To Our Faithful Supporters,
We have a pretty good thing going on down here on Main Street. For five winters now (if you can call this last autumn-right-into-spring season a winter) we have been bringing the best in independent and foreign films (and please don’t forget European operas and ballets) to an eager North Shore audience, and in a unique and comfortable way not afforded by the thin-walled caverns at up-the-Line at The Maul. As the grateful shepherd would say, “I couldn’t have done it without ewe.” (Sorry, that was baaaaad.)
As well have we have been doing to maintain, there are some fiscal needs that just cannot be met by our regular cash flow. As some of you might know, we started with very little, with nearly all of my personal savings having gone into equipment purchases when we first four-walled it at the Gloucester Stage Company in 2008 (having opened the week after the Big Ol’ Wall Street Implosion). So now, in order to better insure our health for the future, it is the time when the “C.C.” in “CACC” takes on a new meaning – Capital Campaign.
We need your (tax-deductible) help in attaining some structural and operational goals. To be specific, here is what we need to accomplish this year:
1) WE NEED SIGNAGE. You’d never know from the street that such a wonderful resource exists within our walls. While a full-on marquee would be garish, costly and possibly a tricky structural challenge, I have a plan for a reasonably-priced in-between solution involving a magnetic letter board (like Minglewood Tavern’s) and very theatrical-looking vanity lights bedecking the 3-panel window on Main Street, as well as some eye-catching signage for the doubly-traveled Rogers Street side of the building.
2) EQUIPMENT UPGRADES. While we have always had back-up equipment standing by in case of a power surge, theft or gremlin invasion, time has physically taxed all of it, and now, with our impending addition of a second screen at the new Art Haven space on Pleasant Street (for a second film on weekends and film classes during the week), the need is immediate.
3) FESTIVAL PROMOTION. This year – and in addition to the regular, themed mini-festivals we host all year long – we have two major film festivals to make a wicked big deal out of. This July, we will run the week-long North Shore Movies Festival, seven days of celebrating films made here on the North Shore. Some of the funds we raise will go toward a permanent “Movies Of The North Shore” installation in our upstairs lobby (on that virgin white wall we have been saving exactly for this purpose). And this November, like we do every year, we will put on our 5th Annual Cape Ann Film Festival, 18 days of great films and guests from around Cape Ann, around Massachusetts and around the world.
Here are the different sponsorship levels and associated thank-you gifts (and of course, feel free to mix-and-match, and know that amounts smaller and greater are graciously accepted):
$25.00 ::: 2 passes to any regular CACC film
$50.00 ::: 5 passes to any regular CACC film
$100.00 ::: 12 passes to any regular CACC film and a thank-you in our pre-show
$250.00 ::: 30 passes to any regular CACC film and a thank-you in our pre-show
$500.00 ::: A private movie party at the Cinema and a thank-you in our pre-show
$1000.00 ::: A private movie party at the Cinema, 30 movie passes and a Contributor plaque in our upstairs Lobby
$2500.00 ::: A private movie party at the Cinema, 50 movie passes and free admission to regular CACC films for life!
If you would rather write a check, please write it to our fiscal sponsor, The Cape Ann Business Incubator (CABI) and either drop it by the Cinema or mail it to: The Cape Ann Community Cinema * 21 Main Street – 2nd Floor * Gloucester, MA 01930.
Of course, if you cannot help out with a donation, please continue to buy the 10-ticket discount package, which we have always considered a “micro-investment” in the Cinema and its future.
Please help us make 2012 the year when “I didn’t know you were even here” becomes the sole cry of alien visitors, former babies and folks rejoining the ranks for the living after emerging from medium- to long-term comas.
Thank you for your consideration, extra pieces of pizza and continued support, and here’s to many more years together, as friends, as neighbors and as starry-eyed music makers and dreamers of dreams.
Warmest regards,
