What a difference six months makes. This spring, Indie Memphis, the local arts non-profit best known for its annual Indie Memphis Film Festival, seemed to be in trouble.
- Indie Memphis director Erik Jambor
At the premiere of his Memphis-themed MTV series $5 Cover this spring, director Craig Brewer sounded an alarm, imploring audiences at every screening to support Indie Memphis or risk losing it after the faltering economy had cost the festival some previously promised funding.
Fortunately, the local arts community answered the call, and now Indie Memphis will open its 12th annual festival — held October 8-15, primarily at Malco’s Studio on the Square — in better shape than ever.
Brewer held his $5 Cover premiere as an Indie Memphis fundraiser, which netted more than $12,000 for the organization, and soon after an anonymous challenge grant was issued via ArtsMemphis that required Indie Memphis to raise $20,000 by June 30th. The successful launch of a new individual membership program helped the organization surpass that goal by $16,000. Now, according to Indie Memphis executive director Erik Jambor, the organization is only about $14,000 away from meeting its year-end fundraising goal of $80,000.
“It’s all about long-term sustainability, so that the institution lives on regardless what happens with Les or me,” Jambor says. “There’s needs to be a funding structure. Our member base allowed us to do that.
As a thank you to members — and as an enticement to potential members — Indie Memphis is holding a “members only” screening of Humpday on Monday, August 31st at Studio on the Square.
