Winston-Salem's Aperture Cinema is changing its business plan. The art house movie theatre has become a community-supported nonprofit.
As it turns out, most art house cinemas - 75% - are nonprofits. Aperture, which has been open for over seven years, was operating outside of the norm.
Ticket sales for indie, foreign, and documentary films are not enough any longer to support Aperture alone, according to owner Lawren Desai. So after a year of thought and planning, she decided that becoming a 501(c)(3) would be a more long term and sustainable business model.
“I think that this change will also change the way we're perceived in the community. I mean, not being considered a ‘traditional' movie theatre, and really being thought of as one of the arts institutions that is pivotal in The City of Arts and Innovation.”
Aperture's annual Red Carpet Party, which takes place during film awards season, will become the theatre's signature fundraising event of the year.