A new leadership team at Belfast’s Colonial Theatre aims to bolster the midcoast city’s arts scene by becoming more of a cultural center, in addition to the films and live performances it has historically hosted.
The leadership team, which includes new executive director Meg Fournier, hopes to host even more live events at the theater, such as a “haiku death match” competition that’s returning for the second time on Oct. 17 as part of the annual Belfast Poetry Festival.
The group is also making physical upgrades to theater space and hopes to partner more with outside arts organizations and show more independent films.
“A big goal of ours, too, is just to create that bandwidth within the team, connect more with local organizations and area artists and artists that are coming through, so that we can present more,” Fournier said in an interview.
The new, broader mission of the Colonial will complement the work of other existing arts venues around the city, as well as another — the former downtown Opera House — that’s being restored as a performing arts space.
Former Belfast Mayor Mike Hurley and his wife, Therese Bagnardi, owned and operated the Colonial Theatre as a for-profit business for more than 20 years, ultimately deciding to sell at the end of 2022. A year later, the theater was reopened by a nonprofit group called the Hawthorne Theatre & Arts Collaborative, which has relied on philanthropic donations in addition to revenue from the theater’s patrons.
For much of its existence, the venue has primarily functioned as a first-run movie house, setting itself apart by also showing independent and Maine-made films.
Since it reopened, the venue has been run by theater director Kyle Walton — whose role has now evolved to program director.
“Our programming is building on the vision that Kyle and the board had from the beginning,” Fournier said. “We still exist as a first-run movie house, but we’re becoming a hub for independent filmmakers to present their work.”
A new partnership with Points North Institute — the organization behind the recent Camden International Film Festival — is also underway, kicking off with an encore screening of “Come See Me in the Good Light,” a documentary about a pair of artists dealing with a cancer diagnosis.
The screening offers local audiences a chance to see the film ahead of its national release in November, according to Fournier.
The theater has plans to work with public schools to share content and showcase student works, in part through a previous partnership with Torchlight Media, a local program which supports student media projects.
The theater has also filled various other leadership roles.
Kate Fletcher, the former executive director of the Waldo Theatre in Waldoboro, has been appointed development director. The other roles are Kyle Parrish as theater manager, Kathryn Rowley as front of house manager, and Jon Tibbetts as facilities manager.
“With the five of us, we’re now drawing on everybody’s strengths in that group to take the organization and our community to the next level of possibility that can be for the Colonial and the future,” Fletcher said.
Additionally, the theater is working to upgrade its technology for ticketing, sound, lighting and projection, while making its space more accessible. Fournier also mentioned plans to improve the exterior of the building, which is nearly a century old.
“The community can just really expect more,” Fournier said. “The vision of the team that reopened the theater was really about continuing to support the Colonial as a really vibrant, inclusive arts hub, and this added capacity gives us more bandwidth to do just that.”
