“Put a Roof on the Mother” is a 60-day public funding campaign to raise $10,000 to put a new roof on Black Portal. Black Portal is a multi-year project to transform an abandoned movie cinema into an immersive arts performance venue and creative incubator for experimental Black artists. The transformation will take place in three phases: being, becoming, and emergence. This project is a new work of speculative architecture in Northeast Detroit. This project extends the Talking Dolls ecosystem in Northeast Detroit. This building borders Conant Gardens, a place that has produced Detroit music legends. In 2023, we purchased the 8,500-square-foot decaying building, located in the shadow of Conant Gardens. The building has been out of operation since the early 2000s. 

The total cost for the new roof is $67,000.00. We are currently looking to raise $10,000 from friends and family to contribute to the repair in the next 60 days. A roof replacement now will save it from extensive damage that will happen over the winter and allow for significant progress to occur in the spring, avoiding expensive setbacks that could prolong the project.