Commongrounds and Crosshatch are proud to be among five finalists for the Impact 100 grant.
Over the past decade, the changing entertainment and hospitality landscape in the Traverse City region has left many vibrant sectors of the performing arts without accessible, mid-sized, spaces to call home—evolving towards the all-inclusive entertainment demands of our region’s tourism economy. Our project serves to reverse this course towards a robust, inclusive performing arts scene that holds its art and artists at high value.
In 2017 Crosshatch and singer-songwriter May Erlewine set out to solve this problem and began developing a dedicated 150-seat listening room to be housed within the community-owned walls of Commongrounds Cooperative.
In October of 2020, with construction on Commongrounds poised to begin, Andrew Lutes joined the Commongrounds development team and worked to align the venue vision with the emerging needs and impacts of other regional performing arts organizations and stakeholders.
The timing of the COVID19 pandemic has provided Commongrounds with a unique opportunity to develop a space with the needs of artists and arts organizations, hit hard by the restrictions on in-person gatherings, in mind. In doing so, the collaborators have designed not only a best-in-class sound and lighting system, but a one of a kind audio/video production infrastructure, capable of recording and simulcasting venue performances live—to anywhere on earth—in high definition.
This thoughtful technology infrastructure aligns with a new era of artist business model, as artists took to the web during the pandemic—allowing them to reach their most recent patrons in far off markets, while re-engaging audiences in person, regionally. It also brings plug-and-play virtual integrations to the fingertips of countless purpose-driven organizations and emerging makers throughout our region. These technological capabilities are viewed as essential to the success of our project, are proven, outspoken needs of our regions’ artists, and the key category for which we seek Impact100 funding.
As the central core of Commongrounds’ arts mission, the Music and Events Venue is a state-of-the-art venue poised to serve our region’s original music, theater, dance, and wellness communities through up-close, intentional experiences and the deep interaction of music, movement, written and spoken word, multimedia art, and integrated technology.
With construction underway and a June 2022 target for occupancy, Commongrounds and Crosshatch are currently working with other partner organizations such as Parallel 45, Interlochen Center for the Arts, TC Dance Project, Groundwork Center, and more, to build out a rich calendar of concert series, storytelling series, residencies, workshops, classes, and exhibitions—with virtual options for participation available for nearly every use of space.
Our collaborative mission is to build a compassionate original thought community that nurtures and supports creators and organizations committed to service and social responsibility through the arts. Through stakeholder engagement and programming partnerships, we will utilize this venue to lower the barrier of participation in the performing arts for youth, elders, BIPOC, and members of our regional arts community at-large—both patrons and creators—by providing a cultivated place and culture where the energy resonates with each moment, where safety and trust are paramount, where play is standard, and where innovation and connection are nurtured.