and its long-standing history put the organization in a position to act as keystone for reigniting the East Warren commercial district and the surrounding neighborhoods.
The Friends have achieved historic designations on the state, federal and local levels. In March 2009, the city’s Historic Designation Advisory Board unanimously voted to recommend that the City Council approve the designation. The Detroit City Council approved the formal local historic designation on Oct. 21, 2009. The state and federal designations were granted in 2005.
The group has successfully recruited new members for its board of directors, continued to maintain the exterior of the building and actively pursues new annual members to support the vision to create a regional center for arts and community.
In order to fulfill the mission to provide cultural opportunities and build community in the surrounding neighborhoods, the Friends have provided free off-campus programming including a theater arts class at local Detroit Public Schools in partnership with Matrix Theater Company and the summertime outdoor movie series, Film on the Hill, at Balduck Park on the third Saturdays of June, July and August.
Although still shuttered, the Alger Theater is alive and the Friends invite all members of the surrounding community to become actively involved.
The group is currently raising funds for initial repairs to stabilize the theater and gain a certificate of occupancy. The theater can then be used for public fundraising events to spearhead a capital campaign for full renovation of the 825 seat Art Deco space. For more information or to make a donation, visit www.algertheater.org.
Read more about this topic: Alger Theater
Famous quotes containing the words anchor, community and/or building:
“This could be the day.
I could slip anchor and wander
to the end of the jetty
uncoil into the waters
a vessel of light moonglade
ride the freshets to sundown”
—Audre Lorde (1934–1992)
“I am convinced that our American society will become more and more vulgarized and that it will be fragmentized into contending economic, racial and religious pressure groups lacking in unity and common will, unless we can arrest the disintegration of the family and of community solidarity.”
—Agnes E. Meyer (1887–1970)
“... what’s been building since the 1980’s is a new kind of social Darwinism that blames poverty and crime and the crisis of our youth on a breakdown of the family. That’s what will last after this flurry on family values.”
—Stephanie Coontz (b. 1944)