Designation City Historic Landmark Phone +1 616-459-4788 ext. 130 | Opened 1911 Rebuilt 1999 | |
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Owner Grand Rapids Community Media Center Type Concert-ready Community Theatre Capacity 400/60 (main auditorium/micro-cinema) Current use Community Theatre/Performance Center Production Concert / Live-Performance / Movie / Other Address 1130 Wealthy Street SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506, United States Similar Urban Institute for Contemp, DeVos Place Conventi, Frederik Meijer Gardens, Woodland Mall, Fountain Street Church Profiles | ||
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Wealthy Theatre is a historic movie theatre and performance center in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is currently operated by the Grand Rapids Community Media Center, a non-profit corporation. Wealthy Theatre is a mixed use facility, capable of hosting live music, film, theatre and dance.
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History
Wealthy Theatre was constructed in 1911 for vaudeville and live theater, and later became a neighborhood movie house. The original name of the venue was the Pastime Vaudette. Due to the decline in popularity of vaudeville, the Pastime closed its doors before the end of the decade, becoming a warehouse for the Michigan Aircraft Company during World War I. The Theatre was renamed Wealthy Theatre in the 1920s after being purchased by Oscar and Lillian Varneau and resumed operation as a movie house. By the 1960s it had shifted to foreign films and by the mid-1970s operations ceased. The building stood empty and decaying for more than 25 years before the South East Economic Development neighborhood association launched a capital campaign to fund its restoration. The Theatre re-opened in 1998 as an independent not-for-profit community arts center. In 2005 Wealthy Theatre was acquired by the Grand Rapids Community Media Center, a non profit organization operating the local Public-access television cable TV channel, GRTV, as well as community radio station 88.1FM WYCE, and The Rapidian - an online citizen journalism platform.
Peter Wege Auditorium
The Peter Wege Auditorium is the primary venue of Wealthy Theatre. The capacity is 400 persons with multiple barrier-free sections. The Peter Wege Auditorium is named after its main benefactor, Peter Wege. His gift in the 1990s helped renovate and restore this space to its present condition.
Dirk Koning Micro-Cinema
The Koning Micro-Cinema is the secondary space at 1130 Wealthy SE, in the same building as the primary space (The Peter Wege Auditorium). The capacity is 60 persons with four barrier-free available. The Koning is named after Community Media Center's founding director, the late Dirk Koning. The Micro-Cinema space was created in 2007 in response to the need for a smaller, more intimate gathering space. This smaller space serves for movies, smaller comedy events, lectures, forums, acoustic musical performances and other uses.