The Newburgh waterfront may be awash in restaurants, but when food for the soul in on your menu, the Downing Film Center may sate your appetite.
Brian and Sharon Burke rented a small space in Richard Pollich”™s Yellow Bird Art Gallery back in 2006. The gallery struggled and eventually closed, but the Burkes”™ 60-seat theater remained and continued to attract a dedicated audience ”“ local patrons who yearned for independent, foreign, classic and hard-to-find films.
Despite the difficult economy, the theater”™s prices remain reasonable and for many, viewing a film is a group experience they enjoy.
“It”™s true,” said Burke. “Going to the movies or to the theater is a way to join with others who enjoy a common pastime. It”™s a joy to hear the audience clapping for a film at the end of it and hearing them critique it as they leave. Right now, we are showing ”˜The King”™s Speech,”™ and the response is wonderful. It”™s a good feeling to know people still want to come together and enjoy an evening out with a good movie.”
Since the couple have obtained nonprofit status for the small theater, they hope to grow and eventually have two screens, more showings and more programming. “We started out with about 500 people on our mailing list,” said Burke. “We have about 2,500 now, and we have many regulars.”
Burke is the theater”™s congenial ticket salesman as well as its director and chairman of its board of directors. Sharon, its co-director, runs the concession stand, brewing smiles with coffee. Many know the couple on a first-name basis, which is no surprise: both are teachers who taught in Orange County for many years.
“Our younger son encouraged me to take a chance on opening a small movie house, and knowing my love of films and the theater, it wasn”™t hard to take him up on the challenge,” said Burke.
It is not unusual to find many of the teachers”™ former students ”“ or their parents ”“ coming in for a screening and sharing news.
“There isn”™t another movie house in Orange County that I know of that shows independent films,” said Burke, “and there really is a need in this part of the Hudson Valley. Others, in Rhinebeck and in Woodstock, are great if you have the time but many people don”™t. We applied and received approval to become a 501(c) 3, and the nonprofit status will allow us to apply for grants to do more with the theater, to create more programming and perhaps even to grow a bit bigger.” It isn”™t unusual to find people turned away for lack of space.
The theater is named for architect Andrew Jackson Downing, whose name is synonymous with the city”™s park and with many of its other architectural gems; paying homage to the brick-and-mortar designer, the theater is aptly named, said Burke.
For information about the theater, visit www.downingfilmcenter.com.
