A few words about Membership
Yesterday, we officially launched our Membership program. I wanted to take a moment to tell you a little bit about why this is so important and why we need you to become a Member of The Des Moines Film Society.
In the last year, we brought Alloy Orchestra to Des Moines to perform their original, live score to Metropolis, took a bus full of you to Chicago for the Hateful 8 Road Show, hosted an Open Screen Night for local filmmakers, presented the Lost Films Poster Art Show, aggregated the best Des Moines film events into our weekly newsletter and calendar, featured original local film writing right here on our blog and much more.
We hope this last year gave you a feel for the kinds of things DMFS can do, and we have a lot more planned. But we need your financial support in order to do it.
As the ONLY dedicated non-profit film group in Des Moines, our programming is arts-based rather than profit-based. The Hateful Eight Road Show Road Trip is a great example. We took a chartered busload of people to the historic Music Box Theater in Chicago to see the 70mm Road Show version of the film (not playing anywhere in Iowa), got them an exclusive tour of the modified projection booth, and even took everyone out for pizza at Gino’s East. We charged the most modest ticket price we could (and sold out in under 48 hours), covering our costs to offer that unique film experience but not “making money” on the event.
To continue to offer those kind of opportunities, we need financial support – and Membership is a big part of that. Your annual membership provides us a solid base to build around. More resources will mean more programming, including expanded film education offerings and additional support for local filmmakers. Becoming a Member also illustrates YOUR commitment to growing the film culture in Des Moines, and allows us to show grant funders and corporate sponsors that we are serving a specific population hungry for film.
As you’ll see on the Membership Page, we’ve put together a package of incentives for our Members, and those incentives will continue to grow. Expect discounted tickets to DMFS events, exclusive pre-sales to allow you the best seats or even to guarantee a ticket for limited-space events that will sell out (like the Hateful Eight Road Show). We will offer a variety of Member-only opportunities to let you know how much we appreciate your support.
Please become a Member of the Des Moines Film Society today.
Thank you,
Ben Godar
DMFS Board President