Local Group Considering Effort to Save Chapel Hill’s Chelsea Theater

Local residents are mulling an attempt to save a Chapel Hill theater.

Ownership of the Chelsea Theater in Timberlyne Shopping Center said in November that the future of the theater famous for showing independent films for nearly three decades was up in the air.

“Now in the last year of our current 5 year lease, with only a handful of months to go, we must make some serious choices about the future of the Chelsea Theater. Given the advancing years of the current owner it might be difficult committing to another five year lease.”

Now a “Campaign to Save the Chelsea” is being considered by a local group recently known for its political activity.

A Tuesday night email from the Chapel Hill Alliance for a Livable Town indicated the group was interested in possibly taking action to keep the theater in operation.

“If the Chelsea is to continue offering us an art house experience, other people need to step forward to make it happen,” the email read. “A group of locals have named ourselves “Save the Chelsea” because that is what we hope to do.”

The email includes a link to a survey in hopes of measuring “the level of community support for this goal and the level of future use of the theater for movies and movie-related presentations.”

Survey questions include asking respondents how often, on average, they visit the theater for a movie, what changes might increase interest in attending and how much patrons may be willing to pay annually if the theater was to shift to a “non-profit or co-op model.”

You can take the survey and get contact information for those organizing the effort here.

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