The Seattle City Council voted 8-0 Tuesday to approve a nearly $1 million grant to SIFF to help the nonprofit reopen the Cinerama, the historic Belltown movie theater it purchased in May.
- The legislation, sponsored by Councilmember Andrew Lewis of District 7, was an amendment to the City’s 2023 budget, with $950,000 in funds coming from windfall admissions tax revenues.
- SIFF purchased the Cinerama for an undisclosed price from the estate of the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. The high-tech theater closed in February 2020 just before the pandemic and has been shuttered ever since.
- The grant calls for funds to be used to support programming and activations for the public benefit. On Tuesday, an amendment to the legislation called for “provisions in its grant agreement with SIFF Cinerama for living wages in jobs funded by the grant as well as labor harmony agreements,” The Seattle Times reported.
- SIFF has not set an opening date yet for the theater, or a revealed a new name. The organization lost the rights to the Cinerama name with the purchase.
- The King County Council will vote next week on its own $1 million funding legislation to boost the theater.
