Art college’s closure could darken The Screen
Although art house cinema at Santa Fe University of Art and Design has ‘a pretty good track record of survival,’ future remains unknown
The fate of The Screen, the art house cinema on the campus of the Santa Fe University Art and Design, could be in flux as the for-profit school makes preparations to close next year.
The manager of the theater, Charlotte Martinez, said Friday she had been informed by the school that a closing date for The Screen would be formally announced Monday.
Martinez said she had been asked by the school not to disclose information about the theater operations until after the weekend, because, she said, the school did not want its commencement ceremonies Saturday to be affected by the news.
A school spokeswoman, Rachael Lighty, denied Martinez’s account, saying, “At this time there are no immediate plans to close The Screen.”
Lighty said there had been discussions about limiting the hours of the cinema but that no decision had yet been made.
Lighty said she was “confused” as to why Martinez said she had been told of plans to close.
The school announced last month it would shutter in the spring of 2018 under the weight of financial difficulties, shrinking enrollment and the failure of a plan to sell the business to a Singapore-based education company. Lighty said in a statement at the time the school would keep open both The Screen and Garson Studios, an important space for the local film and television industry, through the 2017-18 academic year.
“We are continuing to be in close conversations with the city for the long-term plans for The Screen,” Lighty said Friday.
The manager of Garson Studios, Claudio Ruben, declined to comment on operations. Lighty said there is “absolutely no talk of closing Garson Studios.”
A city spokesman did not return phone messages Friday seeking comment about what the city might do with the facilities once the school vacates.
Brent Kliewer, the curator and director of programming at The Screen who founded the cinema on the College of Santa Fe campus in 1997, declined to comment on possible
changes at the cinema, saying only he had a talk scheduled Monday with the school’s director of finance.
“A month ago, they said they were fully behind the operation, and we made plans based on that; we committed to bookings six, seven months out,” Kliewer said.
Lighty told The New Mexican last week that 176 juniors, 79 percent of the class, said they would return in the fall to complete their degrees at the art school. Freshmen and sophomores were not given the option of continuing their education at the university.
Fifteen staff workers were laid off, Lighty said, with further job cuts to be made in coming weeks.
Martinez, the cinema’s only full-time employee, said she had been told Thursday she would be among staff laid off.
“I was told we would stay here for the teach-out, and I was ready to start hiring some students, but they kept putting it off,” she said. “I guess what the accountants are saying is that they don’t consider the staff at The Screen as essential, therefore they don’t see any reason to leave The Screen open.”
Lighty, the school spokeswoman, said the theater could be staffed through student workers or temporary employees.
Three of the five part-time student-employees who work at The Screen will graduate Saturday, Martinez said.
It is not the first time campus finances have threatened to roll credits on The Screen, a cinematheque with a reputation for eclectic film fare and excellent acoustics. The New Mexican reported in January 2009 that the beleaguered College of Santa Fe would close The Screen amid the school’s dire financial straits.
A massive fundraising effort was launched to save the theater, which has also served as classroom space.
Peter Grendle, The Screen’s general manager at the time, recalled Friday that the cinema raised roughly $75,000 in a matter of weeks.
Grendle, now general manager at Violet Crown, said the outpouring of community support demonstrated the value The Screen provides to the Santa Fe film community.
“The goal was to be a theater that plays the best movies out there, period,” he said. “I mean, 80 percent foreign. It was very rare we had a non-subtitled film. It was very rare we had an American film.
“That’s what turns people on about The Screen,” he added. “It’s not a place where you’re hit with any commercial fare whatsoever. If you hated the movie, there was something wrong with you; there’s nothing wrong with the movie.”
Jon Bowman, an author and former programmer at the Jean Cocteau Cinema and former executive director of the Santa Fe Film Festival, said The Screen has “a pretty good track record of survival.”
“It’s the most esoteric of the cinemas in town, the one that does the most diverse programming,” he added.
Asked whether he thought there would be appetite for another community rescue effort should The Screen again face its demise, Bowman demurred, saying the audience would be there if the cinema were to survive.
“You never know,” he said. “It did happen once; it could always happen again. At the same time, the town’s seven or eight years older. Who knows?”