Help Preserve the United Palace for its Centennial
The United Palace will turn 100 years young on February 22, 2030. We will celebrate that milestone with many different events throughout the anniversary year.
But before we can pop champagne and eat cake, we need to do the hard work to ensure the United Palace looks her best for the centennial celebration.
It costs over a million dollars a year just to maintain this one-of-a-kind monument. That does not include capital projects to upgrade and preserve the building, such as:
- The multi-year project of restoring the facade since a corner of ornamental terra-cotta broke off and fell on Wadsworth Avenue last year.
- The first phase of upgrading the theater's A/C
- Modernizing the elevator that transports guests to the balcony level
- Repainting the interior to recapture the glamor of opening day
You may have heard the Eikerenkoetter family retired in 2016. Since then, the United Palace has continued to serve the community. We’ve had concerts headlined by Mary J. Blige, Ms. Lauryn Hill, and Alicia Keys, and movie programs with appearances by Spike Lee, Meryl Streep, Steven Spielberg, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, who has become a friend and patron of the United Palace. We even hosted the Tony Awards and Tribeca Film Festival. But beyond the headlines, each year, we open our doors to 50 community and youth arts education programs, serving an audience of over 30,000 students, families, and emerging artists from Washington Heights and Northern Manhattan.
Above all, our mission is to preserve this building, which was designated a New York City Landmark in 2016, for the next generation of dreamers.
Rev. Ike’s son, Xavier, brought me here in 2012 to run the new arts and cultural program. I fell in love with the Palace and its special energy the first day I walked in. Now I am the CEO, and my passion for the Palace has only grown. If you’d like to hear more about our plans or share your history with the building, please email me at [email protected]. I will respond.
Please donate today to help us preserve the United Palace as a beacon for unity, creativity, and transformation for the next 100 years!
With respect and gratitude,
Mike Fitelson, United Palace CEO