At a Press Conference Wednesday morning, it was announced that a new board has taken over the historic Lincoln Square Theater in Downtown Decatur. Friends of the Lincoln Square Theater is a Not-for-Profit organization dedicated to reinventing the historical, downtown Lincoln Square Theater as a sustainable, community arts, education and entertainment center through strategic partnerships with a focus on tourism to promote Decatur economic revitalization, historical preservation and community enrichment.
In May 2020 the city of Decatur put a notice effectively putting the community on notice about the possible demolition of the building. Fairly quickly a base of volunteer and community support with the aim of ‘saving The Lincoln Square Theater’ took shape and a core group of people began to strategize. These conversations lead to the creation of the new non-for-profit Friends of the Lincoln Square Theater Inc (FLST).
July 2020 ownership of the main theater building at 141 N Main was transferred to FLST. Later that month FLST acquired the old ’Odd Fellows’ building at 145 N Main adjacent to the theater that had once been part of the theater. During July and August, clean up and extensive inspection of building systems by various professionals to determine building repair and renovation needs and begin that process of repairs.
The group’s vision for the theater includes changing the seating on the main level to a flexible seating plan that would allow for the seating to be rearranged, and even for additional staging in the middle of the floor. This flexible seating would allow for a multitude of new and exciting uses like dinner theater for example.
Taking into historical preservation into consideration, the plan is to construct this in such a way that it could be removed, enabling the theater to be returned to its original configuration if that is desired in the future.
The acquisition of the adjacent ’Odd Fellows’ building at 145 N Main, expands the size of the theater to allow installation of large ADA bathrooms to service needs for both buildings on the main level and a food, bar area in the other side. The ‘Odd Fellows’ building was once part of the theater complex. The addition also offers many exciting possibilities for development by enabling a greater use of the theater itself and allows two events to occur simultaneously. The installation of a utility area for catering would create opportunities for business partnerships for large events such as conferences, educational training, weddings and more.
Meanwhile the public is invited to an Open House to view parts of the theater in conjunction with Historical preservation week. It’s happening Saturday Aug 15th from 10-2.
Work continues to clean up the building, identify renovation needs and conduct fundraising efforts and pursue a current list of repairs.
Friends of the Lincoln Square Theater asks anyone with any interest in helping with the project, either through volunteering or financially are asked to contact the group through any of the following ways:
Visit the website @ www.Lincolnsquaretheater.com
Keep up to date @ www.facebook.com/friendsoftheIincoln, or join the Facebook group of volunteers @ www.facebook.com/friendsofthelincoln. Or by calling 833-333-SHOW (7469)
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