SOUND OFF: Alcohol over the arts
I HAVE TO START THIS LETTER by saying that my opinion is 100% biased since I run a local not-for-profit arts organization and only drink alcohol a handful of times per year, but it’s becoming very clear to me that the Province of British Columbia seems to favour alcohol over the arts.
This morning (Mar. 3) the Kamloops Film Society received a call from Interior Health where they revoked the permission they had given us in early February to have small private bookings in the theatres for no more than six people — all from the same household. Apparently, various jurisdictions from across B.C. were getting requests from movie theatres to do the same thing and there were also complaints, though we aren’t sure if these complaints were about us specifically or even what the complaints were. Interior Health, it seems, got a slap on the wrist from the Ministry of Health – Province of BC who reiterated that movies at a theatre were seen as an “event” and thus had to be shut down. Interior Health should not have given us permission in the first place. Back to full shutdown we go.
The Paramount Theatre was closed from mid-March to September during the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. We survived by taking advantage of federal programs and by running a pilot drive-in with community partners. We opened once a week in September, expanding to three days per week in October and November, as well as launching the private bookings. We increased cleaning protocols, added plexiglass, created safe pathways with decals, added safety signage, sectioned off seating for proper spacing, bought new safety equipment and supplies, and developed a COVID Safety Plan. Many of our audience members remarked how safe they felt coming to the theatre. This shouldn’t be surprising as we were only allowed 50 people per screening so Theatre 1 (507 seats) was less than 10 per cent “full” even with a sellout and Theatre 2 (270 seats) was less than 20 per cent full. For a small operation like ours, all of these extra steps amounted to huge costs. Though we have been able to offset some expenses with grants, the impact is still significant.
We were surviving. The federal funding, private rentals, our newly launched Membership Levels, and a small number of very appreciated donations were keeping us afloat. Then, at the end of November new orders shut us down even though retail stores, restaurants, pubs and cafes remained open. We cancelled almost 25 private bookings as well as our public programming in December and remained closed until February when we made our case to Interior Health: if a family can sit around a table at a restaurant where there are other people at other tables, why not alone in a theatre? To their credit, Interior Health was logical, and gave us permission for small private bookings. At least we had something. That has now been taken away.