Cowra Civic Centre Manager Jonathan Llewellyn says the Cinema there is all about getting people in Cowra out and about and spending locally again, after a year of COVID-19 interruptions.
Cowra Shire Council was successful in $10,000 in funding under the State Government's Festival Place of Summer Fund, which was designed to support public events for residents to attend post-COVID-19.
Council elected to use the funding to provide 1000 free cinema tickets, after purchasing equipment that enabled it to start screening new release films.
However Mr Llewellyn decided to go one step further to support local businesses in Cowra, making a requirement that those who book free tickets must spend at a local business within three hours of their movie starting.
“The funding coincided with the launch of the cinema, so we thought this would be the best way to use it,” Mr Llewellyn said. “Our aim is to make the cinema experience here more of an event, where people not only come to the movies, but they dine out and then go to the movies, or go to the movies then dine out.”
Mr Llewellyn said the cinema had been popular so far, with 600 of the free tickets having been sold already, amongst paid tickets also being purchased by people still wanting to do so.
He said under the grant funding guidelines, the remaining 400 free tickets would need to be exhausted by Easter, giving locals a few more weeks to get their hands on free movie tickets.
He said he expected many people to use the cinema even once the free tickets were gone.
“I think people have now seen how good a job we’ve done with the movies here, and they will want to keep coming back,” he said.
The Civic Centre has created six casual jobs since it began its cinema, with this number expected to rise.
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