The River Raisin Centre for the Arts

The River Raisin Centre for the Arts is dedicated to providing high quality performing arts presentations, arts education and professional support to local arts organizations.

In addition to presenting the best internationally touring artists throughout the year, we are the leader in arts education. 700 students, both youth and adult, come to our arts campus to learn each week! Our programming includes the RRCA Dance Academy, Cantate (Treble Youth Chorale), ARCO (Arts Centre Orchestra), School of Music and the Creative Dramatics Program. The RRCA is also home to several performance groups such as the River Raisin Ballet Compnay, Motor City Dance Extension, and the Music Theatre Company.

The River Raisin Centre for the Arts (RRCA) was founded in 1987 as a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization by a group of community leaders. The dream of the founders was to create an arts center through the restoration of the 1938 art deco Monroe Movie Theater in Historic Downtown Monroe.

The Monroe Theater was opened in February, 1938 as a unique showplace for movies during the “Golden Era” of the movie industry. Many afternoons and evenings, sellout houses of 1200 patrons filled the seats of this colorful Southwest Deco style theater. Lifelong Monroe residents have fond memories of attending movies at this centerpiece of entertainment in the heart of Downtown Monroe. The theater thrived throughout the forties and fifties. The grand showplace received a facelift, inside and out, in 1961 to meet growing competition and enhance patron services. The Monroe Theater continued as a popular venue until 1975, when changes in the movie industry and competition for entertainment dollars forced the closing of what had become a community landmark.
Annual facility use grew from 60 days in 1995 to currently more than 350 days per year, with national tours, local presentations, performing arts classes, and workshops.

The significance of the RRCA’s survival and growth should not be underestimated because the road ahead is no less demanding. The RRCA’s future success depends on fulfilling the profound need of arts programming in the region, for which the RRCA is uniquely position to provide as a proven leader.