BOARD OF TRUSTEES
President
James McPeak
Vice President & Treasurer
Dr. Joseph Graskemper
Secretary
Catherine Oberg (Founder)
Honorary Trustee
Isabella Rossellini
ADVISORY BOARD
Jaret Martino
Actor, Filmmaker, Founder (Love Wins Film Festival)
Tracy Todd Hunter
Founder/Curator for Of Colors ~ A Creative Collective
Martha Maffei
Executive Director, Sepa Mujer
Jennifer Cotter
Chair, Patchogue Peace Project
Co-founder, People Power Patchogue
Isabel Sepúlveda-de Scanlon
Founder of Voz Latina and OLA Latino Film Festival
Co-Founder of OLA of Eastern Long Island, Inc.
and the Mamalluca Chilean Film Festival
Regina Casale
OUR MISSION
The Plaza's mission is to celebrate the power and magic of film as an art form and as a medium for multicultural exchange and social responsibility by:
Screening quality mainstream, independent, foreign films, and operas and plays captured live from world stages
Presenting series and festivals with guest speakers
Offering field trips, classes, and workshops in filmmaking and animation
Contributing to the economic and cultural development of the community
If you are interested in supporting our mission please contact Executive Director Catherine Oberg at obergc@plazamac.org.
FUNDING
The Plaza Cinema & Media Arts Center is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3), community supported organization. This means there are no shareholders and that all monies are used to fund operations, programming, and capital campaigns.
The Plaza's operational model brings cultural and educational programming under one mission-driven roof and is fiscally supported by a combination of admission and tuition, philanthropic funding, grants, business sponsorships, and community contributions.
OUR STORY
In the fall of 2010 a group of volunteers unassumingly began screening films once a month in Shand's Loft at the BrickHouse Brewery and received an enthusiastic response. After nine months of "Monday Nights at The Movies" it was clear that the South shore community wanted its own Art House Cinema - Plaza MAC, Inc. was born. Encouraged by a $5,000 gift from filmmaker George Stoney, the founders moved into a bare bones 1,200 sq. ft. storefront at Artspace on Terry Street. With hammers and paint brushes in hand, the volunteers caught the attention of a local newspaper reporter and celebrity Isabella Rossellini. Inspired by what was happening, community members started sending unsolicited checks to The Plaza.
Within the first two years (2011-2013) of Plaza’s existence at Artspace, the community's gifts made it possible to build a box office, folding chairs were replaced by comfortable reclining chairs, the Blue Velvet wine bar and concession stand replaced folding tables, walls replaced curtains, risers were modified, and the screening and sound equipment were up-graded to a state-of-the art digital cinema system with surround sound. By Midsummer 2016 two art deco marquees were installed and The Plaza celebrated with a memorable marquee lighting and ribbon cutting ceremony.
THE ART HOUSE MOVEMENT
The Plaza Cinema & Media Arts Center is part of an international consortium, the Art House Convergence, which by 2017 consisted of over 500 delegates representing exhibitors, distributors, film festivals, and allied organizations.
The idea of the Art House Convergence (AHC) was born in 2008 when a group of exhibitors were brought together at the Sundance Film Festival as part of the Sundance Institute’s Art House Project.
Robert Redford foresaw the need and necessity to mobilize independent movie houses to protect their interests against commercial multiplexes and build negotiating power to secure movies from the big studios. But there was also a second need to preserve independent movie houses; they were needed to exhibit smaller films produced by independent filmmakers as well as foreign films. Thus was born the idea of an Art House cinema that serves a community's needs as a cultural media arts center.
The mission of the AHC is to increase the quantity and quality of Art House cinemas in North America. The organization strives to reflect its core intention, community-based, mission-driven, in all its programs, seminars, and the annual conference.
