The Video Fan has been turned into a nonprofit. Photos by Katie Demeria.
Almost a year after nearly losing its home, the Video Fan at 403 Strawberry St. has secured nonprofit status, meaning the 30-year-old video rental shop can now raise money each year to stay open.
“It happened a little under two weeks ago, but I didn’t make the announcement until last week because we’ve been working on it for so long, and I kind of had to wrap my head around it,” Video Fan General Manager Andrew Blossom said.
Blossom began working toward obtaining the 501(c)(3) designation immediately after the Video Fan completed a successful Kickstarter campaign in March, which secured enough funds to keep the store in its space for at least another year.
As a nonprofit, the store can now begin raising additional funds through community donations and events to cover its $23,500 annual rent that next comes due in February.
To gain nonprofit status, Blossom had to show that the Video Fan’s future use of its library of 40,000 titles will include an educational focus and an engagement with the community.
Andrew Blossom
“Having worked at the Video Fan for six years now, I have spent a lot of time in the store seeing the way in which it is an important space for the community that surrounds us,” Blossom said. “People use it as a social space; it’s considered part of the fabric of their lives.”
The organization is already pushing toward its nonprofit mission with an event on Aug. 8 at Hardywood Brewery, where it will show the 1975 film “The Astrologer,” which Blossom said was “lost to time” until Drafthouse Films in Austin, Texas, restored it.
On Oct. 16, the Video Fan is teaming up with Chop Suey Books, independent radio station WRIR and the Byrd Theatre to bring renowned filmmaker John Waters to the Byrd. It’s the first of what Blossom said he hopes will be many collaborative programs between the Video Fan and other local nonprofits.
“The community has been so generous to us, we want to be able to give back to Richmond by supporting other cultural and social nonprofits,” he said.
At a time when most video rental stores are going the way of the dinosaur, Blossom said the transition to a nonprofit will ensure that physical video collections are not lost. He said he has learned of only two other video stores that have switched to nonprofits in the country: Scarecrow Video in Seattle and the Vidiots Foundation in Los Angeles. At least one other in Washington may be making a similar transition.
Blossom said the Video Fan will now work to create partnerships with local universities and high schools to allow educators easy access to the video library, which contains many titles that are nearly impossible to find elsewhere, even online.
“Once collections like this are gone, not only do they not come back physically, but I don’t think the Internet has that kind of permanence regarding what is available to you,” Blossom said. “So what you can access or see is going to be dictated by corporations on a month-to-month basis.
“This is a resource to the community, and right now is the moment in time when we have to preserve it because if it goes away, then nothing will come back to replace it.”
The Video Fan has been turned into a nonprofit. Photos by Katie Demeria.
Almost a year after nearly losing its home, the Video Fan at 403 Strawberry St. has secured nonprofit status, meaning the 30-year-old video rental shop can now raise money each year to stay open.
“It happened a little under two weeks ago, but I didn’t make the announcement until last week because we’ve been working on it for so long, and I kind of had to wrap my head around it,” Video Fan General Manager Andrew Blossom said.
Blossom began working toward obtaining the 501(c)(3) designation immediately after the Video Fan completed a successful Kickstarter campaign in March, which secured enough funds to keep the store in its space for at least another year.
As a nonprofit, the store can now begin raising additional funds through community donations and events to cover its $23,500 annual rent that next comes due in February.
To gain nonprofit status, Blossom had to show that the Video Fan’s future use of its library of 40,000 titles will include an educational focus and an engagement with the community.
Andrew Blossom
“Having worked at the Video Fan for six years now, I have spent a lot of time in the store seeing the way in which it is an important space for the community that surrounds us,” Blossom said. “People use it as a social space; it’s considered part of the fabric of their lives.”
The organization is already pushing toward its nonprofit mission with an event on Aug. 8 at Hardywood Brewery, where it will show the 1975 film “The Astrologer,” which Blossom said was “lost to time” until Drafthouse Films in Austin, Texas, restored it.
On Oct. 16, the Video Fan is teaming up with Chop Suey Books, independent radio station WRIR and the Byrd Theatre to bring renowned filmmaker John Waters to the Byrd. It’s the first of what Blossom said he hopes will be many collaborative programs between the Video Fan and other local nonprofits.
“The community has been so generous to us, we want to be able to give back to Richmond by supporting other cultural and social nonprofits,” he said.
At a time when most video rental stores are going the way of the dinosaur, Blossom said the transition to a nonprofit will ensure that physical video collections are not lost. He said he has learned of only two other video stores that have switched to nonprofits in the country: Scarecrow Video in Seattle and the Vidiots Foundation in Los Angeles. At least one other in Washington may be making a similar transition.
Blossom said the Video Fan will now work to create partnerships with local universities and high schools to allow educators easy access to the video library, which contains many titles that are nearly impossible to find elsewhere, even online.
“Once collections like this are gone, not only do they not come back physically, but I don’t think the Internet has that kind of permanence regarding what is available to you,” Blossom said. “So what you can access or see is going to be dictated by corporations on a month-to-month basis.
“This is a resource to the community, and right now is the moment in time when we have to preserve it because if it goes away, then nothing will come back to replace it.”
Great news for film buffs, and great news for Richmond.
There are many ways TVF could use its collection as a non-profit. I can think of several local childrens’ charities that could readily make use of at least some of TVF’s extensive holdings.
TVF has also grasped the importance of partnerships and alliances to the success of most small non-profits. They seem to be well on ther way.