We need to keep improving our heritage theatre facility. The purchase of the adjacent store space ensures that there will not be another vacant storefront on the street. This new space gives the opportunity to create a new lobby and concession area that will have appropriate work and lounge areas. Most significant will be the addition of accessible washrooms on the main level. Our tiny kitchen must meet public health and safety requirements. The community room level needs to be completely accessible and washrooms and lobby concession need updating. These improvements will meet the increasing family and small group demand for rental space for a wide variety of events. The updates will increase our programming potential such as wine and beer tastings, food tastings and culinary demonstrations/events in conjunction with film and concert events. Dinner and a movie events will become doable again. Our theatre is a community place that brings people together and we want our facility to be safe and welcoming for all.

Our facility can only accommodate small groups . Dinner and a movie which used to be quite popular can seat approximately 60 people. The Kiwanis Club already has a demand for rental space for family special occasion events and especially children’s birthday parties. We cannot allow use of the kitchen in its current state. In 2017 we had 107 organizational and 57 family events in the theatre itself as well as 59 rentals for the community room. The community already uses our facility but we want to improve their experience.

Our facility is a community place. It provides entertainment for all ages throughout the year. It is a cultural place that hosts film festivals, art exhibits, concerts, special tasting events. It is an educational place that hosts educational film presentations and guest speakers for schools and for the community. It is a meeting place for our partners, for small groups and for families. Community groups can advertise events for free on our digital community bulletin board. We also believe that we contribute to the community economic well being as we bring people to Forest and area. We believe we have a unique and special place that is available and we work each year to build on things that can appeal to a wide range of people. We take pride in the theatre and we believe that the community does as well and will see the value in making these improvements.

This is a major project for the Kiwanis Club. We must continue to operate the theatre and all the expenses that go along with maintaining a heritage building, pay our student concession employees, manage ongoing repairs, keep reserve funds for our projection equipment repairs and necessary upgrades. While the club will be committing a designated amount to the project and club members are submitting grant applications, we still must reach out to the community.

Our building will meet health and safety and accessibility requirements which is the primary need for the improvements. We will be able to increase our programming and add to events we already conduct. We will be able to offer” dinner and a movie” once again. We will be able to add to culinary events to link with travel film features, to our film festival events. Ethnic food demonstrations and activities will be possible. The renovations will better meet the needs of families and small groups who already rent our space but are limited in the use of kitchen facilities. Finally, we will have a state of the art expanded and accessible lobby, efficient and functional concession area, main floor accessible washroom and more accessible theatre seating.

The project budget is $1,500,000.00 all-in which includes the building contract, architect/engineer fees, marquee, kitchen equipment and accessories, donor wall, electronics, permits and licences. Our fundraising team has done an amazing job thus far but we are still a significant distance from the new goal as the tendered project ended up being almost double our initial expectations due to many unforeseen considerations (mainly due to the age of the building) which were not factored into the original scope.

Thanks to generous community donors, and to grants from a variety of sources, we have raised $1,135,000.00 . We have secured a LIBRO loan to complete the project and are thankful for that support as well. The capital campaign will continue until December 31, 2022. Donations can be made online and by mail. To donate online or via mail, please click on the buttons below. Please note, for mail in donations, all cheques must be made out to the Forest Community Foundation for tax receipt purposes.