
Along with so many others who were temporarily laid-off or furloughed following the state ban on large gatherings, employees of local, independent movie theaters are finding themselves in desperate financial circumstances. Running a local art house—such as Cinema 21, Roseway Theater, or the Hollywood Theatre—is a passion project and, even in the best of times, both owners and employees struggle to make ends meet.
To battle the economic fallout from the current COVID-19 crisis, Northwest Film Center employee Micah Vanderhoof has created a GoFundMe campaign called the "PDX Furloughed Theater Staff Emergency Fund" to support movie theater workers who chose this line of work because of their love of cinema and their passion for keeping the local film scene alive. From the "PDX Furloughed Theater Staff Emergency Fund" page:
More often than not, we [movie theater employees] work in on-call, temporary, part-time, or other precarious capacities, and are often without access to employer-provided health care or paid leave. The closing of theaters and cancellation of festivals has left many of us effectively unemployed, and many are now missing funds that we were relying upon in these uncertain times.
Currently the GoFundMe campaign has raised almost $9,000 of the $12,000 it's asking for, but is predicting an ongoing need. The Mercury spoke with Vanderhoof to learn more about this emergency fund, and why it's so important.
PORTLAND MERCURY: Tell us more about what inspired you to start this GoFundMe campaign.
MICAH VANDERHOOF: I'm a Theater Operations Manager at the Northwest Film Center, and so I supervise a number of theater staff year-round and help with running the Portland International Film Festival (PIFF). PIFF brings together a lot of theater staff from around town, so I know a lot of folks in this community. We were about mid-way through the festival when the order came from Governor Brown about limiting large public gatherings and the festival was cancelled. I immediately knew there would be a lot of theater staff impacted, and even though there were initial efforts from some of the theaters to stay in some sort of operation, it quickly became evident that most theater staff were going to get laid off.
Right around the same time, I saw that theater staff from the Seattle International Film Festival had set up a GoFundMe that had gone really well, so I figured it could be a helpful thing to follow their lead! I reached out to those folks to get some advice, and they were super helpful, so I decided to try and make it work here.
Describe what movie theater employees are going through right now.
Well, I know of a few theater staff who were laid off earlier and, despite applying for unemployment early on, much of that has yet to come through. Many had shifts that were cancelled and were really depending on the money to pay rent and bills.
Beyond the obvious financial strain, the community is also now missing a very in-person, space-based communal activity that we all rely on for catharsis, community, inspiration, and more.
I can say that there’s been a lot of hard decisions that independent theaters have had to make in the interests of possibly surviving this—some theaters were able to keep some or all staff on board for longer than others... but not all of them. Ultimately even those who have tried to hold on to workers won’t necessarily be able to maintain that for the duration of this crisis.
If you're a movie theater employee who wants to take advantage of these emergency funds, is there some kind of application process?
There’s a form I’ve sent out directly to many employees, as well as theater managers and owners. Employees need to fill out the form to be eligible. Folks have also reached out personally as the campaign has picked up steam. In the form, I’ve asked folks to specify their employer so I can verify their claim, and then we proceed from there.
If this campaign is successful, do you have other fundraising ideas in mind?
While I’m always happy to help people in need, this campaign is really rooted in helping a community in which I have a big personal stake. I’m not a fundraiser type, first and foremost, but a fellow theater worker, filmmaker, and movie lover.
For those who want to support local movie theater employees in an additional way, there's Views from Home: A Virtual Benefit for Furloughed Portland Theater Staff, an online screening of short films from local filmmakers (many of whom are theater staff) including Micah Vanderhoof, Anthony Hudson/Carla Rossi, and host Roger Stack. It's going down on Friday, April 24 from 6 pm-8pm, and you can watch it (while supporting your local theater staff) here.
Find out more and donate to the PDX Furloughed Theater Staff Emergency Fund here.