This season is amazing for Planet Ant
This Season, we turned 30.
Planet Ant has reached a remarkable milestone—30 years of laughter, creativity, and community. What began as a Hamtramck coffee shop has evolved into a cultural cornerstone, a space where artists and audiences collide in the most fantastic ways.
As we celebrate this 30-year mark, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has helped, laughed, played, and crafted magic within the walls of Planet Ant.
We introduced a new Executive Director
After six years at the helm, Darren Shelton stepped down as Executive Director and Daniel Jackson became our new interim director. We're excited for the future of Detroit's most unique nonprofit.
Our Training Center continued to grow with the introduction of two new classes and Workshop Fest
This year, we launched two new classes — “One Act Writing” and “Script to Screen Short Film.” We also introduced an all-new Workshop Festival that allowed members of our community to share their knowledge. We're constantly finding new ways to bolster Detroit's amazing talent through opportunities to learn different artistic skills. Our goal is to give you more ways to tell the stories that really inspire you.
We reopened the Planet Ant Black Box
We're back in the space where it all started with Monday Night Improv and a full theater season. The Black Box is a canvas for countless performances - it's the heart for improv and more intimate theatre, hosting new and classic works.
We collaborated with old and new
The Detroit Women of Comedy Festival returned with amazing performances and familiar faces. We became working partners with Cinema Detroit, another amazing Detroit institution, to help keep independent cinema alive in Detroit. Tapes Only - a VHS-based comedy show with a live panel, was added to our Wednesday monthly lineup, and Ancient Teenage Cyber Hackers 2 - Your beloved teenagers returned with an outrageous time travel adventure.
The Planet Ant Home and Farm Teams continue to thrive
The Home Team continued their legacy, presenting four knockout shows that explored history, showcased talent, and dove right into the hilarity of the human condition. The Farm Team system expanded with 4 different community-driven teams, creating six new original one-acts, a fully realized web series, a weekly fresh comedy show, and a focused improv team that entertained audiences throughout the year.
The Independent Comedy Club was revamped
Our stand-up comedy club is back after a brief summer hiatus. With a few new faces serving as producers, they are back to packing out sold-out shows in an intimate venue like no other in the area.
It was a record year for fundraising
We've been going hard and raising money so that we can continue for another 30 years. Our Planet Ant 30K for 30 years campaign is going strong. Adding The Hot Pepper Challenge to our annual Planet Ant Holiday Blowout celebration raised over $2000 while performers chomped on hot peppers while attempting to improvise through the burn. In total, we raised over $20,000 in support with the hopes of reaching our $30k goal by the Spring 2024.
We continue to support artists
In 2023, we distributed more than $200,000 to over 350 artists involved in the 60+ unique productions we presented across 4 stages, ensuring that the money that comes in doesn't just go to Planet Ant but is primarily reinvested in our thriving artist community.
The money we raise through donations allows us to put artists first by offering affordable venue rates, rehearsal space, and equitable compensation for the work they put on our stages.
Consider donating to help us continue our mission.
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If next season is anything like this one, it's going to be amazing for Detroit Arts.
We have exciting shows already scheduled, along with teams of people working on additional projects, new semesters of classes and workshops starting all the time, and an entire community of talent bursting at the seams. We can’t wait to see what’s in store.
We love telling stories, producing art, making people laugh, and helping you get the skills you need to do the things you want to do and we're committed to serving you with our stages.
Reach out or go to planetant.com if you're interested in classes or other opportunities.
