Academy of Music ends movie run

posted by Michael Zoldessy on January 8, 2007 at 5:00 am

NORTHAMPTON, MA — The Academy of Music has ended its run of showing films while it begins to rely completely on its live productions to keep its doors open. The possibility still exists that movies will come back, but with numerous key employees being laid off, the future isn’t looking that bright.

Andrew J. Crystal, president of the Board of Trustees of the 117-year-old theater, announced yesterday that the future of the Academy of Music – the first municipally owned theater in the country – is up in the air as the board “reassesses” strategies for its survival as an entertainment site.

“Typically, for a theater like the Academy of Music, which is nonprofit, which has no endowment and no dedicated source of revenue from the city that owns it – typically, that kind of organization requires 30 to 40 percent of its budget to come from unearned income,” Crystal said. “Ours is much, much less.”

“The board is committed to finding a way to keep the Academy of Music open and viable – so it can stay open for another 117 years.”

A huge loss to the community and a particular favorite of ours here at CT. To read more go to, Mass Live.

Theaters in this post

• Academy of Music