New Haven, CT
Raise the Roof
A Broken Umbrella Theatre launches a matching campaign for New Haven's shared cultural arts hub, The Umbrella
The Umbrella, a community-centered multipurpose arts venue in development at 280 Blake Street, is backed by $250,000 in planning funds through the Community Investment Fund 2030 (CIF). Official State of Connecticut records identify A Broken Umbrella Theatre's Multipurpose Venue Planning project in CIF Round 7 and the December 18, 2025 State Bond Commission agenda. The public investment adds to the $500,000 Good to Great grant.
Official State of Connecticut materials list A Broken Umbrella Theatre, New Haven, for a $250,000 CIF Round 7 planning grant recommendation for Multipurpose Venue Planning. The State Bond Commission's December 18, 2025 agenda describes the project as a planning grant to support renovations of 280 Blake Street into a flexible visual and performing arts venue.
In that spirit, A Broken Umbrella Theatre is launching Raise the Roof — a public matching campaign with a clear, finite goal: raise $250,000 in community gifts to match the state's investment, dollar for dollar.
A generous donor has committed $125,000 in matching funds, meaning every dollar given by the community through September 2026 is doubled — up to the full match.
"The Umbrella is not a home for one company. It is envisioned as New Haven's first shared cultural hub — designed to serve the artists, theater companies, musicians, educators, and community organizations that make this city's creative life what it is," says Ian Alderman, Executive Director of A Broken Umbrella Theatre.
The facility will feature a 90-seat black box theater, a cabaret and event space with a commercial kitchen, gallery space, rehearsal and office space on a new second floor, and an outdoor patio. It is being developed in partnership with a growing coalition of New Haven arts and community organizations.
To learn more, join the community at The Umbrella during Westville's Artwalk for Bagels in the Black Box on Saturday, May 9 from 9:30-11am. Explore the raw space, see schematics and renderings, and hear the vision firsthand.
To support the Raise the Roof campaign, visit abrokenumbrella.org/raise-the-roof.
About The Umbrella at 280 Blake Street
The Umbrella will be a permanent, shared home for artists and arts organizations in New Haven. Located at the crossroads of Beaver Hills, West Hills, and Westville — just blocks from Southern Connecticut State University — the venue will create a center for new work, classes and workshops, community gathering, and creative collaboration open to the whole city.