Crown Arts Collaborative

Max Wilson is the founder and Executive Director of Crown Arts Collaborative (CAC), the 501(c)(3) nonprofit company responsible for the return of theatre, visual art, and film to the historic Crown Uptown Theatre. Max is a graduate of Wichita State University where he received his BFA in Musical Theatre and a triple minor in Communication, Business, and Political Science. He served as the office manager of The Crown Uptown Theatre from 2011-2015 and, after a brief stint in the finance sector, returned to the arts in 2018 to serve as the Chief Operations Officer of Roxy's Downtown. In 2020, Max returned to his favorite home for entertainment, The Crown Uptown Theatre, to see the company through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. With a vision of creating an organization that brings artists together across diverse artistic mediums, CAC was born. The organization's mission was inspired by the theatre's long history - a cinerama turned vaudeville house turned movie theater and dance hall turned dinner theatre. The space has been home to nearly every kind of artist and arts patron, making it the perfect home for CAC. 

 

As the company enters its first full season, following a successful "Pre-Season" launch in September of 2021, CAC will produce a film series to feature Wichita's talented local filmmakers, 4 musicals (3 of which will be regional premiers), 1 play, and 1 dance spectacular. The company partners with a local restaurant, visual artist, and fellow nonprofit for every production to encourage community engagement throughout the industries of culinary arts, visual arts, and fundraising. In addition to theatrical productions, the art form for which the Crown Uptown is most famous, CAC has a long term plan to produce 1 feature film annually and intends to launch educational initiatives that will offer classes and camps in the fields of theatre, film, dance, and visual art. CAC hopes to bridge the gaps that exist within the Wichita arts community and to provide employment opportunities for artists of every stripe.