Our Impact
For more than a century, The Queen has been part of Wilmington’s story, evolving with the city while continuing to bring people, culture, and commerce to Market Street. Each performance, gathering, and event brings visitors downtown, provides a platform for artists and community organizations, and creates activity that ripples outward to restaurants, retailers, hospitality businesses, and other local partners. Together, these efforts demonstrate how a historic theater can serve as a driver of cultural vitality, neighborhood investment, and economic opportunity.
Economic
Impact
The Queen contributes to the local economy by supporting jobs, driving activity for nearby businesses, and generating public revenue. The following figures demonstrate the measurable economic impact The Queen has on Wilmington and Delaware.
165
JOBS CREATED
$150K
TOTAL LOCAL & COUNTY TAX REVENUE GENERATED
$613K
STATE TAX REVENUE GENERATED
$21.9M
TOTAL ECONOMC OUTPUT
Community
Impact
Beyond its economic contribution, the Queen serves as a gathering place for the broader community. The venue hosts hundreds of events annually across a broad range of genres and formats, balancing local and regional performers with nationally recognized acts. It also accommodates private events and community uses that extend its reach beyond ticketed shows.
Light Up The Queen
Light Up The Queen is committed to ensuring the Queen Theater is a catalyst that fosters life-long interest and appreciation for music and the arts. Through its outreach programs, it provides hands-on music programs to local schools and other non-profit organizations with limited arts-education funding. These programs give students the opportunity to discover and express their musical talents. LUQ served 3,000 local students the first year through its Outreach Music Education Programs.
Celebrating Local Artists
Every Thursday, The Queen hosts a Live and Local Series to highlight Delaware artists. In 2024, we hosted 44 local shows across the Knights Bar at The Queen and neighboring beer garden Makers Alley. The series provides artists with opportunities to reach new audiences while giving the community a regular way to discover and support local talent.
The Crown Room at The Queen expands our local artist impact, providing an intimate space for artists to perform and connect with audiences. In 2024, The Crown Room hosted 81 shows, showcasing our commitment to creating more opportunities for Delaware artists to share their work, build their audiences, and grow their careers.
Community Clubhouse
The Queen serves as a community clubhouse, offering a place for Wilmington to gather around music, arts, culture, and shared interests. From Battle of the Bands and Art Battle to Drag Brunch and community book fairs, our programming creates opportunities for people of different backgrounds and interests to participate, connect, and share their passions. We use our space to support a wide range of local organizations, artists, and community-led events.
Private Events
The Queen’s 60,000-square-foot venue provides a unique setting for private events. From large-scale corporate events, concerts, fundraisers, and proms in the Main Hall to intimate celebrations, weddings, conferences, and showers in Olympia and The Crown, our spaces create opportunities for the community to gather and celebrate. In 2024, we hosted 48 private events, welcoming thousands of people to The Queen and reinforcing its role as a vibrant gathering place for the Wilmington community.