History and Mission:
The primary mission of the Coolidge Corner Theatre Foundation is "to entertain, enlighten, and engage -- building community through film culture."
We feel that this statement is evident and inherent in every aspect of our work. The core of our programming is cinema, and our goal is to show films, as they were meant to be seen, on the last giant silver screen in Boston. With annual attendance of 200,000 individuals, the Coolidge serves a diverse community audience. Membership currently stands at 2800 while a growing email list helps attract new audiences within the local community and beyond.
The Coolidge Corner Theatre is New England's most successful independent, not-for-profit cinema. Built as a church in 1906, it was redesigned as an Art Deco movie palace in 1933 and has never closed its doors to the public since then. Located in the heart of Brookline, Massachusetts, it was the community's first movie theater and now, a non-profit foundation since 1988, it celebrates the experience of cinema by presenting the finest international, documentary, animated, and independent film selections and series.
From the sponsoring of china giveaways during the Depression to the prestigious Coolidge Award events inaugurated in 2004 honoring groundbreaking international artists from the world of film, the Coolidge Corner Theatre has played a unique and indelible role in the development and social history of the town of Brookline.
The many changes at the Coolidge in recent years have greatly altered the perception of the Theatre in the eyes of the public. The Coolidge has, in fact, experienced nothing short of a renaissance, transforming itself from a down-at-heel but beloved experimental arts venue to a stable, prosperous, and highly valued institution in the community.
