New Cinemapolis Executive Director ready to hit the ground running

While Kate Donohue has lived in Ithaca, she has been a frequent patron of Cinemapolis. A lover of movies, she enjoyed that the theater was community-based and might have movies she wouldn’t be able to see at other theaters.

On Jan. 11, that love for movies took on a much larger role as she took over as the Executive Director of Cinemapolis.

According to her LinkedIn, Donohue has worked for numerous non-profits including Sunnyside Community Services in Queens, and as a freelance consultant for nonprofits nationwide. She started working for Tompkins Cortland Community College as an Adjunct Instructor and Grant Project Manager in 2017.

“I’ve been very grateful because there’s a lot for me to learn,” she said. “Cinemapolis has a lot of different facets to it. The board, the staff and the whole Cinemapolis community has been really helpful and supportive as I get my sea legs and learn more about the organization.”

One of those different facets is how Cinemapolis contributes to the Ithaca arts scene by offering film festivals and partnering with different organizations for local events.

Donohue is also a writer and teacher, earning a Bachelor of Arts in English from Penn State University in 2004 and a Masters of Fine Arts in Poetry from the University of Pittsburgh in 2008. According to her Linkedin, she was Adjunct Lecturer at York College in New York City from 2010-2014.

She said her background in education and the arts will help Cinemapolis organize more participation between the theater and community organizations.

“Some of that background is useful with Cinemapolis as we want to partner with several different educational institutions and I do have that creative and artistic background,” she said. “I’m interested in how people form a community out of art that they love and how an organization can support artists and filmmakers to preserve and celebrate that artform.”

Cinemapolis is a ‘first-run’ movie theater, which means it is a theater that debuts new movies from studios. Donohue said the commitment to the local arts scene is a difference between Cinemapolis and other first-run theaters.

“We have this different side to our identity,” she said. “We’re very community and locally focused. We’re working to celebrate film’s power to connect people to celebrating the human experience.”

In 2021, construction began on the Green Street parking garage that sits above and next to the theater. A new parking garage and Downtown Ithaca’s new convention center will be Cinemapolis’ neighbors.

Donohue said once the projects are completed, which is expected to be in 2024 according to Downtown Ithaca, that portion of downtown will be revitalized, and the theater will reap the benefits.

As construction slugs on, however, there have been challenges with accessibility and visibility of the theater. 

“We want people to be aware of what we’re offering and have it be at the top of their minds when they’re thinking about how they want to spend their time. It’s a challenge when it’s harder to remember that we’re there, because of all the construction,” she said. “We’re looking forward to those construction projects being finished because they will open up new opportunities for visibility, all of that is going to be a bright new future for the community and Cinemapolis, but absolutely there are challenges.”

When construction started the Green Street parking garage was closed, which caused parking issues for people trying to get to the theater.

In 2022 the garage reopened, and Donohue said that has helped with access to the theater. From elevators on any floor, people can be dropped off right next to Cinemapolis’ front door.

“It’s important for people to know that the parking garage on Green Street is open,” she said. “For a long time we were having a challenge with people finding parking, so it’s good news that that is no longer a problem.”

Cineworld, the parent company of Regal Cinemas, filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in September. It announced that 39 theaters in the United States are planned to be closed, according to a story from Business Insider. Ithaca Mall Stadium 14 theater is one of the theaters on the list.

Ithaca Mall Stadium 14 has not announced that it will be closing.

Donohue said movie theaters closing comes during a time when streaming and the COVID-19 pandemic have kept people at home to enjoy their movies.

She said she still believes the best way to experience a movie is in the theater, and Cinemapolis will do what it can to make that experience the best possible for those who chose to go.

“Potential changes in the local landscape are part of a time in the movie industry when there are massive changes at all levels,” she said. “Change comes with challenge, but for Cinemapolis, as a smaller organization, we’re able to evolve and be agile in a changing environment. We’re working to come up with new ideas and potentially reach out to people who have not been regularly coming to see movies in our theater.”

Donohue said she has sensed a misconception that Cinemapolis only offers small-budget, independently produced films that can’t be seen at large box-office theaters.

She said with five screens, Cinemapolis has the ability to show a wide variety of movies that provide a large range of movie types. 

“We know that people love to go to movies and have fun, it’s what gets us all there. We are offering those kinds of experiences, we’re going to continue to offer both enriching and fun movie experiences for people of a lot of different tastes and interests,” she said. “I understand that the potential loss of Regal is felt as a loss for a lot of people, but I want people to know that we’re here, we’re right downtown and we offer movies that are going to be appealing for a lot of people, we want to be a resource for everyone to enjoy.”

From attending films to becoming Executive Director, Donohue said has seen the impact of Cinemapolis on the community.

As Green Street goes through its construction projects, she said the theater is going to be an important part of the revitalization of that part of town.

She especially feels that way after learning about the history of Cinemapolis, where community members wanted to establish a theater that showed movies they couldn’t see anywhere else in 1986.

Donohue sees her role as continuing to expand on the community legacy, and keep the mission of the theater going.

“It’s been able to grow and thrive because so many people loved the space and loved the opportunity to come together around movies they loved,” she said. “It is a great community resource and great testament  to the creativity and generosity of people in this area.”