Sudbury downtown indie cinema gets $55K from city — if feds, province buy in too
Project manager Beth Mairs says the project needs about $500,000 to open the doors
The City of Greater Sudbury has committed $55,000 to help Sudbury's indie cinema project get off the ground — but the offer is only good if the provincial and federal governments agree to come on board.
"We're in a bit of a holding pattern," she acknowledged. "We need all three levels in terms of the city, the province and the federal government in order to ... take a gym, what is now a defunct school gym, and transform that into a state-of-the-art cinema."
To open, Mairs said her group needs about $500,000 to cover site renovations plus a digital projector and sound system.
Best case scenario, Mairs said about $380,000 will come from government investment, and the other $120,000 will come from the public.
For its part, Mairs said the City of Greater Sudbury has committed to $55,000 for cinema seating — provided that the provincial and federal governments also chip in.
"We know now that we're on the agenda for Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, sometime early-October," said Mairs.
"[And] with FedNOR ... unfortunately FedNOR's hands are tied right now because we're in a federal election."
Mairs said despite the uncertainty, the Sudbury Downtown Independent Cinema Co-operative will be showing films at other venues in the city starting Halloween weekend.
Listen to the complete interview with Beth Mairs here.