Stephanie Silverman
Member Profile
How has NATO membership been impactful to you and/or your business?The Belcourt is very proud to be a part of the US exhibition community and love both learning from the work of other NATO colleagues alongside being a voice for exhibition issues at the local, state and national level based on the critical guidance from NATO staff.
I started in the non-profit performing arts world so moving over to a non-profit film theatre presented some crazy learning curves but after 17 years in the position I couldn’t imagine doing anything else!
Our audiences are amazing and our very best advocates so it’s fun to see them sharing their love for our programing and the theatre itself across online and other social media platforms. I also really love all my co-workers at the Belcourt. We’ve been a team for a lot of years and the level of investment and commitment to the work of seeing our theatre succeed and serve our audiences in the most meaningful way possible is just the very best.
We’ve loved hosting artists for conversations around their work and films– those screenings tend to be some of the most memorable. From Ethan Hawke, to Nicole Kidman, to Joan Baez in conversation with musician Jack White — it’s just fantastic to feel the energy of an audiences who gets to be in direct conversation with an artist they love after seeing a film that moved them.
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It’s so hard to pick just one but the first one that comes to mind is taking my son to see 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time in our theatre. The screening was totally sold out and he was just blown away by the film — he wrote about how meaningful seeing the film was a part of his college essays. It just meant the world to see the audience impact that we strive for as a theatre happen so directly in my own home. It was incredibly special.
I think the future of exhibition is bright. We are seeing eager audiences for films both new and old but most importantly those audiences span age range, are very diverse and are eager for the shared experience of watching great stories on screen.
I would say to anyone interested in working in this field that they should reach out to people already doing the work. My experience with exhibitors in this community is that they are extremely generous with time and information. I think there is a real interest in nurturing a next generation so people should not hesitate to ask for advice.
