Coolidge Corner Theatre Names Recipients Of Science On Screen Grants

BROOKLINE, MA — Coolidge Corner Theatre and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation have named the 2022−23 recipients of their nationwide Science on Screen grant program, awarding a total of $245,000 to 40 independent cinemas, museums, and community groups with film programs.

Each organization will receive up to $8,500 to create and present three or more Science on Screen events, which pair expert-led discussions of scientific topics with screenings of feature and documentary films. At least one of the films shown by grantees must be a past recipient of the annual Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize or a Sloan Development Grant.

Since partnering with Sloan in 2011, the Coolidge has awarded over $2.5 million in grants to 108 film and science-focused organizations in 42 states across the country.

Over the past 11 seasons, grantees have sold more than 150,000 tickets to over 1,140 Science on Screen events. Those events have featured presentations by hundreds of scientists, doctors, teachers & professors, farmers, journalists, and more, including at least five Nobel laureates, three Pulitzer Prize winners, ten astronauts, and other luminaries including autism activist Temple Grandin, outed CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson, surgeon and writer Dr. Atul Gawande, environmentalist Bill McKibben, geneticist George Church, and former Twitter chief media scientist Deb Roy.

“We are thrilled to continue our partnership with the Coolidge Corner Theatre to support the Science on Screen program,” Doron Weber, Vice President and Program Director at the Sloan Foundation, said in a statement. "These events, which pair expert speakers with popular titles such as Sloan-winning films Hidden Figures, Don’t Look Up and After Yang, demonstrate that science can illuminate films just as films can illuminate science. We’re especially proud that theaters are selecting recent Sloan-supported documentaries such as Theater of Thought, Picture a Scientist, and How to Survive a Pandemic and bringing attention to urgent contemporary issues.”

Science on Screen was initially conceived and established in 2005 for Coolidge Corner Theatre audiences in greater Boston. In 2011, the Sloan Foundation partnered with the theatre to take Science on Screen nationwide and to make it an integral part of its coast-to-coast film program.

To date, the Sloan Foundation has awarded the Coolidge more than $4 million to support the program, including the creation of a website where information on these programs and archived videos of the speakers’ presentations are available to the public.

Science on Screen grant recipients are chosen based on the need for science-related programming in their community, the strength of their proposed Science on Screen programs, the success of past Science on Screen programs (for returning grantees), and their location.

The 2022−23 Science on Screen grantees include seven first-time participants:

• Block Museum of Art (Northwestern University), Evanston, Ill.
• Des Moines Film / Varsity Cinema, Des Moines, Iowa
• Lawrence Arts Center, Lawrence, Kan.
• Museum of Discovery and Science, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
• OxFilm, Oxford, Miss.
• Rooftop Films, Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Taos Center for the Arts, Taos, N.M.

Grantees returning to Science on Screen in 2022−23 are:

• Amherst Cinema, Amherst, Mass.
• Arena Theater, Port Arena, Calif.
• Arkansas Cinema Society, Little Rock, Ark.
• Art House Billings, Billings, Mont.
• Athens Ciné, Athens, Ga.
• Austin Film Society, Austin, Texas
• Belcourt Theatre, Nashville, Tenn.
• California Film Institute, San Rafael, Calif.
• Cameo Cinema, St. Helena, Calif.
• Cinema Arts Centre, Huntington, N.Y.
• Cinema Detroit, Detroit, Mich.
• County Theater, Doylestown, Penn.
• Enzian Theater, Maitland, Fla.
• Film Streams, Omaha, Neb.
• FilmScene, Iowa City, Iowa
• Frida Cinema, Santa Ana, Calif.
• Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, Ill.
• Grand Cinema, Tacoma, Wash.
• JUMP / Gold Town Theater, Juneau, Alaska
• The Loft Cinema, Tucson, Ariz.
• Martha’s Vineyard Film Society, Vineyard Haven, Mass.
• Media Arts Center San Diego, San Diego, Calif.
• Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, Mich.
• Montclair Film, Montclair, N.J.
• New York International Children’s Film Festival, New York, N.Y.
• Philadelphia Film Society, Philadelphia, Penn.
• Ragtag Cinema, Columbia, Mo.
• Real Art Ways, Hartford, Conn.
• Rosendale Theatre, Rosendale, N.Y.
• Roxy Theater, Missoula, Mont.
• Salina Art Center, Salina, Kan.
• Tull Family Theater, Sewickley, Penn.
• Willcox Theater, Willcox, Ariz.