Nearly 150 members of the National Association of Theatre Owners of California/Nevada met in person for the first time since 2019 at the annual membership meeting held on Wednesday, June 22, 2022 at the Cinemark Playa Vista. Members gathered to reconnect, honor retiring leadership, welcome new staff, and celebrate our accomplishments and partnerships.

As most know, long-time President and CEO Milton Moritz retired this past March and we welcomed Todd Vradenburg as the new President/CEO. Mr. Vradenburg comes to the Association after 25 years as the Executive Director of the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation. For many, Wednesday’s meeting was the first opportunity to meet our new President and hear him speak about his vision for the future of the Association.

Charlene Sievers, Director of Membership Services, will also retire at the end of June after 23 years with the Association. Mrs. Sievers was emotional in her gratitude to the members and Board of Directors for their support and expressed how much she loved being a part of the Association and working with Past President Moritz. The members showed their appreciation by giving Mrs. Sievers a standing ovation at the end of her speech.

Chairman Raymond Syufy paid special tribute to their many years of dedicated service and their accomplishments, especially during COVID, notably with the creation of the direct relief fund for theatre employees.

The tribute to Past President Moritz continued when Board of Director, Lyndon Golin, announced the dedication of the Barbara and Milton Moritz Game Center at the Variety Boys & Girls Club (VBGC) in Boyle Heights.

Executive Director of VBGC, Patricia Siquieros, gave a brief history of the club and the services they provide to their members. Through our ongoing partnership, we continue to fund their award-winning digital media center and urban oasis, allowing their club members to engage in hands-on activities while introducing them to fruits and veggies they had never consumed before. During the pandemic, NATO of CA/NV also funded a distance learning program and summer camp that provided club members the academic guidance and technology to navigate remote learning thereby preventing any setbacks in their schooling. Through a matching grant, the VBGC was also able to build an endowment, ensuring their doors will remain open and continue to provide resources and opportunities to the community.

“Thank you, NATO of CA/NV Board of Directors for sharing in our vision that all youth, regardless of their economic background, should have access to a higher education,” Patricia Siquieros, Executive Director of the Variety Boys & Girls Club.

Patrick Corcoran, Vice President and Chief Communications Officer for National NATO, was optimistic that box office will continue to increase as we go into the summer film releases. According to NRG data, the general public’s comfort level in attending movie theatres continues to rise. Mr. Corcoran also gave brief updates on the status of open captioning and National NATO’s The Cinema Foundation.

This year NATO of CA/NV allocated over $400,000 to nine organizations through the Community Outreach Program. In addition to the VBGC, three organizations presented information about their organizations and the programs funded by NATO of CA/NV.

Dodge College of Film & Media Arts at Chapman University is the #4 ranked film school in the US and the Association has granted a scholarship of $100,000 over 4 years to attend the film school. The recipient of the scholarship is a graduate of the Women in Entertainment (WIE) mentorship program co-created by Stephen Galloway, now Dean of Dodge College, through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles. Dean Galloway presented members with a short video of the 2018 graduates to give attendees an understanding of the mentor program and the participants backgrounds and the hardships they’ve overcome to realize their college dreams.

Through a partnership that began in the fall of 2020, the Association is providing another $50,000 (third payment out of four) to the University of San Francisco School of Nursing and Health Professionals to provide scholarships to five students. The five students NATO of CA/NV is supporting have a high financial need but are also high academic achievers and have just completed their second year of schooling. Associate Vice President of Development Jayme Burke presented information on the degree programs offered by the school, statistics on their undergraduate students, and the school’s response to COVID.

Side by Side is a community-based organization providing social services to youth impacted by adversity. Chief Program Officer Larry Woodland reviewed the different services they provide to youth in need. The Association provided a $30,000 grant to fund two programs:

• Community Counseling in the Greater Bay Area provides clinical services from individual & group therapy to crisis stabilization and medication management. It currently serves over 355 youth and their families with a special emphasis on the Latinx community.
• Youthrive in Marin and Sonoma counties provides prevention & early intervention services with the goal of reducing academic and behavior issues to improve school performance. It currently serves 200 middle and high school students and their families, with additional workshops for college students.

Please visit the Community Outreach page to read about the other organizations NATO of CA/NV supported this year.

Due to COVID’s impact on our industry, there wasn’t a scholarship program for 2021. Thankfully, the scholarship committee was able to reassemble this year and granted a total of $250,000 to 37 students. Scholarship committee member Neil Pearlmutter happily announced the 37 recipients along with the theatres they represented and the colleges they are attending. Thirteen of the 37 recipients were in attendance and received loud applause and congratulations from the members in attendance.

Please visit the Scholarship Program page to learn more about this year’s recipients and to read their application essays.

For many of the attendees, the highlight of the membership meeting is seeing the impact the Association has on our communities and getting to celebrate our scholarship recipients.

Vradenburg ended the meeting with a message to all attendees - “The theatrical experience is essential to life. It must be protected, promoted and shared.” He asked attendees to take this message to heart when they return to their communities. He asked that they join a community organization and simply share your story about working in a theater.