Center in the Square, a non-profit organization located in downtown Roanoke, celebrated their 35-year anniversary in December 2018.
The celebration event planned for the occasion, a free day for patrons to enjoy the museums, was cancelled due to weather and large amounts of snow. Instead, the celebration will be held September 5, 2019 at the annual dinner for Center in the Square.
The dinner will not only celebrate the 35 years of promoting downtown Roanoke and increasing foot traffic in the area, it also serves as another fundraising opportunity for the organization.
Tara Marciniak, Director of Institutional Advancement for Center in the Square, said the organization was created in response to a mass exodus of businesses from the downtown area.
“Downtown Roanoke used to look very different than it looks now. There were a lot of vacant storefronts. Businesses had moved out to shopping centers, leaving a lot of, well, vacancy down here,” says Marciniak. “It was just a very different situation and families did not want to come downtown.”
In response to the burgeoning sprawl away from downtown, Marciniak said a group of business leaders gathered, and with the help of the community through the Design 79 Challenge, generated the idea to create a multicultural, educational, tourist center in the middle of the problematic downtown Roanoke.
“The foundation decided any organization that was going to be brave enough to come downtown, we would pay two years of rent and maintenance and utilities, all of that, for them,” says Marciniak. “This way they could just put their own money back into their exhibits, performances, programs, staffing and all of that stuff, which I think is a really neat idea. I mean, if someone wants to pay your rent and mortgage, think of what else you could do with that money?”
Center in the Square began with only five organizations partnered with them in their efforts to improve the downtown area, including Mill Mountain Theater, the Arts Council, the Art Museum (now known as the Taubman), the history museum and the science museum.
“We are thrilled to now provide five buildings to 11 other nonprofits at free and reduced rent, and most of them pay no rent back to Center in the Square,” says Marciniak. “We then fundraise, create events and have our own programs to generate the money needed to sustain those buildings for all of those beneficiary organizations.”
About the Writer:
Jennifer F. Riales is a Roanoke-based freelance writer and blogger. She and her husband, both originating from Memphis, TN, enjoy visiting local coffeehouses, going on walks with their dog and cuddling with their two cats.
