Lincoln Family Theater 2019: Continued focus on the community, exciting new opportunities, financial stability

[January 05, 2019]   “Right out of the box, we knew our focus needed to be on the Lincoln community,” said Marilyn Altman, Lincoln Family Theater Operations Manager. “It was clear there was an opportunity to help those in need, so we focused on the God given vision and from there, we would simply trust that good things would happen.”

Several ministries have been implemented with others planned for 2019. “Miracle Movie Ministries” is a recent run, inspirational movie playing every day, for free, with a new film beginning each Friday. The most popular movies to date include “War Room,” “I Can Only Imagine” and “The Shack.” “Recently we had an opportunity to talk with the moviegoers after the movie. One gentleman stated the movie “I Can Only Imagine,” had impacted him so much he was going to reevaluate how he was parenting his children. That alone was encouraging to us,” says Altman.

“We are very excited about what MMM will mean to the community in 2019. It is our hope others will come to know and count on MMM playing every day, finding refuge and comfort in the encouraging messages portrayed through the movies. We invite our regular viewers to make MMM their own little ministry by inviting, and or, bringing others they know could use some encouragement. Life is difficult enough, experiencing hope through cinema is what the vision of the Miracle Movie Ministry is all about,” says Altman.

LFT is looking forward to the opportunities within our community to make a difference. “One way we want to make the theater a part of the community is to partner with local non-for-profit organizations. Our first partnership was with our local chapter of Toys for Tots” says Altman. “There are many under-utilized days, times, and resources available, so we encourage these groups to fully use their imaginations and let the theater know how we can help.’

The theater has identified a number of exciting revenue increasing opportunities to be implemented in 2019, including video gaming tournaments, reoccurring video game days and “retro” movies, as well as broadcasting live sporting events ranging from high school to professional sports. LFT is looking into the possibilities of implementing new customer-oriented services including child care and advanced menu options.

2019 will also see LFT fully leveraging the tremendous amount of retail, food, and business spaces currently available in both the new and original theaters. “The office spaces above the original theater are amazing,” says Altman. “We have completely cleaned out those spaces, it appears for the first time in over fifty years, to ready them for the possible opportunities that are out there. When you look out those windows you can just about see 1955!”

The theater also includes 2-3 small retail shops that have been shuttered for many years. These twelve by twenty-four-foot spaces have been cleared and renovations started. The recently restored foyer of the original theater is also available for retail use. “The neon lighting and fully functioning sales counter offers a great deal of possibilities,” says Altman.

The 1930’s era service station adjacent to the south end of the new theater was recently cleared and set up to be used for the theaters initial video gaming event where participants and spectators could gather to play board games and video game warm ups all while enjoying the video gaming concessions during the tournament. “Don’t be surprised if you see a full-time food establishment operating in there soon,” says Altman. “It’s exciting to think of all the possibilities out there to make that area the new hotspot corner.”

New management concerns regarding the ability for the theater to break even financially were quickly relieved through two strategic actions that go into effect January 1, 2019. The movement toward primarily volunteer labor and a slight increase in prices will come together to make the theater a break-even operation. The successful implementation of the new opportunities listed above will allow the theater to see a profit, thus protecting current investors, financial institution partners, and the city.

“We focused on the areas where we knew we could decrease our overhead and increase revenues to allow the theater to break even,” says Altman. “It will take some work on our part and dedicated volunteers to see the benefits, but I believe we are up to the efforts and the response from the community has been very encouraging. We appreciate all of the support shown to us as we move forward to achieve our goals of helping others and making our theater a successful part of this great community.”

 
To join the Lincoln Family Theater volunteer team, please contact Marilyn Altman at LincolnFamilyTheater@ Gmail.com  or call the theater at 217.732.9400 x zero. Positions include greeter, ticket counter, and concession counter, part time, various days/evenings.

[Jack Rooney
President
Capitol Strategies Consulting, Inc.]