Art House Origins: Phase 1
We opened our doors to the public in March of 2015. Our goal: to not only create a unique moviegoing experience to downtown, but to expand the selection of films coming to this area. So often we were seeing smaller independent and foreign titles not playing at the multiplexes, and thus Billings was missing out on a piece of culture. We were excited to bring a taste of this arthouse experience you see in larger metropolitan areas to our corner of Montana.
Since then, Art House has become a staple of the arts and entertainment scene in Billings, and we couldn't be happier.
But we've always planned on more...
Art House is more than just one small room. Art House is a building. We want to leverage every square foot of the G&W Building for the sake of film, art, and culture.
INTRODUCING PHASE 2
Since our Phase 2 launch in the fall of 2016, so many things have happened!
We have seen some great successes...
• We have received gifts from our community of individuals and organizations of over $500,000.
• We have received TIF funds from the City of Billings in the amount of $350,000.
• We have received grant funds for over $200,000.
That. Is. Huge! And we couldn’t be more grateful!
We have also seen great disappointments…
• Covid-19 hit and brought with it the loss of a grant opportunity that would have allowed us to break ground on our project.
But, did we let that bring us down and stop us from working towards our goal? No chance!
We are still here and we are still working to make Phase 2 a reality!
We know how important film and art is to our world and community and we won’t stop working until we open the doors of our future 3 screen theater, complete with a new lobby and artisan food kitchen.
We have some work to do and we’ll keep at it. We’d be honored if you’d follow along with us as we do. We are so thankful for an amazingly supportive community.
Thank you, Billings, for all that you are to us.
