An open community forum is planned for Monday, May 7, to garner support for the Harding Theater Revitalization Project—a community group dedicated to transforming the old and sadly abandoned Harding Theater on Divisadero Street into a nonprofit center for the arts.

Located on 616 Divisadero Street (right next door to The Independent) and built in 1926 by Samuel H. Levin, The Harding Theater was used mainly as a movie theater until 1970. After a 1971 Grateful Dead performance, the space was converted into a church (a real church, not a church for deadheads and Jerry Garcia-lovers) until 2004. The theater now sits empty along with so many others in this city.

Kudos to The Harding Theater Revitalization Project and Neighbors Developing Divisadero for providing a forum in which to share their strategy for the building. Information from the organizers below:

Community Forum for the Harding Theater Revitalization Project

Monday May 7th from 6:30-9:30 at THEOFFCENTER: 848 Divisadero (between McAllister and Fulton)

Facebook event page (RSVP/like our page): http://www.facebook.com/events/401390576547862

Line-up: Live music (Devon Mcclive), interactive exhibits, presentation/Q&A (~8PM), food/drinks by donation, photobooth, free raffle ticket for first 30 attendees

Neighbors Developing Divisadero (NDDivis) is excited to share our vision and strategy for the Harding Theater with the community on Monday May 7th from 6:30-9:30PM at THEOFFCENTER. We ask that people come with a desire to actively engage in contributing to the development and strategy for revitalizing the theater as a community effort. After saving the Harding from being demolished in 2005, the time has come for the community to be proactive in revitalizing this amazing historic community resource.

The community forum will showcase a self-guided interactive exhibit so that people can trickle in and out and stay as long as they like over the course of the 3 hour event. The exhibit will include: (1) an overview of the Harding with a focus on relevant development, planning, and community activism information, (2) an overview of theaters in the region, (3) a reflection on the recent changes and community needs of Divis (including survey data), (4) our vision for the design and programming of the theater (including visual examples), (5) partnerships and support, and (6) our strategy for moving forward (incorporating as a 501(c)3 and launching an indiegogo fundraising campaign by July 2012). We will provide an accompanying guide/handout for the exhibit designed to generate community interest and ideas regarding areas of design, programming, fundraising, and partnerships.

We are still collecting survey data online through our initial survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HardingTheaterSurvey. Over 300 people have taken it so far and a summary of preliminary results can be found here: http://nddivis.org/harding-theater-revitalization-project/survey-data

In community,

Amy Farah Weiss

[email protected]

Neighbors Developing Divisadero (nddivis.org)

Harding Theater Revitalization Project ()

• Tag: Divisadero, Harding Theater