Athens Morton Theatre lands Fox Gives grant

Comeback 837, your time. Atlanta's Fox Theater is lending a helping hand to other historic venues in Georgia, awarding a dozen single-year grants to ensure they continue serving their communities. Making a difference. This is happening through Fox Gives, which is the nonprofit philanthropic arm of the Fox Theater. And good day. This is Paul Milliken. He's live in Athens this morning. Paul, the Morton Theater is one of those grant recipients. Good morning to you. Yes. And I am standing center stage, Buck and Caitlin. You know what that means, right? It's time for my big solo performance. I'm ready to sing. No, you know what? Duke Ellington was once on this stage. If you could roll me out a piano right now. I'm not going to play it. Don't worry, Lynn. It's great to see you both and you out there as well. And welcome to the incredible Morton Theater. I am so happy to be here and to be learning about this amazing space in Georgia. We'll talk more about that with Lynn Green in a minute. First, though, our great friend Lee Burns is here all the way from the Fox Theater in Atlanta. So let's start with the beginning of the story. You, of course, work with Fox Gives. What is Fox Gives? Fox Gives is the outreach arm of the Fox Theater. It's our dynamic community partnerships program. Yeah. And what you do is you help venues like this survive and thrive around the state. You give out grants, and you've just announced 12 single-year grants, and one of those goes to the Morton Theater. So what does that mean, the money that you're giving? What is it used for in theaters like this? All types of things, from physical improvements to strategic planning, which is going to be the use here at the Morton Theater. Yeah. Why is this something that is such Such a commitment to the Fox Theater to help other venues around Georgia thrive. Well, I think so many people don't realize the Fox Theater was saved in the 70s. We pay it forward through Fox Gives. Our mission is to preserve and share, so it's a natural fit for us to do this across our state. Yeah, and you kind of love the Morton Theater here in Athens, don't you? I try not to be partial, but I do love the Morton Theater. Yeah, it's really special. First of all, beautifully preserved, but what a backstory. So, Lynn Green, first of all, thanks for letting us be on stage. Oh, thank you for coming. It's amazing to be here. What is the history of this gorgeous space? Well, you're standing in the oldest surviving. African-American built, owned, and operated vaudeville theater in the United States. Wow. And so that goes back to what year? 1910. 1910. Now, Morton of Morton Theater and the Morton Building, who was that? Now, our owner-operator was Monroe Bowers, or Pink Morton, as he was better known. And he was a phenomenal individual who owned not just the Morton, but 25 buildings across the city of Athens. Incredible. And in this building, you had the theater, but also just a bevy of Black-owned businesses. Absolutely. Not only was the theater itself African-American owned, but all of the professionals, there were doctor's offices, dentist's offices, insurance companies, beauty shops, barber shops, a pharmacy, a pool hall, and two funeral homes. Oh, incredible. So when people come to this theater, they are really stepping into a chunk of not just black history, but Georgia and national history, too. Who are some of the performers we might know who have been on this stage? Oh, as you mentioned, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Ma Rainey. Yes. Bessie Smith, a lot of them are actually immortalized on a mural that was just put in our building in August. And we're going to show that mural later. It is stunning down there. So tell me about the importance of Fox Gives and the Fox Theater. When you are a recipient of a grant like this, what does it mean for this venue? Oh, it means so much. As part of Athens-Clarke County Unified Government, we're a facility here that is open to rentals. So people can come in and experience a lot of different art in a lot of different ways. But with our partnership with the Fox and the grants and just even the professional development we're able to get from them, it helps us to be able to keep our doors open, to make improvements and to be open for the community. And also the outreach with our education program. Right. Right. Well, talk about that for a minute. So students in the county get to come to this theater, right? Absolutely. It's actually one of my. favorite events that we have. And we have young people come in and see shows for the first time. But every Clark County district eighth grader comes into our facility in February during Black History Month. And they get to see a performance. And this year it'll be, or 27, it'll be Jackie Robinson. Oh, amazing. All right. Well, we have so much more to talk about this morning because Fox Gives is incredible. The Morton Theater is incredible. And out in the upper lobby, there are pieces of history that are so neat. So you'll see that live this morning on Good Day Atlanta in the And then by the 10 o'clock hour, Caitlin and Buck, I'll work up my routine. I think there's got to be a piano back here somewhere. I'll do a little scatting, like a little Cab Calloway type of thing. And I know you'll be watching, right? Yeah. Yeah. There are a lot of legends on that stage. Please don't screw that up by trying to include yourself among them. And I'm another one. That's it. We're adding to the list today, the three of us. Legends on this stage. Yes. Wow. What did Meatloaf say? Two out of three ain't bad? Two out of three ain't bad. Yeah, two out of three ain't bad. Legends on that stage right now. Yeah, yeah. All right, Paul, thank you for that. By the way, the Morton Theater is located at 195 West Washington Street in Athens. For a list of upcoming events there, follow the links on our website, fox5atlanta.com. Just look for the story under the Good Day section.