The Metro: Detroit’s Carr Center seeking support amid financial troubles
CEO Oliver Ragsdale, Jr. joined “The Metro” on Friday to talk about the organization’s financial health and future.
Originally incorporated as The Arts League of Michigan, Inc., The Carr Center has become one of the leading Black arts organizations in the country.
The Carr Center is Detroit’s premier multidisciplinary arts organization focused mainly on promoting and sharing Black arts.
Like so many other arts organizations, the pandemic made the organization less financially stable. This past week, the Detroit Free Press reported that The Carr Center is now in danger of closing its doors.
Carr Center CEO Oliver Ragsdale, Jr. joined The Metro on Friday to talk about the organization’s financial health and future.
“We’re having a hard time finding new donors, new funders, increasing the donations of previous donors and bringing previous donors back who have dropped off of our donation wheel, if you will,” he said. “And so it’s been difficult.”
Ragsdale said the Center has also accumulated some debt as work continues on the organization’s new performance studio inside Detroit’s historic Park Shelton building, which is set to open in the fall.
“It is a struggle. But you know, we’ve had these struggles over the 33 years that we’ve been in business,” he said.
He says organizations like the Carr Center are so important because it provides “Black content in Black context,” noting that you don’t have to be Black to appreciate Black art.
“As we all know, there’s something very special in the water here. And when you’re able to let the world know about it, to see it, to experience it, to understand that, that’s really significant,” Ragsdale said.
Use the media player above to hear the full interview with Oliver Ragsdale, Jr., CEO of The Carr Center.
More headlines from The Metro on April 5:
- Several women with disabilities filed a lawsuit to make some Wayne County, Detroit and state buildings more accessible. A U.S. District Judge recently denied the state’s request for government immunity, allowing the case to move forward. Michael Bartnik, an attorney for the plaintiffs, joined the show to discuss the case.
- The Gilbert Family Foundation gave a $1.8 million grant to The Greening of Detroit to help the nonprofit expand green spaces in the city. J.J. Velez, director of public space for the Foundation, joined the show to talk about the funding.
- It’s Tigers Opening Day in Detroit. Detroit Tigers beat writer for The Athletic Cody Stavenhagen joined The Metro to discuss the Tigers hot start.
- Running April 6-14 at the Detroit Opera House is composer Missy Mazzoli’s “Breaking the Waves.” WDET’s Ryan Patrick Hooper spoke with Mazzoli about what people can expect.
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