Pandemic-pounded Tri-Cities theaters, museums receive millions in ‘critical’ grants

Tri-Cities movie theaters and other venues shuttered during the pandemic received a collective $7.2 million in assistance from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program distributed more than $180 million across Washington, according to data from the agency.

“It was a long time in coming,” said Rosanna Sharpe, executive director of the Reach museum in Richland. “Having these funds are critical.”

Movie theaters were closed for seven months last year after the initial shutdown at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The venues were allowed to open on a limited basis early last fall, but had to close again in October after positive cases in the community worsened. The state once again closed down indoor service statewide at places like bowling alleys, theaters, zoos and aquariums.

Three months later, the venues were allowed to open in mid-February on a limited basis.

The Reach museum at the west end of Columbia Park was among the places that closed. It received $121,200 through the Richland Public Facilities District from the SBA program.

Because it falls under the district, this is the first federal money the museum has been eligible for because it isn’t a nonprofit.

The museum currently is operating on limited hours Friday through Sunday and by appointment only the rest of the week for groups of 10-plus.

The facility hasn’t been able to operate on a full schedule and has most employees still can work just a 30-hour week.

“Many organizations were falling through the cracks,” Sharpe said. “This is a really substantial grant for an organization our size.”

The museum relies heavily on spring and summer tourism and school field trips in the spring for revenue. The grant will help the museum get through the slow winter months.

Sharpe said that they also have received a number of smaller community grants and a grant from Women Helping Women Tri-Cities for student field trips.

That grant was reworked to use the funds to move content online and offer virtual field trips.

Movie theaters

But traditional movie theaters didn’t have that option.

The family-owned Fairchild Cinemas chain, with four multiplex theaters in Kennewick, Richland and Moses Lake and Pasco, received the largest SBA grants.

The theater in Pasco received $2.1 million and the Queensgate 12 Cinemas in Richland received $3.8 million. The Kennewick and Moses Lake outlets were not listed separately.

The newest $10 million Fairchild theater, the Southgate 10 near Walmart in Kennewick, opened just a few months before the shutdown.

“It’s very frustrating to be told you have to be completely closed. Instead of the state working with us to find a safe solution we’re told we have to be closed,” Kevin Fairchild, manager of Fairchild Cinemas previously told the Tri-City Herald. “It was quite the change for us. We’re open 365 days a year so to be closed for seven months straight was kind of surreal.”

Hallett Cinemas with an office in Pasco received $1 million. The family-run company currently only operates the Yakima Valley Grand Cinemas in Sunnyside.

The Richland Players also received about $48,000 for its theater off George Washington Way in Richland.

Loans awarded across the state were as small as $4,000 for smaller theatrical producers and as large as $8 million for several Seattle venues such as the Woodland Park Zoo, 5th Avenue Theatre Association and Seattle Theatre Group.

Venues could apply for grants equivalent to 45% of their gross earned revenue up to $10 million.

The program was created by the Economic Aid to Hard-Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits, and Venues Act to award $16 billion nationally.