Ramsey Cinema Kickstarts Fundraising Campaign

One of Ramsey's most cherished landmarks, the Ramsey Cinema, is poised to make a comeback. Hala Alain, the owner of S.H.E. salon two doors down from the theater, purchased the property from theater owner Peter Vivian, in hopes of expanding her business. However, the public's response to the theater's closing gave her reason to pause.

Sensitive to the considerable outcry from the community clamoring to keep the theater open, she turned to the owners of Planet Swirl--Laura and Dave Rose, and Karen Emmert--to encourage them to invest the money needed to renovate the space and keep it open. 

The theater must be digitized before the end of 2013 because the movie industry is converting to 100 percent digital – replacing 35 mm film entirely by the end of this year. The cost of this conversion is approximately $100,000. On top of that expense, the theater has not been renovated since 1981 and is in need of new carpets and seats, adding to the overall cost of re-opening. 

So, what motivated three business partners to enter into an agreement to manage a movie theater for which they have no experience?

"Deciding to take over the management of the theater was a personal decision for us," Laura Rose said. "We're not only local business owners, we're parents in this town who have gone to many children's birthday parties at the cinema and we did not want to see it remain closed."

Laura Rose, mother of four with a background in direct marketing and sales, has enormous passion, energy, drive and an enthusiasm that is nothing less than contagious. Despite never having run a theater before, she is sure that the key to success is bringing people together and giving them a stake in the venture.  

Which is why the new managers of the Ramsey Cinema are turning to the public for help raising money to digitize and renovate the theater and to that end have begun a grass roots fundraising campaign through kickstarter.com. 

"We want the re-opening of this theater to be a community effort," Laura Rose said. "And not just an infusion of money by some big anonymous investor." 

"To fill the theater, and keep it filled, people have to feel vested in it; feel that they are intimately connected to its success. That's one of the goals we're trying to achieve through our kickstarter campaign."

The kickstarter campaign, "Bring Back a Beautiful, New and Digital Ramsey Theatre!" kicks off today. The goal is to raise a minimum of $125,000 by Nov. 4--34 days--with a theater opening date sometime in mid-December. It is Rose's hope that they surpass that goal so that they can make all of the renovations needed to return the Ramsey Cinema to its former glory. And they're turning to the community for help.  

"When the theater re-opens, we want the community to say, 'We did this.'"

Click here to make a donation and help save the Ramsey Cinema.