Injoy Fountain excited about possibilities for Dunbar Theatre

This weekend, Injoy Fountain is leading a tribute to the past with her eye on the future.

“Black Voices Through the Decades,” her second fundraising concert for the historic Dunbar Theatre, is Friday and Saturday at the Crown Uptown Theatre, with 13 local performers doing tributes to jazz, Motown, disco, hip-hop, and a special salute to Wichita entertainment legend Karla Burns.

Fountain hopes the concert will not only raise money for the theater, but awareness of the 80-year-old Dunbar, located at 1007 N. Cleveland in the McAdams neighborhood of north Wichita.

“I think so many people have honestly forgotten that it is reopening, that renovations are happening,” she said of the work, due to completed by the end of the year. “I’m not sure too many people are aware.”

The Dunbar, the only movie theater that served Black Wichitans without segregating them, closed in 1963 and sat vacant since. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

The $5.2 million renovation has already included a new façade and marquee, and new seats for the 366-seat auditorium.

And when the renovations are finished, it will be the home base for Fountain, who gained national fame in 2019 as a contestant on NBC’s singing competition, “The Voice.”

“My career kinda peaked after ‘The Voice,’ but with this platform I want to give back,” she said. “And I thought people were tired of me, but that’s not the case. People really want to engage with me and learn from me and be a part of what I have going on. That’s my biggest thing, to give back to the community.”

Currently billed as the artistic director for fundraising events, Fountain envisions a place where youth can both perform and be in the audience for stage musicals, jazz, acoustic music and rap. It will be the place where she will give her private voice lessons, and lead youth who are part of her Yellow Brick Road to Broadway company that she began about two years ago.

“I really want to amplify the youth and community,” she said. “I’m praying the Dunbar can give the community a place to showcase these talents.”

Mentoring youth, she said, is more for her than success of her own.

“The main thing is this next generation coming out,” she said. “If we can plant the seeds … and get it going, that’ll make me just so happy.”

And Fountain is learning enough about the business side of show business to believe she is well-equipped to handle that as well.

“It’s cool to see your vision come to life and have people so eager and passionate about it,” she said. “It’s kind of mind-blowing to be honest.

“I think I’m built for this kind of stuff,” Fountain added.

Dunbar Theatre fundraiser: “Black Voices Through the Decades”

When: 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday, May 14-15

Where: Crown Uptown Theatre, 3207 E. Douglas

Tickets: $30, from crownuptown.com or 612-7696

This story was originally published May 14, 2021 at 3:41 AM.