I'm sort of ambivalent about this reason, though. I mean, for years and years, I've been hearing that we've got to get suburbanites downtown, and so we've used a tremendous amount of our tax monies to build new stadia, build entertainment complexes -- some successful [[Max), some struggling [[DSO, MOT), some doomed [[Ford Auditorium) -- and to give low-cost loans to luxury restauranteurs. And, frankly, in a city with some of the most rotten neighborhoods in the country, it's always been something of an insult that the city's limited resources get so often plugged into downtown. All so that we can "lure" suburbanites down there, and create a fantasyland for them, where they can drive in, park, dine, go to a show, and then get the hell out of dodge.
Now I know this is an accepted strategy: Build entertainment downtown. Guys from think tanks will tell you to do that. But I have my doubts. Maybe it's the incredible divide we have here. Maybe it's the way we do it. But I can't help it. As much as I like classical or opera, I often see these things as colonial outposts of the ancien regime, as cultural millstones we are obligated to support despite much more pressing needs. Is it unreasonable to harbor these doubts?
Not to discount any noble motives among the people involved, or to say that young people don't benefit, but: Isn't this just so much PR frosting? Whenever people tell me to think of the children, my BS detector redlines.
But, by the same token, most of the stuff that develops organically, from the ground up, gives the national press many reasons to speak well of Detroit. Rock, rap, urban farmers and all other sorts of people regularly attract good press for Detroit. And it's not just stuff that happens to premiere here, it's stuff that's integral to the city, our experiences here, not something imposed from above.
All these doubts I still have, but I am glad they are a solid tenant downtown, and I love the interior of the place. [[The exterior, um ...) This may be their best contribution, giving new purpose to a grand old moviehouse. So, on the basis of that reason alone, I think it's worth it to make a donation to keep the opera there. [[And maybe one for the symphony while we're at it.)
See? It wasn't so hard to listen to somebody's doubts, was it? Sort of like "engaging the community."
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