Hooray for the National Parks Service and congratulations to the Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC), the recipient of an NPS Save America’s Treasures Collection Grant. The $650,000 grant funding will be used toward the restoration of the theater’s historic “Mighty Wurlitzer” organ.
Organ donations needed: The grant will only cover roughly half the cost of the project. I can’t find a dedicated donation button but this link includes contact info for the Development Office.
Seen here is organist and silent film accompanist Peter Edwin Krasinski who has been PPAC’s house organist since the fall of 2020. He performs holiday concerts and largely improvised accompaniments for silent films. My photos of the organ always have him in it because they rise together from the floor in the beginning of a show, and then disappear together at the end.
Krasinski’s work in 2023 with RI International Film Festival was exceptional. He has also supported the Juneteenth choir which sounds like an odd combination but it totally worked. You can watch prerecorded holiday videos on the PPAC Wurlitzer link, including the Christmas sing-along, and the Halloween show.
It is unknown when the work on the organ will begin or whether the upcoming holiday events can happen this year. The event calendar does not show any of these seasonal events on the schedule yet. That does not mean they won’t happen.
***********************************
How on earth does anyone ever learn to play this beast?!