‘A new era for Main Street’s grand old lady.’ Kentucky Theatre to reopen

The Kentucky Theatre could be back open by Christmas.

Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton announced Friday the Friends of the Kentucky Theatre, a nonprofit created in 2012 to raise funds for various updates, has been recommended as the new management group for Lexington’s only independent theater. The city owns the Kentucky Theatre building.

In October 2020, the historic movie house, a downtown fixture for 99 years, closed after ticket sales plummeted during the coronavirus pandemic. Since its closure, its ardent fan base has repeatedly asked when the theater will reopen, Gorton said.

“The Friends have some exciting new plans for the theatre, and they are also keeping fan favorites in place,” Gorton said at a press conference Friday announcing the new management. “It’s a new era for Main Street’s grand old lady, as she prepares to start a year that will mark her second century.”

The theater originally opened in 1922.

Lisa Meek, co-chair of the Friends, said the group hopes to reopen by Dec. 1, but cautioned that the date could be pushed back if coronavirus cases are too high.

Fred Mills (“Mr. Kentucky”), the long-time manager of The Kentucky and unofficial mayor of Main Street, will return under the Friends’ plan. Mills also attended Friday’s press conference in front of the Main Street theater.

Hayward Wilkirson, co-chair of the Friends, said a key change to the Kentucky Theatre — that patrons won’t notice — will help with its longevity. The management group is switching from for-profit to non-profit status.

That means the movie theater will be able to raise funds and apply for grants to help augment its revenues. Wilkirson said 95 percent of art house movie theaters in the United States are nonprofits. Patrons will soon be able to buy annual memberships at various price points. Those memberships will allow people to get discounted tickets and concessions and access to members-only events. Other art house cinemas have similar programs.

In addition, Wilkirson said the Kentucky Theatre is in a prime location to host film festivals, possibly including a Kentucky-centered film festival. The organization will also be looking to revive musical programming in its two theaters.

“We think Lexington is ripe for an international film festival,” he said. “We look forward to providing the leadership to make that happen. We think the theater is a natural hub for an event we are calling the Kentucky Film Festival.”

In years to come, the group hopes to add a third, smaller screening room, so it can offer more movies and boost sales.

But some of the cinema’s popular programming will return. That includes its summer classic movie series, the Rosa Goddard Film Festival and midnight showings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council must sign off on the contract. It is expected to be on the agenda for the Sept. 30 council meeting. The contract would begin Nov. 1 and sunset on Oct. 31, 2022, but it could be renewed automatically for five years. The city would receive 10 percent of all gross receipts of theater operations and 5 percent of special event programming, according to city documents.

The city issued a request for proposals to run the theater in May. In addition to the Friends of the Kentucky Theatre, it also received a proposal from Royal Doyle Productions, based in Owingsville.

The downtown movie house has been revived previously.

Damage from a fire in a neighboring building caused the theater to shut down in 1987, and the work of very loyal fans and support of city-sold bonds allowed the theater to reopen in 1992.

In 2012, then-Mayor Jim Gray asked former Vice Mayor Isabel Yates to form the Friends of the Kentucky Theatre to raise private money to pay for improvements, including digital projectors, modern sound systems and new seating and carpeting. Without those much-needed upgrades, the independent cinema would not have survived, Meek said.