A few months ago, the Vintage Theater in downtown Scranton closed its doors on the Penn Avenue location, leaving the city with one less all-ages venue. When it happened, I thought, oh great, another loss of an arts venue in this area. I’ve always felt that all-ages venue are important to any community. When I was in high school, I wasn’t into sports, so I found solace in attending punk and indie shows at some other now-defunct venues- Cafe Del Soul, Homebase, and Cafe Metropolis. These places welcomed kids that were into music, art, or poetry. When I lived in the Philly area for 7 or 8 years, I also hung out at various arts venues and started doing a lot of poetry readings. Without those venues, maybe I never would have become a poet/writer. They provided a place for me to exercise my craft and share my work in writing groups and with a live audience at open mic nights, long before I went around the tri-state area doing featured readings.

Fortunately for the Scranton arts community, the Vintage Theater is trying to re-open to a new location in the downtown. A task force has been created, and I’m happy to say that my girlfriend Jenna and I are on it, along with a lot of other artists, musicians, and writers that care about places like this. To make the Vintage Theater succeed, there are a few fundraisers coming up. This Friday, there will be a fundraiser at the Houdini Museum, located at 1433 North Main Ave. The event starts at  7 p.m. and will feature music and comedy. Tickets are $15. Refreshments will be provided.

There will be another fundraiser on Thursday August 9 at Mert’s Bar, located on Penn Avenue in the downtown. Tickets are $20, and that will provide access to an open bar and food. There will also be a raffle for various gift baskets and prizes.

The venue is also raising money through an Indiegogo campaign, and the goal of that is to raise $3,500 in about three and a half weeks. You can make a small donation online by clicking here.

This area barely has any all-ages venues left, so let’s help the Vintage Theater re-open and stay open.