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Organization <br />Description <br />The mission of the Chelsea Theater is: To entertain, inspire and engage <br />through film to enrich our diverse community. The Chelsea Theater was <br />once one of several art house theaters in Chapel Hill and across the <br />Triangle. Today the Chelsea is the Triangle’s only remaining art cinema <br />devoted entirely to the art of cinema and film related education. Originally <br />opened in 1990, the Chelsea was saved from closure by a community <br />fundraising effort (“Save the Chelsea”) and re-opened seamlessly as a <br />nonprofit on March 30, 2018. As a nonprofit, the Chelsea quickly positioned <br />itself as a vital part of the local cultural community by establishing working <br />relationships with national film distributors, attracting new audiences, and <br />creating a space for discussion and interpretation of film. The Chelsea <br />presents a portfolio of first-run, as well as repertory, independent, feature, <br />and documentary films. <br />The value of the Chelsea’s resurrection as a nonprofit was demonstrated <br />by the theater’s rapid early growth, with a peak of 1,300 member <br />households and an annual attendance of 46,000 individuals. This was <br />halted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when the theater was forced to <br />close for thirteen months. But adversity contained the seeds of opportunity, <br />and the board used the lengthy closure to move forward with a much- <br />needed renovation of the theater by updating public spaces in the lobby <br />and restrooms; replacing seats, sound systems, screens, and flooring; and <br />installing a state-of-the-art air filtration system. The renovation was fully <br />funded the generous local community through their monetary contributions, <br />as well as in-kind gifts of materials and labor. The updates resulted in three <br />ADA accessible screening rooms with high quality audio-visual equipment <br />—offering patrons an outstanding big-screen experience in welcoming <br />surroundings. <br />Today, like most other organizations, we are still rebuilding audiences lost <br />during COVID. During the past twelve months, we presented 149 film titles, <br />with a total of 2782 separate screenings, or 54 shows per week. <br />Attendance for these was 27,400. <br />The Chelsea’s board of directors is comprised of fifteen individuals with <br />backgrounds in nonprofit leadership, higher education (Duke and UNC <br />faculty specializing in film and music), marketing and sales, finance, health <br />care, and construction. The board includes an equal number of men and <br />women with approximately one quarter from Black or Latino heritage. The <br />two full-time employees are the executive director and programs and <br />operations manager, who collectively oversee all programming, operations, <br />and fundraising. Part-time employees include a half-time marketing <br />coordinator and half-time operations coordinator. There are six part-time <br />ticketing and concessions personnel who include college students and <br />retirees. The Chelsea is open six days a week, including major holidays. <br />Mondays are reserved for special programs and private events. <br />DocuSign Envelope ID: 6ECDFBC0-8900-4102-936F-C2F78E943E7F