A new nonprofit organization has formed to bring cinema back to downtown Hamilton.
The Hamilton Community Cinema’s (HCC) mission is to connect people, enrich lives and enhance the cultural and economic vitality of downtown Hamilton through the transformative power of cinema. The recently formed organization hopes to achieve this through pop-up movies and fundraising to secure a permanent location in downtown Hamilton suitable not only for cinema but live music and theater performances.
Their first pop-up movie will be a 7 p.m. showing of “E.T.” on Thursday, June 26 at the Bedford Building, 223 S. 2nd St., Hamilton. The event is an opportunity for the community to learn more about HCC’s efforts. The showing and concessions will be by donation.
The HCC group launched on June 5 with an informational celebration at Mineshaft Pasty Co. attended by more than 50 interested people.
“We were overwhelmed by the excitement and support we received at our community premier and are even more excited to see what the broader community thinks about the idea at our first pop up event later this month,” said Marisa Neyenhuis, HCC board president and Chapter One Book Store owner.
Neyenhuis is one of five board members including Heather Mullee, Brooke Angst, Amy Liss and Katrina Mendrey. The organization also has a robust advisory committee representing arts related organizations, community and nonprofit leadership and technical expertise in film.
According to the group’s market analysis, currently area residents spend around $278,000 per year on movie tickets.
“Most of those people are going to Missoula,” Neyenhuis said. “If you add in a stop at a restaurant and possibly some shopping, that’s quite a bit of money we could be keeping in our community just by providing an opportunity for people to go to the movies in our downtown.”
Mary Casper, owner of City Center Motel and a member of the Glacier Country Tourism Board agreed.
“Evening entertainment in a downtown helps surrounding businesses thrive,” she said. “Hamilton would benefit from an event space like this in our downtown corridor.”
Casper attended the launch event and says she was pleased to see the community support.
“The first event that HCC hosted clearly showed the passion the community has for bringing cinema back to downtown Hamilton,” she said.
The HCC plans to host pop-up movie events about every month until they can raise enough money to secure a permanent location. While the Roxy is the first location that comes to mind for most folks, the group is open to all opportunities. The primary objective is finding a location downtown that can fit the needs of the HCC and other partnering organizations also interested in a performance space downtown including BPAC, Bitterroot School of Music and Hamilton Players.
“Like a lot of other Hamilton residents I have some pretty amazing memories of the Roxy and we’d love to be part of saving the building and renovating it,” Neyenhuis said. “But we also want to make sure that we are fiscally responsible in our efforts so that once we pull back the curtains we can keep them open for generations to come.”
The group hopes to raise funds through a combination of community support and grants. To find out more about their work visit http://www.hamiltoncommunitycinema.org and attend an event.
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