The Liberty Theatre & Cultural Arts Center:

Our Mission

The Liberty Theatre’s primary purpose is to promote, preserve, enhance and celebrate African American heritage, artistic expression & culture with a blend of live entertainment and artistic excellence intrinsic in how we experience the world through our craft – acting, directing, educating, playwriting and community programming, and creative partnerships.

Our Vision

The Liberty Theatre will stake its claim as Columbus’ and Georgia’s foremost leader in the cultivation and celebration of African American theatre while providing a supportive space for artists to share their artistic excellence and cultural arts and talents that educates, enrich, entertain, empower and inform.

Our Rich History

The Liberty Theatre has served as a pillar of the Columbus Community with a history that dates back more than 100 years. As Columbus’ first African American theatre and one of Georgia’s four African American theatres’ the Liberty Theatre has a rich history and even richer future and legacy.

The Liberty Theatre first opened in Columbus late April 1925. The theatre was the only one in Columbus that African Americans could attend during the Jim Crow era. Roy E. Martin, a prominent white businessman, owned the theatre chain. The theatre was one of the few cultural centers for the black community in Columbus besides the churches. The theatre is a brick building located at 813 8th Avenue and contained a full stage where plays could be performed by local groups, a balcony and a stage loft. The Liberty Theatre had a total of 600 seats including those in the balcony, which means that, for a while, this theatre had the largest seating capacity of any motion-picture theater in Columbus. During the silent movie era, local brands provided entertainment. The Liberty Theatre also hosted vaudeville and minstrel shows. Many remarkable blues and jazz performers played at the Liberty Theatre, but none were more famous than Columbus native, Gertrude Pridgett “Ma” Rainey, who achieved national recognition as the Mother of the Blues and a prominent figure in the African American community. The end of segregation combined with the decline of road shows, the Liberty Theatre to gradually fade in popularity and eventually closed in 1974. Martin donated the Liberty Theatre to a group of William H. Spencer High School alumni called the Owlettes. The Liberty Theatre reopened in 1997.