The Grand Cinema’s donors and supporters accomplished a lot in 2016. At the beginning of the year, we defined three guiding annual priorities - supporting our general operations, growing educational opportunities and the Tacoma Film Festival, and upgrading the in-theater experience - and throughout the year, we reached out to our community with opportunities to support.

Growing Educational Opportunities in our Filmmaking Community


Throughout the year, we focused on growing our educational outreach and opportunities. We highlighted local filmmakers and musicians with the Track 01 music video showcase; expanded our film club at Lincoln High School, hosting the first ever Lincoln Film Festival featuring short films from the students of Lincoln High School and First Creek Middle School; served 75 students through our summer film camps and 25 students through Lincoln Film Club; and hosted filmmaker visits and workshops throughout the year in partnership with University of Washington Tacoma, Lincoln HS, Breaker Studio, and Have Not Films. 

Lincoln Film Club visit the Grand

Over 2,000 audience members joined us for post-film discussions. And we hosted five mind-expanding lectures from local academics and experts paired with great films like A Fish Called Wanda, The Martian, and Top Gun through our Science on Screen series. 

This education outreach was supported by individual donors, members of The Grand and The Bamford Foundation, The Ben B. Cheney Foundation, the Forest Foundation, the Sequoia Foundation, The Coolidge Corner Theatre Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, and the City of Tacoma.

Upgrading the In-Theater Sound Systems

In April, we worked with ArtsFund to complete a crowd-funded upgrade to our in-theater sound systems through matching fund support from the Bamford Foundation. Nearly 50 donors stepped up to help us reach our $7,500 goal. 

This funding help The Grand replace the aging sound systems in all four theaters and upgrading our surrounds, mains, subwoofers, and amplifiers. We hope everyone has been enjoying the significant difference in the clarity and quality of our high fidelity audio reproduction.

Supporting the Filmmakers at the 2016 Tacoma Film Festival


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In September we again worked with ArtsFund to run another online campaign to raise support for visiting filmmakers at the Tacoma Film Festival

This one was a little bit of a curveball - Artsfund was closing down their power2give.org platform but there were still funds available for arts programs in Pierce County. We had a hunch that our community would understand the surprise campaign and help out. 

Our amazing donors showed up for us again and in less than a month, we hit our $7,500 goal with the help of 40 individual donors and with matching support again from the wonderful Bamford Foundation.

Our Annual Year End Fund Drive


Our final campaign, our annual year-end fund drive, just concluded and you were here for us again! Our goal was to raise $20,000 to support The Grand Cinema’s general operations. We’re still finalizing our totals but so far, more than 160 donors have donated nearly $22,000, helping us surpass our end-of-year goal! 

This campaign was especially meaningful as we sat down with many of our incredible volunteers, board members, and staff and gathered their testimonials about their appreciation for The Grand Cinema. You can see all the videos here on the YouTube playlist.

Volunteers at the 2016 Party 3

Thank You to All Our Committed Supporters, Members, and Volunteers


Really, this list of exciting work is just a sample of all we've done together this year, but without the investment of our supporters, none of this would have been possible.

Thank you to all of our donors, community supporters, and especially our incredible members and volunteers who keep our doors open, the projectors rolling, our popcorn popping, and our mission to enrich lives and enhance the cultural vitality of the Greater Tacoma community through the art of film thriving!

Thank you again for your commitment to The Grand in 2016 and we look forward to accomplishing even more in 2017.