Due in large part to the closure of the historic Columbus Theatre on Broadway, the Rhode Island International Film Festival has relocated its headquarters to the first floor of the Veterans Memorial Auditorium Arts & Cultural Center, a move RIIFF’s director said puts the film group closer to “the core of the city.”
“This is a great, new location,” said George T. Marshall, executive director and CEO of RIIFF. “It is very visible … and it makes us players within the core city.” The VMA is located near the Statehouse next to the Renaissance Providence Hotel, just a few blocks from Providence Place and downtown.
The film organization, best known for sponsoring a film festival every August that draws thousands of moviemakers and fans, had been on the second floor of the Columbus for about 10 years. The Columbus is located on the west side of Providence, an increasingly gentrified neighborhood that is, however, split from downtown by the Interstate 95 highway.
Marshall said representatives of the VMA “came to us and offered us the space,” leading to several months of discussion that ended with RIIFF moving to its new home in January. Owned by the state, the VMA is under the aegis of the R.I. Convention Center Authority, which also oversees the convention center and the Providence Performing Arts Center. Marshall declined to say how much rent RIIFF pays.
Marshall did say RIIFF is paying about the same amount of rent it paid at the Columbus, but utilities and dedicated parking spaces are included. That was not the case at the drafty Columbus, where Marshall said heating bills in winter could be excessive. The VMA is handicapped-accessible and, for the first time, Marshall said, he has his own private office.
The film group has a staff of 25 people, including paid staffers, volunteers and year-round interns, and the VMA move gives the group room to grow. “Our film festival has an international reputation,” Marshall said. “We are not a small mom-and-pop operation any more and we have more than 4,000 entries for this year’s festival. This will allow us to take the next step in our growth.”
There is one thing the VMA lacks. It has 1,900 seats – more than twice the capacity of the Columbus’ 865 seats – but no movie screen. Marshall said RIIFF is “willing to make the investment” to buy a screen soon (before the August festival) and he suggested other film-related groups would be drawn to the VMA once a screen is in place.
The next-door Renaissance Providence Hotel also plans to work closely with RIIFF.
“We’re an arts-inspired hotel so it makes a lot of sense to have them as our neighbor,” said Mike Barrett, director of marketing at the hotel.
The hotel and RIIFF are in the process of formalizing an agreement that will see, for instance, a certain number of rooms at the hotel reserved for film-festival-goers at a reduced rate, Barrett said. “We afforded them the best available rate we could,” he said, declining to provide specifics. For the first time this year, festival registration will take place at the Renaissance rather than PPAC.
Meanwhile, except for two businesses on the first floor that remain in operation, the Columbus is closed. Alleged city fire code violations about 10 months ago led to closure of the theater, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and a venue for about 40 community groups.
Owner Jon Berberian told Providence Business News he does not have the resources to repair the theater, estimating the cost would be at least $400,000 for a new sprinkler system alone. A consultant and an engineer that he retained will meet with city officials this week to discuss the situation, Berberian said. “They want me to rebuild the inside of the theater in an 84-year-old building. It’s an impossibility,” he said. “I desperately need help. I can’t do it alone.” •
