From: Adam Sekuler (email suppressed)
Date: Thu Jul 30 2009 - 15:25:51 PDT
Friends, compatriots, and loved ones, I'm here with what could be the
biggest small ask of my life.
I am writing to you to ask for your help. I am asking you for $10,
the price of an average movie ticket. The Film Forum has had done
many great things this year, but much like other organizations our
income is off by 30%. And while we remain scrappy and imaginative in
tough spots, this time is different.
We are looking at real changes at the Film Forum unless you say yes
and support us. We need to reach a goal of $70,000 by August 15.
Please walk it in, mail it in, or visit www.nwfilmforum.org to make a
donation.
You and 10,000 others are receiving this, which means you regularly
find our emails and enews in our inbox, which means that you care,
too. Maybe you even love what we do and believe the city is a better
place - more sophisticated, inspired, or just more fun -- because of
the films we show here, the summer filmmaking camps we offer to kids,
the screenwriting and film editing classes we schedule, the
filmmakers we bring to town (and the classes they teach), and the
movies we are so instrumental in getting made.
Classes, filmmaker support, equipment rental, special screenings, and
film series, many of these programs may be put on hold, shelved, or
stopped altogether without your small gift. That means programs such
as Soul Nite and ByDesign could go. It means fewer masterpieces such
as "Silent Light" showing up on our screens. It means maybe no more
camera rentals. Jobs and programs are on the line.
So, as the movie voiceover says, imagine a world: imagine a world in
which people can open a door and find community. Imagine a world in
which emerging filmmakers can receive the advice, equipment,
collaborators and support they need to make their movies. Imagine a
world in which anyone can register for classes to get the tools they
need to enter the fields of screenwriting, editing, and video
production. Imagine a world in which you can see movies that change
the way you see the world. Imagine a world where you can find people
of a like mind for inspiration and community.
Fifteen years ago we did that, all of it. To summarize what the Film
Forum provides the city would take a much longer letter, but if you
are a member or regular patron you have a pretty good idea already.
You already believe in what we do.
You can keep all this, now, for the price of a ticket at your
average movie theater. It's tough out there, we know that; we have
tried our best to keep moving ahead in spite of the current economy.
But now we know that some of what we do and provide will go dark
without your support.
I am asking you urgently. If you have benefited from our equipment,
from the images on our screens, from our classes, from our network of
people, from our famously great parties, we are asking you to say
yes, you believe, yes you can give $10. Yes.
Please make a donation here.
Adam Sekuler | Program Director
Phone 206/329-2629 | Fax 206/329.1193
Northwest Film Forum | 1515 12th Ave.
Seattle, WA 98122 | www.nwfilmforum.org
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.