The Civic Theatre’s next chapter is in sight. Eleanor’s birthday wish? That our community rallies one more time to raise $75K this fall and keep us moving toward the long-awaited 3-screen renovation.
An update on The Civic Theatre, and my birthday wish.
This October is my 50th birthday. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to realize that there are experiential milestones - celebratory and challenging - that perhaps we don’t fully appreciate until they happen. I’m starting to feel like this birthday is one of them, and I’ve found it very interesting to think about it. What is the measure of 50 years for a person? What is it for me? It has been fascinating to look at my experiences, choices, and achievements across all facets of my life, and I feel such immense gratitude for so much.
As you might imagine, the continued closure of The Civic is part of the mix of my reflections. I never expected to have not completed this project by now, but our journey has been longer and more complex than anyone could have expected.
I have a birthday wish for The Civic Theatre, but before I get to that, for better reference, I’d like to start at the beginning of its story, because sometimes in epic tales like this one, we can forget where we started. (If you’d like to skip to the end, you can click here to jump to the point.)
I always say that when I began with NCTS in 2014, I came late to the party. An enormous amount of effort had led to the revitalization of The Civic Theatre by then: more than 4,000 signatures on a petition to save the theatre from potential other uses, and 2,500 memberships purchased in the first year. Hundreds of volunteers gave their time to what felt like an urgent cause - what would Nelson be without a place to gather to see movies? They reinstalled seats, cleaned bathrooms, wrote grants, installed AC, and built an organizational structure. It was immediately clear that this was a project fueled by passion for community and a love of film.
The newly-minted Nelson Civic Theatre Society was brilliantly crafted as a nonprofit social enterprise. The plan was always to be self-sufficient. Social enterprises are designed to both self-fund and offer community lasting benefits.
As such, The Civic Theatre would not only bring new releases to Nelson each week but also promised Thursday independent films, community venue rentals, and a bigger vision to “bring big ideas into the community and put big ideas out into the world.” In fact, in Fall 2013, they held a “Local Intelligence Gathering” - a TED talk-like event featuring brilliant local voices.
A critical part of the social enterprise plan was to divide the theatre into three spaces. The board of NCTS knew from day one that this was the best path forward because more screens meant more movies shown at the same time. There was statistical and anecdotal evidence that this was a good idea, and the board had made connections with Salmar Cinemas, a successful social enterprise in Salmon Arm. With volunteer support from local architects, NCTS drew up plans, advocated to city council, and spoke with funders.
When I started, the goal was to raise $3 million for the renovation and build the new theatres within about three years. One of my first efforts was to get charitable status so that we could undertake that fundraising on our own. We became a registered Canadian charity in 2016. However, we found it very challenging to fundraise as a cinema that showed commercial releases as it was hard to explain to funding prospects how we were different from a regular movie theatre. So even though our goal was to self-fund our community programs and services after renovations, we quickly realized that we needed to robustly show our value to be fundable.
We leaned into our nonprofit spirit and diversified our community programs and services further. By this time, we were already home to the Zombie Walk, Home for the Holidays, the Oscar Party, and many eventized screenings (you may remember the early Bond and Star Trek parties, or the VW vans cookout that emerged with the film The Bus). We added livestreams of the Disruptive Innovation Festival, Babes In Arms daytime films for parents, internationally-celebrated Dancescreen and opera films, our inaugural film festival, Kinesis, and the Kootenay Screen-based Industry Workers Program. We were even part of the effort that led to Nelson being named one of the “Smart 21” cities in 2017 (and the very smallest one, at that).
It worked. By 2020, NCTS had raised $3.3 million through government grants and community fundraising, topped up by a $1 million line of credit from the City of Nelson. The project cost had increased to $4.2 million, but we had it and were ready to go.
Then came a series of complications. Yes, the pandemic happened, and while it was a massive disruption, it wasn’t actually a major factor in our progress. What held up the beginning of our project was the fact that The Civic Theatre doesn’t exist as a standalone building - our venue is housed in the larger Civic Centre, and it was soon discovered that the overall building needed upgrading in a few substantial ways. The City secured a Green BC grant and began work, which uncovered that the Civic Centre’s roof trusses needed urgent upgrades. Thankfully, the grant could be applied to these essential repairs, but not on the same timeline as the planned theatre renovations.
We closed The Civic Theatre in April 2024 for the roof repairs to take place, expecting to begin our own renovations by October. Delays now total close to 18 months. We expect to regain access to our leasehold soon, but the extended closure has taken a heavy toll: we've lost 80% of our income, and building costs have continued to grow.
No business can sustain itself under such conditions for so long. We are grateful to individual donors, sponsors, government grants, and City Council for their support during this precarious and unprecedented time. It has not been and is is not easy, but we are still here. That is, in itself, a great success.
So, what comes next? The Civic Theatre’s three-screen renovation, of course. We expect to break ground no later than January 2026 and aim to reopen by December 2026 in time for the Holiday new releases. For the first time, the end is in sight. But our capacity is depleted, and our fundraising goal continues to grow. I am reminded though of the delightfully optimistic and thematic quote from the film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, in which Patel the hotel manager assures, "Everything will be alright in the end. So if it is not alright, it is not yet the end.”
It is extraordinary how much NCTS and Patel’s hotel share in common. We have followed a playbook we developed during our pandemic closures: remain visible, relevant, and exist until it’s over. In the face of all we’ve weathered, it is our optimism and tenacity that have continued to pull us through.
Your gift to NCTS this October will make a real difference.
So, my birthday wish for The Civic is this:
That everyone who cares about our community-run cinema will get behind us one more time for this enormous last lap. Because friends, we really do need it, and I believe this is finally, genuinely, the last time.
This fall, we need to raise $75,000 to ensure our continuity.
The Shoebox and Reo’s Video cover their own basic costs, but they do not support our core staffing and administrative needs. Renewing your membership and making a charitable contribution this year are critically important to ensuring we can meet larger goals.
What your gift can do:
In the coming year, we need to raise $3.5 million to complete our capital project.
We have a Plan B for partial completion to simply reopen, but it won’t deliver the full vision, and finishing later will cost more. We need donors, but also campaign volunteers, advocates, connectors, champions, cheerleaders, and frankly, some angels. This is a groundbreaking fundraising project for Nelson, so if there’s a part you could play, we would be grateful to hear from you now.
This is a challenging time, yes. But it’s also filled with more promise and excitement than ever before. After 13 years of planning, The Civic will get its makeover: a fresh new concession, new and accessible bathrooms, an elevator to greatly improve access within the venue, and more films every day than ever before, without the distributor constraints that are constant within a single-screen. We can look forward to meeting up with friends and neighbours in the lobby, and that great smell of hot popcorn, peppered of course with our signature Civic Spice.
We will finally become the economic and community engine we envisioned: offering engaging programming, supporting artists, championing local events, and being a great local employer. The economic benefits of the new Civic Theatre will show our social enterprise spirit in full colour, including in all the ways that people visit local businesses before and after seeing a movie.
We are already so fortunate that Nelson is a community of visionaries. In 2012, the Civic could have remained closed, been adapted into something else, been leased to a larger movie chain, or stayed a struggling single-screen. But what we have planned for all these years is simply so much better for our community and everyone in it. We can’t wait to welcome you back to The Civic Theatre.
We know you may still have questions. We are working on an FAQ section on our website and will have it up soon. In the meantime, here are some ways you can help:
Ways to Support NCTS & The Civic Theatre This Fall:
Be a Champion
Be a Connector
Be a Cheerleader
We are building a Home for Our Imaginations. We hope you will join us on this extraordinary journey.
Sincerely,
Eleanor Stacey, Executive Director, NCTS
P.S. If you've ever had a memory made at The Civic, I hope you’ll consider making a gift or renewing your membership today. We’re so close - and your support right now could be the difference.
