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Roanoke’s sole remaining historic theatre is reinventing itself with savvy creative energy under the leadership of Ian Fortier, whose vision includes the Grandin serving as a national model.
Chuck Almarez
Back in the day, Roanoke was home to more than a dozen historic theatres. The Lyric, the Bijou, the Isis, the Princess, the Comet, the Electric Parlor, the Wonderland, the Azusu, the Boston, the American, the Roanoke, the Jefferson, the Rialto, the Park.
They’re all gone now. But the names must read like prayer beads to those who remember their parents and grandparents talking about matinees in the gilt splendor of these elegant theatres.
One survivor of the historic theatre wrecking ball lives on in Roanoke: The Grandin. If Executive Director Ian Fortier has his way, the Grandin will be around for a very long time.
It would be difficult to find someone in Roanoke who hasn’t heard of the Grandin, which is acknowledged to be the “economic, geographic, and historic anchor” of Grandin Village. The Spanish Renaissance exterior with its terra cotta tiles is a standout, and its unique, Castle-style stone wall interior is memorable for its gargoyles and ornate proscenium.
Though a detailed history of the Grandin remains to be written, the broad plotline of its 85-year story goes like this. Designed by Roanoke architect John Zink as the first theatre built for talking pictures in the valley, the Grandin opened its doors in March, 1932. The feature? The film adaptation of Sinclair Lewis’ Pulitzer-prize-winning novel “Arrowsmith,” starring Ronald Colman and Helen Hayes.
Grandin history also includes the eight-year period from 1976-1983 when the Mill Mountain Playhouse Company produced over 30 full-length productions on the Grandin Stage before moving to its new home in Center in the Square.
From 1984 to 1985, the Grandin returned to life again as a movie house, with the addition of major concerts by the likes of John Lee Hooker, Ray Charles, Dave Brubeck, BB King, Buddy Rich and John Prine.
For 68 years, the Grandin was privately owned. The last of these owners, Julie Hunsaker, brought indie and art house films to the screen starting in 1986. The struggling theatre enjoyed a boost from Bill Murray’s 1990 benefit appearance. (Murray was in the area for the filming of “What About Bob?”)
But the years took their toll as mall theaters became commonplace, and in 2001 the Grandin closed its doors after showing a fitting final film: Peter Bogdanovich’s “The Last Picture Show.”
Fortunately, the people of Roanoke, and especially the Raleigh Court neighborhood, said no. Under the leadership of a small group of concerned citizens, the Grandin Theatre Foundation was formed, and three-fourths of a million dollars were raised to re-open the Grandin’s doors.
For the next decade or so, the theatre struggled to stay afloat. By 2013, the Grandin’s board had rising concerns about sustainability, with a whopping 93 percent of its revenue coming from ticket and concession sales.
“In the nonprofit arts, you need around a 60/40 revenue split to be viable,” Fortier explains. “Sixty percent from admission and concession sales, and 40 percent from diverse sources like corporate sponsors, rentals, slide advertising and grants.” It was clear that funding sources needed to be broadened if the Grandin was to survive.
That, and a creative eye to see new ways to use the Theatre space and diversify its programming.
When Ian Fortier came on board as executive director in September of 2014, he had his work cut out for him. Formerly at the Jefferson Center, nonprofit management specialist Fortier exudes enthusiasm and professionalism. If ever there was an example of someone being in the right place at the right time, it seems to be Fortier at the Grandin.
Standing in the main auditorium, Fortier recalls the theatre’s past—“Imagine the 100,000 people who have watched movies in this seat; think about all the first dates that happened here…”—as he looks pragmatically into the future.
That future includes programming and partnerships that, Fortier claims, will take the Grandin onto a national stage, as the theatre becomes a model for creative “dark time” (non-movie) use and continues to move toward becoming a cultural community center for the Roanoke Valley. “This is not just a movie theatre,” Fortier says.
The list of the programs and partnerships built over the past several years is diverse and impressive. Fortier is firm that the Grandin operates on the philosophy of thinking first about what is the right thing to do for the theatre, and for the community.
“We’ve said yes over and over.”
There are, of course, opportunities for business seminars and birthday parties. Anyone wanting a great space for a catered, theater-themed event has it at the ready at the Grandin.
In addition, the Grandin opens its doors to public and private schools (“Think about seeing ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ on the Grandin’s big screen after studying it in English class!”) and community groups (the Community Conversations program in which nonprofits show films aligned with their mission). The Blue Ridge Autism and Achievement Center brings its students to special screenings with their parents during closed hours, turning up the lights and lowering the volume to accommodate their needs. The Apple Ridge Farm kids and The Forest Park Academy kids get to experience movies at the Grandin.
And four times a summer, the annual West End Walk occurs, where kids from the West End Center make a symbolic walk across the bridge to Grandin Village, and the theatre is theirs.
“Many of these kids have never been in a movie theatre,” Fortier points out. “We want them to know this theatre is for them as well.”
There’s even a church that worships in the theatre Sunday mornings.
The list goes on and on:
•The Indie Pop-Up Lens Series (sponsored by the Roanoke Public Library Foundation)
• The MindMatters Series (sponsored by Mental Health America of the Roanoke Valley)
• The Latino Film Festival (sponsored by H.A.C.I.E.N.D.A.)
• The Grandin Theatre Classics Film Series (sponsored by Friendship Foundation and Roanoke Public Library Foundation)
• The Grandin Theatre Kids’ Matinee Series (sponsored by Grandin Village Business Association and RPFL)
• The Grandin Theatre Midnight Movie Series (sponsored by Village Grill and Scratch Biscuit)
Fortier is currently working on the first-ever African-American Film Festival for 2018’s Black History Month.
All of this is impressive, heartwarming, very well and good. But is it enough to bring the Grandin national attention as a model of success in the nonprofit theatre world?
“We repositioned ourselves as a cultural community center, and the possibilities for using the theatre grew exponentially. When you combine being a first-run, multi-screen historic cinema with the community center aspect of rentals, educational matinees, community conversations, programmatic outreach and student filmmaking, The Grandin becomes a national model for historic independent cinema houses,” says Fortier.
“Add to this the fact that the theatre operates as an anchor for the best example of a mixed-use and socially conscious neighborhood in our region. We are an upstream economic driver. The sky is the limit.”
In addition to the fact that the Theatre Foundation just finished its third year in the black and is debt-free with full ownership of the building, there is what Fortier calls “the big dog”—the Grandin Theatre Film Lab.
“We wanted to become a unifying entity and fiscal agent for experiential learning in film studies for valley high school students,” Fortier says. We identified that there was no collaborative film education program in the area. So we put together an advisory board with film professionals, who modeled the Film Lab program after the Music Lab at the Jefferson Center. We developed curriculum and a schedule. And then we set out to find our students.”
Film Lab students met across the street from the Grandin at the CoLab and were required to put in 200 hours over the school year. With the assistance of consulting film professionals, the curriculum was taught and the students wrote original scripts. The films were shot throughout the Grandin Village and the Valley, then edited for screening.
On May 23rd, the resulting four films from the inaugural class were premiered at the Grandin to a standing room only house of 350. The emcee for the evening was Paolo de Guzeman from DreamWorks, a native of Salem.
No small achievement for high school filmmakers, to be viewed by DreamWorks.
“Why should where we are located be any restriction to what we are doing? This medium transcends location. These films are going off to Sundance, Austria, Cannes…anywhere that takes student films,” Fortier says.
The overview of the Film Lab’s first year is impressive:
1. The program was fully funded by three local grants.
2. Sixteen participants began the year, and all 16 completed the year.
3. There were more girls than boys in the program, and three of the four original films produced by the students were by girls—a strong starting point in overturning the gender bias in the film industry.
4. Students came from five public high schools (Patrick Henry, William Fleming, Hidden Valley, Cave Spring, and Salem) and two private schools (Bent Mountain Christian Academy and North Cross). Thirty-five percent of the students were home-schooled.
“We had a goal of creating a fully collaborative model, encouraging all of our students to find their voices,” Fortier says. “We had the vision this could be successful, and we learned by doing.”
What lies ahead for the Grandin Theatre? To wrap up and celebrate the Grandin’s 85th anniversary, patrons will be treated to a permanent lobby exhibit featuring the Mill Mountain Playhouse productions from 1976-1983 (which included classics like “South Pacific “and “Guys and Dolls”) and the 1984-85 concert series, “The Year of Remarkable Music.”
And in 2018, patrons can expect to be able to purchase beer and wine in a newly revamped concessions area, and enjoy a craft beverage with their film.
Fortier has no shortage of ideas for the future: rooftop development, mixed-used programming, elevator installation, greater educational outreach. Grandin patrons may one day see Fortier’s wildest dream come true —“a hopping jazz club in the old boiler room of our basement!”
With the leadership of a strong board and Ian Fortier, the Grandin Theatre seems to have found its way forward to stability and possibility. Diversified, community-serving programming coupled with a longstanding reputation as an art-house cinema may well safeguard the future of Roanoke’s last historic theatre.
The Grandin Theatre has stood the test of time. But for Ian Fortier, that’s not enough.
“I won’t be content until we all stop saying that the Grandin is ‘surviving,’ and start saying it’s ‘thriving.’”
Under Fortier’s skilled and creative leadership, that seems pretty much a given.
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