Case Study: The Croswell Opera House

The Croswell wanted to activate an underused space within the theater to allow for regular community use.

Established in 1866, the Croswell Opera House is the oldest theater in Michigan and one of the oldest continuously operating theaters in the United States. The theater is a critical piece in preserving Adrian’s cultural heritage, a building that has played a pivotal role in the community’s history, with programming that’s in line with the building’s original purpose.

“I want the Croswell to be a place that people would think of for not just live theater but I want it to be what it always was, a place for everybody where there is something for everyone.” - Jere Righter, Artistic Director of the Croswell Opera House

The Croswell Opera House with a lighted marquee — The Croswell Opera House

The Croswell hosts professional-caliber productions in a comfortable community theater setting. The high-quality of the productions draws patrons from around southeast Michigan and northwest Ohio. The Croswell also provides educational experiences for area youth interested in the performing arts by exposing them to high standards and giving them an opportunity to work with accomplished professionals in their field.

The Croswell wanted to create a space within the theater to allow for regular community use, activating an underused space in the front facade and bringing the building to its former use. Before The Croswell was a theater, it functioned as the Union Hall, a multi-use gathering space in town for everything from political speeches to livestock auctions. The Union Hall hosted revolutionary speakers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Frederick Douglass, Thomas Edison, and Elizabeth Kady Stanton.

The goal of this new community space was to bring it back to a similar use of function. This was part of a much larger renovation to create a public-facing facade and connect with the existing streetscape in Downtown Adrian. They came up with the idea for the Heritage Room, a space that has regular public hours and hosts weekly events such as trivia, yoga, and live music. Using the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s (MEDC) Public Spaces Community Places crowdgranting program, the gathering space was funded well above their goal, with 176 donors coming to support this project.

“Now people feel so invested in this space, which I think has helped contribute to its success. Donors take pride in coming in and saying, ‘This is the place we donated to,’ and that contributes to the success and use of our space.” - Jere Righter, Artistic Director of the Croswell Opera House

The Croswell renovation is an anchor that encouraged reinvestment in Downtown Adrian, incentivizing restaurants and businesses to open up Downtown that knew the space would bring audiences of people to patronize the area.

Project Details

Project: The Croswell Opera House
Project Type: Community Centers and Venues
Project Location: Adrian, Michigan
Crowdfunding Raise: $54,047
Crowdgranting Match: $50,000
Patrons: 176
Leveraged Funding: $193,288
Total Project Estimate: $298,388

About Public Spaces Community Places

Public Spaces Community Places (PSCP) is our crowdgranting partnership with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). This crowdgranting initiative provides matching grant funds to eligible projects that improve public space in the state of Michigan. Projects can receive a matching grant of up to $50,000 if they reach their crowdfunding goal.

August 01, 2022

Authors

Mahala Clayton, Michigan Director she/her
Detroit, MI
Mahala is Patronicity’s Michigan Director, leading the Public Spaces, Community Places crowdgranting program. Mahala is a major asset to the Patronicity team, humanizing the crowdfunding and crowdgranting process, which could otherwise be intimidating and technical. Mahala works one-on-one with project creators to ensure they understand program parameters, what tools we offer and how to use them, and what strategies make a successful campaign. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mahala coached small business owners from around the State of Michigan. She helped those small business owners develop successful campaigns that resulted in a program supporting over 113 businesses and raising over $500,000 within a two-month period. Mahala is an amatuer hiker, yogi, farmer, and cook.
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