Riverbank Theatre $500,000 Matching Grant For New Venue

Riverbank Theatre, Marine City MI has secured the match to a $500,000 Challenge Grant offered by the Moore family. The Challenge Grant was offered in October for the capital fund to complete The Boardwalk Theatre, Riverbank's new 350-seat venue located in St. Clair, and included a match requirement by 2022 year end.

Momentum was set in motion in November when Marci Fogal, President of the Blue Water Area Convention and Visitors Bureau announced they would donate $125,000 to the initiative and partner with Riverbank on tourism marketing initiatives. Kathy Vertin, Founder and Board President of the non profit noted that "once the CVB made that significant donation, I think people saw this as achievable and wanted to help out; roughly 200 donors made up the remainder of the match with donations ranging from $50 to $50,000 within an 8-week period." Numerous area businesses offered support and will be permanently featured on the Founding Donor Wall planned for the new venue, as will all individual donations of $1,000 or more.

This $1,000,000 finalizes the funding for the venue and ensures Riverbank will be able to add this venue to its offering as planned this summer. Frank Moore, who serves on the board of Riverbank and whose family provided the Challenge Grant, states "it is heartening to see such widespread support at all levels for this project. It indicates that there is a desire to have arts and culture grow in the area"

When asked if she was done fundraising Vertin said, "for non-profit organizations such as theaters who rely solely on ticket sales, grants, and donations, fundraising is ongoing. The difficulty is that we have tapped our donor base for this heavy lift and when it comes time to secure season sponsors and advertisers, people are going to be donor weary."

As a catalyst for tourism, the addition of this new venue located in the Plaza in downtown St. Clair is expected to grow theater attendance from 22,000 visitors to an estimated 54,000 annually once fully established, according to an Economic Impact Study performed by Anderson Economic Group and commissioned by the St. Clair County EDA. This initiative was voted a top three project by Blue Meets Green and will have tremendous impact in St. Clair County.

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