Our Commitment to the Future

The WT Centennial Project is a modest capital campaign that funds 30 separate but related projects. These projects are designed to reduce theatre expenses while increasing relevancy, as a springboard into the next 100 years.

The projects that comprise the WT Centennial Campaign address two fundamental challenges experienced by any historic venue: containing costs and enhancing appeal. Wealthy Theatre is a benefit to both to the immediate community, and future generations. The Centennial Campaign is about much more than a building turning 100 years old in 2011. This pioneering campaign is about historic preservation: embracing the future in order to preserve the past.


The Threat To Historic Venues

MSNBC recently declared that old theatres were among “the most endangered historic places in America.” Filmmaker Michael Moore has championed the cause to save these institutions in Michigan. (Mr. Moore serves as Special Advisor to the WT Centennial Campaign.)

The challenge to preservation and success is two-fold: lowering costs while expanding services. Historic theatres shut down when they cannot close the gap between loss and profit. The WT Centennial Campaign addresses both of these concerns by incorporating new technologies to reach a sustainable usage threshold.

As a member of the League of Historic American Theatres (LHAT) Wealthy Theatre reinforces community identity, heritage and tradition - promoting pride of place and anchoring creative communities. Wealthy Theatre is a pivotal neighborhood resource - socially, economically, historically and culturally.


Innovative Approach: CMC Leads The Way

The 30-point Centennial Campaign applies technology upgrades and greening methods as means of historic preservation. The key to sustainability is the carefully selected application of greening strategies, combined with operational technologies that allow a venue to provide exciting and attractive, yet cost effective services. While centered around Wealthy Theatre specifically, this campaign is really about the future of historic theatres across the country. CMC has chosen to use the anniversary campaign as a model for survival of our national treasures. We celebrate the Centennial by focusing on the next 100 years and believe preservation is about responsible, innovative usage - and lots of it.

So, we are kicking off our modest fundraising campaign at midnight on January 1, 2011, as we began our Centennial anniversary. We have consulted with experts to design comprehensive and complementary, yet feasible upgrades that allow us to look forward with confidence and optimism. To accomplish our goals and overcome our challenges, we will cut overhead through greening initiatives, refresh technologies to maintain a competitive advantage, and broaden community accessibility.


Urban Core Theatres: The Anchor of the Neighborhood

Since agreeing to take over the bankrupt venue in 2005, CMC has infused a philosophy of adaptiveness at Wealthy Theatre - seeking to achieve stability through innovation. CMC enacted visionary yet cost-effective upgrades throughout 2007 and 2008, and administrated the venue with a lean operating model. New users took interest, bringing new audiences. A sense of stability led to long-term trust - belief that doors would remain open, lights would stay on, and all would be welcome. Wealthy Theatre generated more patronage every year, stimulating much needed redevelopment along the Wealthy Street corridor.

The Wealthy Theatre Historic District continues its rebirth: investment and foot traffic are up, crime is down. Wealthy Theatre provided the catalyst for the renaissance of a neighborhood. During the two decades the theatre was closed, the neighborhood experienced its worst period ever. Following its renovation, Wealthy Theatre was the spark for renewed interest in the area. CMC opened the venue to community use and has provided nearly five years of continuously increasing usage. Neighborhood business owners new and old refer to Wealthy Theatre as the anchor of the neighborhood.


The Ghost In The Machine: Increased Cost Of Energy

While Wealthy Theatre sought stability, an unexpected variable emerged. Utility companies, in the age of deregulation, steadily increased rates for electricity and heat. Historic theatres are essentially cavernous buildings that consume a lot of energy. Increased community usage increases energy use, with the new variable (of annually increasing utility rates.) As fossil fuels become more scarce, this continued dynamic threatens historic theatres nationwide. Raising usage fees is an unrealistic solution: accessibility provided the key to the rebirth of Wealthy Theatre, and by extension, led to the renaissance of the Wealthy Theatre Historic District.

The CMC mission is “building community.” Accessibility is key to maintaining a diverse community of users and patrons. CMC’s commitment to diversity plays heavily in our efforts to reduce expenses through greening: we simply had to find a way to avoid increased user fees. Higher usage fees would cut out a critical core group of users, including local artists and smaller community organizations. CMC gives artists and other users access to a multifaceted platform for expression, and ongoing opportunities for media education.


Endorsed By State, City Leaders

The WT Centennial Campaign has been endorsed by Michael Moore and Grand Rapids Mayor George K. Heartwell as a means of preserving the past by embracing the future. Wealthy Theatre will refresh its deployment of multimedia technology in a way that respects historic traditions. Our greening initiatives involve numerous individuals involved with the original renovation of WT during the 1990s.

This set of proposals is a tapestry; each relies on another. For instance, to heat the Peter Wege Auditorium effectively with solar panels, we needed heat containment at the foyer, bulkhead and loading dock. Without containment, waste would eliminate any benefit. Save what we have, replace the old energies with new. Save what we have.

The multimedia technologies are another example of replacing old energies with new - and doing so in a way that respects the historic preservation of the theatre. These enhancements remain vital for a simple reason: it’s meaningless to discuss “reducing overhead costs” without continued, increased usage.


Continuing With What Has Worked

Just as Grand Rapids has received recognition for being the greenest city in America, we've been advised our Centennial project will put Wealthy Theatre in the national spotlight: there is almost no precedent for a historic theatre to go this far with greening. We believe that historic preservation and modern greening initiatives need not be mutually exclusive, but rather, one can be the path to the other. We anticipate this project becoming a model for historic venues across North America. We are playing it smart by keeping in mind the other technologies we need to remain relevant: upgrades in concert with industry trends, including the areas of HD recording and projection.


Would You Please Help?

The launch date for the WT Centennial Campaign is Jan. 1, 2011 at Midnight. Throughout 2011, we will be pressing hard to raise $500,000 to achieve our campaign goal. Thanks to lead gifts by caring foundations and community members, we’re over 20% of the way to our goal.

Would you please help? Please spread the word about the WT Centennial Campaign by sharing the address of our website: www.wealthytheatre.org/100. You can send this address to friends directly, or even share it on social networks (i.e. Facebook.)

The WT Centennial Campaign website is equipped to accept donations securely and quickly. You can make your gift anonymously or with custom attribution. And because CMC is a 501c3 nonprofit organization, your gift may be tax-deductible.

Thank you for playing a role in the continued survival and sustainability of Wealthy Theatre.