Alger Hopes to Light Up 2026

As it is with most folks, the Alger Theater is ready to set our New Year’s priorities. As of our last writing we were coming off our high from the Light Up The Alger event held on November 30. Since then, we were happy to host a couple of days whereby our younger community members under 11 years old were able to come in and decorate cookies, gingerbread houses, and ornaments. Candy canes, popcorn, juice boxes and coloring books for all! But more importantly it was a chance for the caregivers and their precious charges to come and meet others from the neighborhood in a shared community space.

The Alger is about to open its doors again to help with the 2026 City of Detroit’s Home Owners’ Property Tax Exemption Program (HOPE). Qualified homeowners are helped to complete and submit applications to the City for possible property tax reductions.

We are also happy to announce that we are planning another community event for this coming spring!

As most of you know, we are poised to begin working in the main part of the theater. Since the building is declared historical, and we do not currently have running programs, this is going to be a heavy lift. This is going to require serious funding from donations and grants. In order to attract these funding sources, it will be necessary for us to show a strong community need, interest and participation. Of course, the easiest way to begin would be to aggressively increase the membership of the Friends of The Alger Theater with Cornerstone, East English Village, and Morningside residents.

We also need to grow our volunteer participation. We will place calls for help in the various newsletters as well as advertise on the Alger marquee. We are looking for volunteers who can help us with the day-today activities as well as with specific events.

We’re looking to move forward and would love to see our you, our neighbor!