Last Thursday, the province announced it was contributing nearly $300,000 to Sudbury Indie Cinema Co-op’s plan to renovate and create a permanent home base at the former École St-Louis-de-Gonzague School on Mackenzie Street.
This paves the way for the not-for-profit to move ahead on this capital project, with renovations plans and the purchase of cinema equipment to create a 180-seat, state-of-the-art digital movie house that specializes in screening festival-quality films year-round.
To spearhead and direct this capital build, Sudbury Indie Cinema announced this week it has appointed Kate Bowman as the project manager.
Bowman is best known as the lead for the McEwen School of Architecture, but she also worked on many other local projects since, including the transformation of St. David’s School.
Bowman said she's honoured to be working with the team at Sudbury Indie Cinema.
“Indie Cinema is already a valuable cultural asset for the community,” she said, in a press release. “A permanent home for the indie cinema is a great opportunity to demonstrate adaptive reuse of an existing building.
“As a resident of the downtown, I'm also excited that Indie Cinema will have its own space and I look forward to watching their diverse film line up for years to come.”
With the government funding now in place, Sudbury Indie Cinema is moving ahead with the project to create its home at 162 Mackenzie Street.
In addition to secured funding, the co-op is ramping up its capital campaign by seeking more charter members, staging a series of film fundraising events, and rolling out an adopt-a-seat campaign, with more initiatives to be announced shortly.
Sudbury Indie Cinema’s first capital project fundraiser, coming up March 1 at 6:30 p.m. at the McEwen School of Architecture, is called “Be Hip To The Square.”
Tickets run $35-$50 and the evening includes the Sudbury premiere of Cannes 2017 Palme d’or winner "The Square," with soon to be announced VIPs in attendance, a reception with cash bar and dance party.
Tickets are available online here.
