JACKSON, Mich. — For nearly 100 years, the Michigan Theatre has welcomed some big-time acts, and now in order to keep those acts coming, they are embarking on a capital campaign.
“It’s the kind of job that makes you want to get up in the morning. Well, not in the morning, not too early, but makes you want to get up and move,” Executive Director Steve Tucker said.
He’s been the executive director for 10 years, and next year, he’s looking to make a big investment.
“I think the biggest act that changed everything that came after it was the first Travis Tritt concert in 2017,” he said. “A group out of Akron, Ohio, a promoter took a chance on us, and we didn’t have a ticket platform. We set all the tickets out on the main table in front of us and color coded everything, and we pulled it off. Right after that, we invested some money into a ticket platform where we could do online ticketing and that sort of did change everything after that.”
He wants to build on that momentum to make it a place that can attract more acts and get visitors more comfortable.
“That’s kind of my goal to get everybody involved. Everybody has a piece of it. Everybody feels a part of it either as a volunteer or donor,” Tucker said.
Some of the plans call for a stage extension, new lighting and a redesigned balcony.
“We have some plaster issues,” Tucker said. “Very expensive to repair because there’s artisans, there’s only a few artisans left. When I say a few, I mean, a percentage wise of the human population that can do that kind of work. So that’s very expensive. Everything is kind of expensive right now, but that’s the way it goes. Carpeting has never been replaced. Plaster has never been repaired out in the auditorium. We have done some other things that are major, large. But now it’s time to embark on the big one to get everything finished and hopefully to create a theatre that last for 92 more years.”
The price tag? $6.1 million.
“It’s a lot of money, but unless we start, we’ll never get there,” Tucker said. “If we can do it $20 at a time, we’re going to do it. I realize there’s a lot of other places that need help. We’re sort of an artistic cultural hub though that’s been in this location for almost a century. People, grandparents have been here, great-grandparents have been here with their small children.”
They’re looking at starting in the fall of 2023.
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