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Historic Lincoln Theatre may close

29.09.11

In part, the Lincoln is one of many victims of a suffering arts economy. Opportunities for funding are shrinking or gone entirely: rentals of the theatre are down, and a number of grants the Lincoln once applied for are now invitation-only. The Meyers Foundation, previously a reliable resource for grant money for the Lincoln, stopped supplying funds to the theater two years ago. According to Lincoln’s executive director, Eilene Lifsey, the theatre applied for the D.C. Arts Commission grants at the end of August. The $20,000 they could receive for the 2012 Fiscal Year would be in the form arts education grant, not for general operations. None of it would be enough to compensate for the lack of money from the district.

Richard Lee, a member of the Lincoln’s Board of Directors and past President of the U Street Foundation, implored members of the community to contribute donations to the theatre, as did Cynthia Robbins, also a board member, who cited D.C.’s $89 million in unanticipated tax revenues as a potential source of funding for Lincoln.

Source: Washington Post (blog)