San Francisco Cinematheque

The 50 year old San Francisco Cinematheque (SFC) holds a unique archive of avant-garde film prints made by local filmmakers and presents dozens of screenings annually to a small but devoted audience of experimental cinema. By partnering with a variety of Bay Area film and media focused organizations, including Hewlett Foundation grantees Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the Pacific Film Archive, the SFC collaborates to spotlight the work of local, national and international artists and contributes to the curation of film festivals and cinema series around the world. Because of the esoteric nature SFC’s programming there is a small audience for the organization and with little earned revenue (12% of budget) and few individual donors ($22k raised in 2009) the small part time staff and board have not been able to attract the resources necessary to avoid running an operating deficit, to raise compensation to retain key staff, or to invest in the technology necessary to make their archives available on line and thus more accessible to audiences and researchers near and far. With a final grant of general operating support the SFC will be able to present its 50th anniversary season and to continue its efforts to increase audience, memberships and individual support necessary to their continued survival. (Tie Off; $45,000/1; 28% of organization budget)