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Oak Street Cinema is 'Bleeding Money': MFA Says Art-House Programming Must Change

Posted on: Sunday, 15 January 2006, 15:00 CST

By Chris Hewitt, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Jan. 15--There were dramatic accusations, tears and angry name-calling at Oak Street Cinema on Saturday night. And that was before the movie.

The 7:20 p.m. screening of "Citizen Kane" was preceded by a meeting with moviegoers and members of Minnesota Film Arts, which operates Oak Street, a theater that shows classic and art films. The gathering was called to discuss the future of the struggling operation.

Saturday's meeting made clear the theater is in financial trouble -- Al Milgrom, programmer of MFA's Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival, said there's a deficit of $120,000 to $150,000 -- and that the MFA staff and board have not been communicating. The immediate future is unclear for the Oak Street, near the University of Minnesota campus and a landmark for many students.

Most of the shouting came from the full house of about 250 audience members -- many of them MFA members -- demanding to know how the theater began sinking into red ink.

"To be blunt, there was a bad manager here for a couple years," said MFA President Tim Grady, referring to a former executive director fired last year. Grady added that audiences have not been showing up, noting that fewer than 100 people paid to see "Cape of Good Hope" when it ran last week.

"This theater is bleeding money," said Grady, saying that by next week he will have invested $75,000 in the theater to help keep it going. "The programming has got to change."

"Can I say why I programmed 'Cape of Good Hope'?" asked Oak Street staffer Emily Condon, who recently resigned. She was told she could not.

"How we got there is one question, but the fact is, we are there," said Bob Cowgill, one of Oak Street's founders, who asked audience members to send suggestions to the theater's staff.

Peter Wagenius, an aide to Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, pledged support for a "Movies with the Mayor" film series in which the mayor would screen political films such as "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and lead discussions afterward.

Grady said the board is pursuing several means to keep Oak Street running, but some audience members questioned the board's commitment to the theater and wondered why developer Bill Nicklow recently had been shown the theater. Grady said Oak Street is not for sale but that Nicklow may loan the theater money.

Grady said two MFA ventures -- the international film festival and the documentary series at the University of Minnesota's Bell Auditorium -- are funded. But the immediate future of Oak Street is unclear. Milgrom said he tentatively has lined up two films, but "Citizen Kane," which ends Thursday, is the last movie on the theater's schedule.

Said Milgrom, "I am going on the assumption that the place is going to stay open."

Chris Hewitt can be reached at chewitt@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5552.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

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Colombo:GOOD,

Source: Saint Paul Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.)

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