Detroit's Carr Center receives more than $770K infusion
Mark Stryker
Detroit Free Press Staff Writer
The financially challenged Carr Center, a small Detroit arts organization focused on African-American culture, has received recent commitments for more than $770,000, including a $500,000 grant from the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation of Bloomfield Hills.
The money comes as the organization, which has struggled with deficits and paying its rent, is being forced to leave its city-owned home in Harmonie Park. Detroit officials are redeveloping the neighborhood as a new Paradise Valley, and the Carr Center's bid to buy its building at 311 E. Grand River was rejected by the city.
The timing of the gifts is crucial for the Carr Center. The organization learned this spring that it will have to move in 2017, but it doesn't yet know where. The new monies will help stabilize finances and allow Carr Center leaders to explore its real estate needs within the context of its broader artistic and organizational plans. "It all ties together," said Carr Center president Oliver Ragsdale Jr.
Working on its own or in partnerships with others, the Carr Center presents music from jazz to opera, as well as dance, visual arts, film and a wide range of arts education programs.
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To be paid over two years, the Erb grant will fund a significant ramp-up of the Carr Center's artistic programming, administrative staff and strategic planning. The center expects to hire an artistic director later this summer and increase its marketing support. The grant will also support the creation of a 5-year strategic plan with consulting support from the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the University of Maryland. Michael Kaiser, the institute's chairman and former president of the Kennedy Center in Washington, will be the lead consultant.
"This is Erb's first Transformational Arts Grant and is designed to help an important arts organization at a tipping point moment," foundation president John M. Erb said in a statement. "We have been a longtime supporter of the Carr Center's jazz education programs and began a conversation with them early last year about how to leverage their incredible overall programmatic growth towards a strong future."
Kaiser said in a statement that the DeVos Institute was excited to work with the Carr Center to stabilize its future. "Arts organizations in the United States face many challenges, but our cities need healthy and diverse arts centers that educate and inspire our communities," Kaiser said.
In addition to the $500,000 Erb grant, the Carr Center also has received $150,000 from the Kresge Foundation, $45,000 from Bloomberg Philanthropies, $25,000 from the Michigan Council for the Humanities and $3,200 from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. An additional $50,000 from the Erb Foundation has been earmarked for jazz education.
Contact Mark Stryker: 313-222-6459 or mstryker@freepress.com