Sudbury Indie Cinema members consider two new locations after building sold

Members of the co-op board of Sudbury's only independent cinema will choose its next location, with two options on the table.

The Sudbury Indie Cinema has been located in the former gym of what used to be École Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague on Mackenzie Street for almost five years.

The building has been for sale since 2021, and the chair of the cinema's board said the new owner closed on the sale last month.

Ian Carlyle said the organization has put about $650 thousand from various sources into renovations.

"Ultimately without being the proprietor of the building, it's a risk that was there from the get go," he said.

Carlyle said the five-year lease will soon be up and the new owner, Minewise Technology Ltd., is interested in using the space and unwilling to extend the lease.

He said the company has been helpful in the transition, noting it has reduced their rent.

At a membership meeting on the evening of May 13, Carlyle and the board presented two options for a new location after narrowing it down from a long list.

One is the music venue, Knox Hall, on Larch Street in downtown Sudbury and the other is the Ernie Checkeris Theatre at Thorneloe University in the south end.

Carlyle said there are a number of pros and cons to either option and members will be surveyed about their opinions.

To stay downtown or not

He noted the cinema's mandate was to be downtown but that may be changing, and it'll be up to the membership to decide in what direction they want to go.

There are a number of considerations, said Carlyle, that the board weighed in presenting the options, including accessibility and whether they could use their existing equipment.

"There's certain restrictions with Knox Hall that would prevent that," he said. "While there's still the possibility of likely using our current equipment at the Ernie Checkers Theatre."

The co-owner of Knox Hall, Liana Bacon, said she thinks the independent music venue is underutilized and could work well with the independent cinema.

"What we were looking at was an opportunity for two organizations that have similar mandates, but different, to occupy a space and it just from an economy of scale perspective it made a lot of sense to us," said Bacon.

Bacon said, in her opinion, she'd like to see the cinema stay downtown but understands members have to take into account a lot of other considerations.

While the Indie contemplates uprooting itself from its five-year home to move to a new one, Carlyle said its finances have stabilized from last year.

On more solid financial footing

It received $60 thousand dollars in bridge funding from the Greater Sudbury Development Corporation with a second instalment dependent on presenting a solid business case going forward.

"We have been developing a deficit reduction strategy as well as a revenue generation strategy," said Carlyle. "So we've been moving in the right direction."

He said he's expecting the city's economic development board to deliver on the second portion of a three-year funding request, shortly.

Carlyle is optimistic a third year of funding will follow, after which the cinema could qualify for ongoing operational funding from the Canada Council of the Arts