The 96-year-old Circle Cinema recently launched a building and maintenance fund to help keep the venue going well into its next century.
The operators of the Route 66 landmark said the building is in good shape, but it’s old enough that an urgent repair issue arises now and then, according to KJRH-TV in Tulsa.
When announcing this, the Circle specifically cited the need to “replace a roof and improve accessibility in the cinema.”
According to Ortolani, it’s become a summertime tradition for its members and guests to support the institution with donations. For instance, they helped the Circle buy a new projector last year.
“We are a nonprofit organization, so we depend not just on ticket and concession sales,” he said, “but also charitable contributions from our members in the community to help present independent cinema in Tulsa, but also to preserve the last remaining movie palace and traditional theater experience in the city.”
Donations to the Circle’s building and maintenance fund can be made here. The Circle is a nonprofit, which means a donation can be tax-deductible.
The Circle Cinema sits on the 1926-1932 alignment of Route 66 in Tulsa at 10 S. Lewis Ave.
The theater closed in the mid-1990s. The Circle Cinema’s revitalization began in 2003, the same year it was designated to the National Register of Historic Places.
It remains Tulsa’s only nonprofit moviehouse, specializing in independent films, local movies and other special programming.
(Image of the Circle Cinema in Tulsa by Tom Baddley via Flickr)