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The bipartisan COVID relief agreement signed on December 27th includes the "Save Our Stages" program, providing a $15 billion lifeline to movie theaters, live entertainment venues, live theaters, and museums. These funds will be administered by the Small Business Administration. The Cinema Arts Centre, as well as thousands of venues across the nation, await detailed guidelines and application instructions that are anticipated later this month. All of us at the Cinema Arts Centre express our gratitude to the bipartisan coalition of co-sponsors and advocates who fought to ensure that venues like us will have the opportunity to apply for these critical funds, including "Save Our Stages" cosponsors Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Reps. Peter Welch (D-VT) and Roger Williams (R-TX); Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA); Senate and House Small Business Committee Chairs Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Nydia Velazquez (D-NY); Ranking Members Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Steve Chabot (R-OH); and many others.

These funds will not only help small venues across the country to survive, but will also help in the economic recovery of every community where such venues receive support. Movie theaters and live venues are vital local employers and drive significant spending in surrounding businesses. Our members and donors understand that there is no economic recovery without arts recovery, and we are grateful that the government proponents of "Save Our Stages" also know the essential role our theaters play in our local economic ecosystems.

It would be meaningful for Cinema Arts Centre members and patrons to write to leaders in Federal Government to express thanks for passing this legislation. You can find your representatives' contact information HERE.

It's been a long road for all of us, and we are not yet on the other side of this complicated and difficult challenge. We are still working on making improvements to our building while our community continues to see high rates of infection. When it is safer and we feel ready to reopen, you will have a cleaner and more comfortable environment where we can all experience the movies together, including new seats with cupholders, new carpets, touchless payment systems, improved ventilation and air quality, and other safety enhancements. Your membership contributions, donations, gift card purchases, and ticket purchases have supported all of this work and have kept us going this far. We have continued to offer a broad selection of film programming and unique events online. Your support makes all of this possible.

While we have some information about the parameters of this funding opportunity, we cannot now predict how much funding we will be able to draw into our independent community cinema or when those funds would be received. But without you, we would have not even been in a position to apply for "Save Our Stages" funding. Thank you for making sure that we are still here, prepared to apply for these vital funds.

We will keep you updated as we all stand together to fight for the Life of Our Cinema, and all the benefits we bring to our community by delivering our mission every day.

Thank you again for being part of our Cinema family.

Thanks to your amazing support, we raised over $75,000 in December and will receive the full value of our $20,000 matching grant from the Alpern Family Foundation! In all, we have raised over $170,000 toward our goal to raise $200,000 through the annual Vic Skolnick Life of Our Cinema Campaign, a campaign that is truly more than ever about the very Life of Our Cinema.

Our campaign will officially close on January 31, 2021. If you have supported this campaign, you have helped to make all our current virtual programming possible, and have supported our work toward reopening in 2021. If you have not yet made a contribution, please help us to reach our goal by making a gift today. Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you all again in our theaters this year.

Recently Vox released its list of the top documentaries of 2020, and we were pleased to see that we offer our members and patrons the opportunity to view many of these films in our Virtual Screening Room. Check out Vox's list HERE.

Here are some of the featured documentaries that you can view today:

76 DAYS

Raw and intimate stories that bear witness to the death and rebirth of a city under a 76-day lockdown, and to the human resilience that persists in times of profound tragedy.

COLLECTIVE

Following journalists, whistle-blowers, burn victims, and government officials, Collective is an uncompromising look at the impact of investigative journalism at its best.

FEELS GOOD MAN

A Frankenstein-meets-Alice in Wonderland journey of an artist battling to regain control of his creation.

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Next week, our sold out presentation and discussion of Runaway Princess: A Hopeful Tale of Heroin, Hooking, and Happiness will help raise awareness and support the mission of Empowerment Collaborative of Long Island (ECLI).

ECLI provides crisis intervention, counseling, advocacy and an array of support services that empower and transition its clients to independence. ECLI specializes in trauma-informed care; ensuring clients are receiving services that target the root cause of issues, therefore creating lasting positive outcomes.

We are proud to partner with ECLI to present this multiple-award-winning, one-woman show which includes a live Zoom Q&A with a panel of human trafficking experts: Mary Goggin, survivor, Runaway Princess writer and performer; James P. Murphy, Detective Sergeant with the Suffolk County Police Department; and Molly England, MSW, Suffolk County Anti-Trafficking Initiative (SCATI) Task Force Coordinator.

This is an important example of how the Cinema Arts Centre is able to use our resources to partner with community groups and other nonprofit organizations in order to educate and empower our community around important social issues.

Learn more about ECLI HERE.

Thanks to Stuart and Ginger Polisner for their ongoing support of our Real-to-Reel and Creativity Series.

Thanks to Lynn & Jonah Kaufman for their support of our 2020 Making Memories Programs.

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