History

Raise Productions began serving the Columbus community in 1985 when Founder and President Raymond Wise shared his ideas and vision to establish a Gospel Music production company and educational facility with his two friends, Frank Lane and Shuryl Sutherland, the former and later served as Vice President and Assistant Vice President respectively.

Though Wise had produced events under the name of Raise Productions in other areas of the country, the three friends joined together to establish a permanent home and branch of Raise Productions in Columbus, Ohio.

Past Raise Facilities  

Over the past 22 years, Raise Productions has been housed at various locations.  Raise initially offered its services in 1985 from a small house located at 110 N. 22nd St., in Columbus, Ohio (Picture of original Raise buildings 110 22nd St.).  

Due to a need for additional space, Raise moved its programming to the King Complex for the Cultural and Performing Arts in 1989, where it was able to expand its programming and classes (Picture of King Complex for the Performing Arts).   

Raise housed its programming at the King Complex until 1992, when Raise moved its programming to 2572 Cleveland Ave. where they established the “Raise Center for the Gospel Arts” (Pictures of 2574 Cleveland Ave.).    

Approximately one year later, Raise acquired the annex to that building and began offering additional classes there. The annex was located at 1755 Linden Place and served as the location where Raise offered 20-40 classes each week for about eight years (Pictures of 1755 Linden Place).