The Roxie Theater is still in the home stretch of its $7 million capital campaign to buy their building outright, but the theater’s leadership gave us some insights into how the mighty little Roxie had already secretly raised 75% of that money.
On Wednesday, the still-ongoing SFFILM Festival awarded their annual prestigious Mel Novikoff Award, given to “individuals and institutions that deepened audiences' love and appreciation of world cinema,” to the Mission District’s 112-year-old Roxie Theater. When the committee that decides the winner of that award chose the Roxie months ago, they had no idea that the Roxie was secretly executing a plan to buy their building, in a still-ongoing fundraising campaign.
“We could not be more excited to celebrate one of our own, an organization that works tirelessly to enhance, encourage, and cultivate the public's appreciation of cinema,” SFFILM director of programming Jessie Fairbanks said when presenting the award.
And then we got a few words from the folks who run the Roxie in a panel discussion. Roxie Theater executive director Lex Sloan joked, “Sometimes I’m plunging a toilet or doing touch-up paint, and it’s still the best job in the world.”
But the news that the Roxie is very close to buying their building outright was of course the hot topic of the evening. “Buying the Roxie, buying this building, has been a long-held dream of many stewards of this organization. This isn’t new,” Sloan told the audience. “This has truly been a labor of love for years for so many people.”
It’s called the “Forever Roxie” capital campaign, and when news of it broke in the Chronicle this month, we learned that the Roxie had already privately raised $5.5 million of that $7 million goal. And we had to wonder, how did the small but mighty Roxie Theater manage to scare up $5.5 million?
So we asked Roxie Theater executive director Lex Sloan that exact question. And it turns out the first million bucks came within two weeks.
“Just about a year ago, May 6, 2024, we signed a purchase and sale agreement. And that was the key that turned on the ignition,” Sloan told us.
“We have 19 amazing board members, they stepped up in a huge way. The first contributions to the campaign were all the Roxie board, and they all made audacious, meaningful gifts,” she added. “With our board collectively, we were able to raise $1 million in that first two weeks.”
Okay, so that’s a million dollars. Where did a few million more come from?
“There are a few leading gifts,” Sloan said. “I’m eternally grateful to the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. They are such an amazing organization. They support all the local filmmakers whose work we love to show, and they support the local film festivals that we host.”
“This was our first grant from the Rainin Foundation, but they came through in a huge way.”
There's also a circle of donors called the Poppy Society, named for the Roxie’s original 1913 name, the Poppy Theatre. The Roxie has had six different names over 113 years, and was interestingly called “The Gaiety” for a few years in the early 1930s, before becoming The Roxie in 1933.
“Our marquee came from an auto dealership in Oakland, and it was brought on a barge over here in the 30s,” according to Sloan. “I think when they got that marquee up there, they were like, ‘We’re sticking with The Roxie.’”
And yes, it is true that The Roxie was one of those seedy pornography theaters during the 1970s and 80s. “Definitely The Roxie had its time as a XXX movie theater,” Sloan told us. “I always joke that we’ve replaced the seats since then.”
With the Forever Roxie capital campaign, they also plan to replace the projectors, screens, and sound system, as well as buying the whole building. They could still use more contributions to make that happen, and you can donate here.
Related: Roxie Theater on the Verge of Buying Its Building, Launches ‘Capital Campaign’ [SFist]
Image: Joe Kukura, SFist
