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4NORTH COASTSaturday, November 19,2011State Theatre needs to raise money for building repairsFundraiser hopes to bring in $300K by end of the yearBY BRIAN McGILLIVARYNorth Coast writer^y-RAVERSE CITY / — The nonprofitC Traverse City Film Festival kicked off the public portion of a fundraising campaign to plug holes in both the State Theatre’s budget and its leaky facade.The film festival, which owns the theater, hopes to raise $500,000 in a campaign dubbed “Another Hundred Years.”Half of the funds will go to replace the building’s disintegrating, 63-year-old facade and upgrade electrical equipment on its lighted marquee. The other $250,000 will seed a community fund to subsidize the theater’s many free community events and 25-cent movies.“Some of the work we’ve already begun because we couldn’t wait,” said Deb Lake, film festival executive director, as she pointed to a sagging steel door frame over the theater’s front emergency exit. “That’s why I call these emergency repairs.”Initial work involves replacing stainless steel panels that stretch along the building’s perimeter, including soffit panels that came loose this year during high winds. Electricians also rewired part of the lighted marquee.A private donor covered the $48,000 cost of emergency work, part of more than $200,000 worth of already-raised challenge grants.Next spring, the rest of the building’s facade of warped, thin, red ceramic tile that is glued to metal plates will be stripped down to concrete block. A historic renovation company will apply a water“The recession/ depression that Michigan has been experiencing for the better part of the past decade has finally caught up with us. Our bank account, for the first time in our history, is empty. The theater facade is literally crumbling.”Michael Moore in an e-mailNorth Coast photos/Jan-Michael StumpTom Dayton puts up a message for the State Theatre’s Another Hundred Years fundraiser on the building’s marquee. Work is beginning, along with the fundraising drive, to repair the facade of the State Theatre. Custom ceramic tiles that are over 50 years old are beginning to warp and crumble on the front of the building, allowing water to seep in and risk further damage to the building.proof membrane, insulation and framing to hold new, cement-backed ceramic tiles.“It’s all custom work,” Lake said. “It’s not something you can buy off the shelf.”The fundraising campaign will last until year’s end and has less than two months to raise almost $300,000.“We have high hopes, and we like to set our goals high,” Lake said.The film festival raised $160,000 in about three weeks during May to refurbish Traverse City Area Public Schools’ Lars Hockstad Auditorium, Lake said. An email appeal sent Wednesday by film festival founder Michael Moore raised $11,000 in thefirst two hours.“The recession/depression that Michigan has been experiencing for the better part of the past decade has finally caught up with us,” Moore wrote in his email. “Our bank account, for the first time in our history, is empty. The theater facade is literally crumbling.”The film festival expects to lose $78,000 this year on State Theatre operations. Since the movie house opened four years ago, film festival profits covered the losses, but there was no surplus this year.The festival continues to show free movies to school groups, nonprofit organizations and occasionally the public. The theater also has been available for community events and offers weekly 25-cent movies that don’t cover the $350 cost to rent the movie, let alone utilities and staffing.“It is part of our theater’s soul, part of our mission, to bring cinema to the community — the entire community,” Moore wrote.The $250,000 is the initial investment in the community fund, Lake said, but it will require a continuing, annual fundraising effort. What future fundraising will entail, Lake doesn’t know.“We haven’t got that far yet,” she said.
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Traverse City North Coast
Traverse City, Michigan, US
Sat, Nov 19, 2011
Page 4
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Traverse A.
MI, USA 22 May 2025
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