The Next 100 Years

IMAGES CINEMA’S VISION OF AN ELEVATED THEATER EXPERIENCE IS BECOMING A REALITY

By Elise Linscott

Some key players in the "Look Forward" renovation plan include, from left, Kevin O’Rourke, actor and chair of Images' board and its capital campaign committee; Images Executive Director Dan Hudson; and Managing Director Janet Curran. (Gregory Cherin)

For more than a century, Images Cinema has been a mainstay in downtown Williamstown. It’s the third oldest cultural organization in the Berkshires, behind only the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center and Berkshire Museum, and is one of the oldest continually operating cinemas in New England. 

With the “Look Forward” capital campaign, Images Director Dan Hudson is hoping that planned upgrades and the addition of a second theater will carry the cinema into the future. 

“It’s really cool that we've been here for so long in such a small community,” Hudson says. “That just shows there's been such passion and engagement around this organization.” 

Images opened its doors in 1916 as a one-theater cinema. That will soon become history when the 150-seat main auditorium will transform into a 70-seat theater with a second 19-seat screening room, both within the footprint of the original theater. The two spaces will get upgraded seating, accessibility, and new audio and projection systems. Hudson says there’s a need for a second screening space within Images. In 2018, Images ran a second pop-up screen in the former Red Herring bar and tavern next door (now occupied by Crust pizza) for seven months. It was a success. 

“Despite poor seating, bad acoustics, and a ‘stale beer’ ambiance, ticket sales increased by 19 percent and concessions by 21 percent,” says Kevin O’Rourke, chair of Images Cinema’s board and its capital campaign committee. “The audience for a second screening room is there! And we can facilitate this two-screen plan while meeting 98 percent of our audience demand—with no need for additional space, additional ticketing, additional rental expense or concession staffing expense.” 

Attendance and interest in Images Cinema has increased since the North Adams Movieplex 8 shut down in January 2023. Images had its biggest summer that same year—the summer of “Barbenheimer” in 2023, as Hudson dubbed it, when the Barbie and Oppenheimer films brought more people than any summer in Images’ history. The cinema has weathered changes in the film industry and people's viewing habits, as well as recent cultural and technological disruptions like streaming and COVID, says Hudson. 

Images Cinema, which became a nonprofit in 1998, has around 800 active members and gets around 20,000 attendees per year. The nonprofit theater model is catching on in other parts of the county, too. The Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington recently joined Images in becoming a nonprofit theater; Hudson considers them to be friends rather than competitors because they serve different communities. 

Despite community support and an active member base, being a small, nonprofit theater comes with its own unique set of challenges. Images Cinema’s single theater also has limited the films it’s been able to show since the restrictions included in film contracts have grown in recent years; many now have stipulations around the duration a film must run in the theater, or that it must be the only film shown in that auditorium during its run, for example. That means the cinema has had to choose certain films over others to align with contract specifications. 

“This renovation and right-sizing will address the changing rules and restrictions of film distribution by having two screens that allow simultaneous screenings of major studio releases like Barbie and Oppenheimer—instead of having to wait for Barbie’s four-week commitment to be satisfied,” says O’Rourke. “This will add significant presentation windows, increase revenue, and better serve our wide-ranging audience—an audience with preferences that range from Downton Abbey to Anora to Moana.” 

For most of the movies that Images screens, the cinema owes a straight percentage of its ticket sales to the film distributors, regardless of how many people come or how big the theater is, says Hudson. 

“It will not cost more or less to show movies in that (smaller) space,” he says. “We do expect that a lot of the types of smaller, documentary, indie, quirky movies we've shown in our new lounge, and formerly in our 2018-2019 pop-up theater in the former Red Herring space, will find a home there as our average audience for those types of films fit nicely in a 19-seat theater.” 

Additionally, the smaller theater space will be perfect for workshops, classes, birthday parties, and all manner of public and private rentals and events, Hudson adds. 

“This (second screen) will bring more programming and financial stability to Images to compete with streaming at home,” says Matt Brogan, Chair of the Renovation & Construction Taskforce. 

Brogan and his wife relocated from Brooklyn to the Berkshires to start their cider business. They chose to live in Williamstown because there was a movie theater and culture. Before starting Berkshire Cider Project, Brogan was a theater architect and worked on many small town projects around the country. 

“I reached out to Images when I heard about the renovation,” Brogan says. “It's been a really great way to use some of those old skills and work on this really exciting project.” 

Phase One of the capital campaign saw the completion of a feasibility study and addition of a new screening lounge and bar, which opened in May 2024 and now serves as a community gathering space for arts events and film discussions. Images has been offering free, low-cost and pay-what-you-want events in the new lounge space, from karaoke to poetry readings and film discussions. 

The completion of the second theater will allow the cinema to continue to expand on its mission-based work, Hudson says. 

“We really see ourselves as a vector and a hub for community building,” Hudson says. “There will be different types of events that we're able to do when we have three flexible spaces that are various sizes and capabilities. It’s really exciting to think about what types of festivals or special events we can do in the future that we've not even thought about yet because we don't necessarily have the capability or capacity to.” 

Renovations on the theater are expected to begin in August this year, with an anticipated reopening in February 2026. Images will have pop-up film screenings in various north county venues while the theater is closed. 

“Images Cinema and its programming have become an important element in the cultural landscape of the northern Berkshires,” says O’Rourke. “Like the art one experiences at the Clark or MASS MoCA, film makes us think, makes us laugh and cry, and helps us to see our friends, our neighbors and our culture through a new—shared—perspective. Movies, and the stories they tell, are best presented in the theater, are best shared in the theater, and Images has always supported and fostered that experience. 

“There’s nothing like seeing a film in person with other people. It is a shared experience that instills conversation and dialogue—sometimes among strangers. This collective experience is vital right now. Supporting Look Forward, and investing in Images’ future, will assure that this beloved Williamstown institution will continue with strong community support and solid financial footing.” 

As of late May, before this issue went to print, the cinema had raised over $1.75 million, or almost exactly 80 percent of its $2.2 million Look Forward campaign total. Hudson hopes to raise $450,000 more. 

“Some of those funds are identified to come from grants and local institutions,” says Hudson, “but a significant portion we're still hoping will come from gifts of all sizes from our community, including completing our seat naming campaign, for which we are already over halfway sold.”

Images Cinema is located at 50 Spring St., Williamstown. To learn more about the cinema and its "Look Forward" campaign, visit imagescinema.org.