Cinestudio 2020 Summer Appeal Letter
Dear Friends and Family of Cinestudio,
What a strange summer it has been. Right off the bat, I want to thank all of you who have sent messages of support, donated to the theater, and attended our screenings (both virtually and in-person) over the last several months. We would be in a much more difficult spot without you. Your positive energy means the world to us. That being said, I also want to acknowledge that we do not know what the future holds. Information we have now, at the time of this writing, may change by the time you read this message. This is the reality for so many of us right now, and because of that, now more than ever, we appreciate your patience, your creative thoughts and questions, and your financial investment in our beloved community theater.
What we’ve been up to:
- We have continued to pay our small, dedicated staff through the entirety of the pandemic thus far. With your help, we aim to keep that going!
- We have taken advantage of our large theater and the positive summer metrics of COVID-19 in Connecticut to safely open Cinestudio a few days a week for feature presentations with pandemic protocols in place. We opened in early July with the James Baldwin documentary I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO, and followed that with Hitchock’s masterpiece VERTIGO. Visit our website and social media pages for updated information on screenings.
- We have presented virtual cinema via our website to bring you unique cinematic presentations in your home. Right now we are offering both virtual and in-person screening opportunities for our patrons.
- We quietly, for the time being, celebrated the retirement of Cinestudio co-founder and longtime co-Executive Director James Hanley this spring. We have of course been fortunate that James is still helping out at the theater during this difficult time, but the burden of leadership during the pandemic has fallen now solely to Executive Director Peter McMorris. We look forward to properly celebrating all that James has accomplished at Cinestudio when we can gather in a more robust manner.
The Board of Directors is doing all we can to support Peter and the Cinestudio staff, but we need help. For those with the inclination and capacity to make a monetary gift, we humbly ask you to consider doing so, and maybe at a higher level than in the past. For all who are reading this, we ask you to follow us on social media, visit our website, and tell friends, family, and colleagues about Cinestudio. We hope to see you at a screening soon, or have you tune in to one of our virtual offerings.
The film industry is in a precarious position. There is no doubt that some art theaters, as we have already seen, will not be able to recover from this pandemic. Thanks to our faithful patrons, Cinestudio is not one of those theaters. We are a nimble organization, fortunate to have a strong base of supporters and prepared to pivot in both subtle and dynamic ways in response to any challenges. I believe we will emerge from this crisis in an even stronger position, because what Cinestudio offers to moviegoers is increasingly unique: cinematic presentations (for 50 YEARS) at a level of quality you will find nowhere else.
Cinestudio is the gold standard, and we aim to keep raising our gold curtain for many years to come.
Chair, Cinestudio Board of Directors