Preliminary construction work has begun on the Pickford on Grand, a companion theater to the Pickford Film Center’s current location on Bay Street. The City of Bellingham administered permits on Friday, July 5, though the project’s expected completion date is still undetermined.
The Pickford is Whatcom County’s only nonprofit community cinema and screens a diverse mix of mainstream and independent films. Its new location at 105 Grand St. is a block away from the main Pickford location at 1318 Bay St., which the theater acquired in 2004.
The Pickford on Grand project was announced in 2021 when the theater purchased the building for $900,000. The project has now met its fundraising goals based on its 2022 budget, and more than $1 million was raised through foundations and individual donors. It also received $300,000 in grants from the M. J. Murdock Foundation and $533,000 from the Washington Building For the Arts.
The Pickford on Grand will include two estimated 60-seat theaters with four wheelchair spaces, plus a “jewel box” 20-seat theater — resulting in five total screens across both Pickford locations. The new space will allow the theater to “regain and exceed the breadth of our programming and audiences” following the 2020 closure of the Limelight, a one-screen cinema on Cornwall Avenue, according to the theater’s website.
The Pickford was founded in 1998 and is the only 365-day independent cinema between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. It aims to “honor cinema’s past with ongoing repertory screenings, and support the future of filmmaking with screenings of new independent films.” Info: pickfordfilmcenter.org.
Cocoa Laney is CDN’s lifestyle editor; reach her at cocoalaney@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 128.
