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The Art Theater will start the popcorn machine again this Saturday, although the reason may not be what you think.
From 4pm to 6pm, the theater will host a drive-thru concession booth offering bundles of crispy snacks, candies and other refreshments, which are synonymous with the movie experience (you can view the bundle here). The event is a variety of fundraising events, because the proceeds will directly benefit the theater, but the main thing is to establish contact with the community again, no matter how short-lived.
Kerstin Kansteiner, secretary of the theater board, said: “I don’t think we can even raise enough revenue to make it valuable, but we don’t want to be forgotten.” “We just want people to know that we are still here.”
For the last remaining independent cinema in the city, it was a long and quiet nine months. As the pandemic continues to beleague the live entertainment industry, companies are trying to predict how their industry will develop once the world regains its footing.
As people are forced to entertain themselves indoors, this year has seen unprecedented virtual ratings. For art theaters, known for showing independent films, documentaries, animations, foreign languages, and premiere films, major film distributors are turning to streaming media services to attract more attention.
“It’s hard to see our entire industry change before our eyes. People are playing movies online, and large distributors are now directly distributing premiere movies to families, so we don’t even know what our business model will look like’ being allowed to open again, “Kansteiner said.
In April, The Art underwent some significant renovations-new paint, carpet, and epoxy floor systems that are easier to disinfect. They installed a plexiglass protective cover in front of the concession booth and modified the air filtration system. They took out several rows of seats to increase the spacing between rows, and planned to implement seat blocking to separate certain seats in each row so that only parties within the same family could sit six feet away from each other. All of this is in the hope that they will reopen in the summer, and as COVID-19 cases seem to be declining, this prospect seems promising.
The staff of the Art Theater have removed rows of chairs to make way for the post-COVID configuration. The photo was taken by Kerstin Kansteiner.
“We have a lot of hopeful moments, and I want to say that we are preparing to open in June or July, and the numbers look good,” Kansteiner said.
The theater now expects that they will not reopen until at least the middle of 2021. This is a tragic prediction because the theater has not had any reliable source of income for the past year. Although the Art Theater is a non-profit organization, Kansteiner, the owner of the space, and her husband/partner Jan Van Dijs are still paying management fees and mortgages.
“We open theaters for free for community events, film festivals, schools, and people who want to premiere movies but cannot show them in ordinary theaters. All of this is possible because we have a non-profit status. Then, most importantly, We used to show premiere movies and get staff and administrative expenses to keep the lights, air conditioning, and electricity [run],” Kansteiner said.
“This is not a profitable adventure. It has been struggling every year, but in recent years, it has actually looked better. We are really hopeful and it is a huge blow for us,” she added.
In October, The Art launched “Buy A Seat”, a fundraising event that provided customers with a $500 donation of permanent seats in the theater and installed their own personalized plaques with their names on the chairs. So far, they have used 17 chairs. Kansteiner said that this donation will go the farthest for those who want to help.
In the meantime, those who are willing to support The Art Theatre can buy some sweets and popcorn on Saturday, December 19 from 4 to 6 pm, or a bottle of wine if you want. Kansteiner said, at least, for their only remaining current employee, general manager Ryan Ferguson, the visit will at least bring light to him. He “has not dealt with anyone in the past eight months. “.
To purchase a discount package, please book online. Customers can pick up their goodies from the back door of the theater-the easiest way to enter is on St. Louis Street-Ferguson and several other art theater board members will deliver the bundle on site.
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Post time: Aug-23-2021