The Projector to shut immediately on cost pressures, declining attendance, limited resources
If Singapore wants to thrive, it must find a way for creative and cultural businesses to survive, says the indie operator’s founder
[SINGAPORE] Local indie cinema The Projector will enter voluntary liquidation, as industry challenges make “sustaining an independent model in Singapore especially challenging”, it said in a statement on Tuesday (Aug 19).
Its operations will cease immediately following the announcement, it added.
The cinema had previously announced screenings beyond Tuesday. The winding up also comes just weeks after The Projector announced its exit from its Cineleisure tie-up with GV and a renewed focus on its Golden Mile Tower outlet.
That move in itself came as a surprise to some, as The Projector had in April said it would no longer conduct daily screenings at Golden Mile Tower, instead focusing on events there while screening movies daily at Cineleisure.
On Aug 1, it said it was focusing back on the original space after the latest collective sale exercise for the building closed without a transaction.
Events planned at The Projector will also be affected. Independent print publication Mynah Magazine, for example, said on Instagram following the closure announcement that The Projector can no longer host its upcoming launch event, and that it is working on securing a new venue.
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The Projector’s closure comes after over a decade of the operator “championing alternative films, local creativity, and community-led programming”, since its doors opened in Golden Mile Tower in 2014.
It has “remained committed to broadening the definition of cinema and a community space in Singapore”, it said.
“However, the realities of the cinema industry have been increasingly unforgiving,” the indie operator added, pointing to challenges such as rising operational costs, shifting audience habits, and the global decline in cinema attendance.
It added that “the broader realities of operating in the arts and culture sector in Singapore” have compounded these pressures, as independent ventures must “navigate limited resources while contributing to the country’s evolving cultural landscape”.
The Business Times understands that some patrons received an e-mail on Tuesday afternoon, informing them about their upcoming screenings’ cancellations and the operator’s closure.
The Projector said in this e-mail that, because the company will be placed into liquidation, it will not be able to directly issue refunds.
Any claims will instead need to be made through the liquidator. “Once they are formally appointed, we’ll share their contact details and instructions so you know exactly how to proceed,” the e-mail read.
In the Tuesday statement, The Projector founder Karen Tan expressed her gratitude to the “dedicated team, collaborators, partners and… loyal audiences who believed in what (it was) trying to do”.
“We’ve fought to keep The Projector alive through every challenge – from breathing new life into a disused cinema at Golden Mile Tower, to weathering the pandemic, to expanding to new spaces,” she said. “But the combination of rising costs, changing audience habits, and the worst consumer market conditions in a decade has left us with no viable path forward.”
She added: “The Projector may be closing, but we hope its spirit will live on in the conversations, ideas, and communities we’ve nurtured.
“If Singapore wants to thrive, it must find a way for creative and cultural businesses to survive – because culture is the cornerstone of identity and civil society.”
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