Michigan Opera Theatre receives $5-million grant, largest donation in its 50-year history

Michigan Opera Theatre revealed Thursday that it has received a $5 million grant from the William Davidson Foundation. The award is the largest single charitable gift in the company's 50-year history.

The money will be used for infrastructure improvements at the historic Detroit Opera House as well as two seasons of artistic programming.

“We see (this grant) as an important way to continue our role in supporting what is truly an amazing story going on at MOT,” said Davidson Foundation President and CEO Darin McKeever. “It’s a celebrated and visionary company, and it’s also an amazing story about the Detroit Opera House. (MOT founding general director) David DiChiera bet on Detroit when few others were. Now MOT’s leadership are setting a new bar for artistic excellence and creativity for performing arts organizations around the world."

The Davidson Foundation was established in 2005 to continue founder William Davidson's commitment to charitable giving. Part of its mission involves "advancing for future generations the economic, cultural and civic vitality of southeast Michigan." Davidson, who died in 2009, was chairman and CEO of Guardian Industries and principal owner of several professional sports teams, including the Detroit Pistons and Detroit Shock.

MOT recently launched a $15 million capital campaign to update the 2,700-seat Opera House, which is home to the company's main stage productions and educational programs. It will use $3 million of the Davidson Foundation award for renovations, including an updated HVAC system and increased accessibility within the building.

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Ethan Davidson, chair of MOT's board of directors, said: “We’ve got a 100-year-old opera house right in Detroit, which is great. But it’s a 100-year-old building. We realized at some point that, in terms of … bathrooms, elevators and so forth, if we’re going to talk about community and audience and including everybody, we need to have a more accessible building.

“It’s not the most glamorous thing when you talk about bathrooms and elevators,” he added, “but it makes a big difference to a lot of people.”

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, live performances have not taken place in the Opera House in two years. The building will reopen to audiences in early 2022.

“Emotionally, it’s going to be so powerful to be there and thinking about what it means to return to opera,” said Yuval Sharon, MOT's artistic director. “Not in a knee-jerk way, but to come back to opera with a new perspective. In May, a really important piece to balance that is ‘X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X,’ by Anthony Davis and Thulani Davis. It’s starting here before the same production is premiered at the Metropolitan Opera, the Seattle Opera and Opera Omaha.

“This is a pivotal moment for the company,” he said, “not just because of what we are presenting to our audiences, but (because) we are now exporting Detroit and what Detroit opera means across the country in a way that’s going to be really significant and seen on a large scale. It’s a crucial moment to have support like this to help us realize it.”

Sharon noted the need for opera companies to step away from traditional pieces and produce new works. In Detroit, that effort will be aided by the Davidson Foundation grant’s $2 million designated for programming. Sharon also hinted that the 2022-23 season could include MOT’s first international collaboration.

Ethan Davidson, son of William Davidson and chair of the Davidson Foundation’s grants committee, said: “The William Davidson Foundation has been backing MOT for many years, supporting their work to develop the next generation of artists and in recognition of the important role MOT plays in downtown Detroit. ... We appreciate MOT’s commitment to telling stories that resonate with the Detroit community, its embrace of artistic risk and the strength of its partnerships across the region.”

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan Opera Theatre gets $5 million from Davidson Foundation