Maine Community Foundation funds sight and hearing aids for Harbor Theater

Mon, 05/21/2018 - 10:15am

Harbor Theater has received a $4,774 grant from the Lincoln County Fund of the Maine Community Foundation to install aids for its sight and hearing impaired patrons as prescribed by the American with Disabilities Act.

A movie-goer who is deaf or hard of hearing will receive dialogue captions and non-speech information on a small screen via Wi-Fi. The screen will be attached to a flexible goose neck placed in the cup holder of any seat in Harbor Theater. It can be adjusted to display captions near or in the patron’s sight line when looking at the movie screen.

Those who are blind or with low vision will hear a spoken narration of a movie’s key visual elements, including action, settings, facial expressions, costumes and scene changes. They’ll be listening to a separate script recorded and synchronized with the movie and delivered by Wi-Fi to special headsets patrons can wear while in their seats.

Harbor Theater is a 501c3 non-profit which bought out the existing theater in the Meadow Mall last October. Former owner Jason Sheckley is the theater manager. The Theater’s new, all-voluntary board has broadened the movie house’s program to 104 movies a year to include art, indie, film festival, educational, children’s and documentary films. Harbor Theater operates on a business plan based on 50% ticket sales and 50% community support as do all 21 of New England’s nonprofit cinemas.

Refer to www.boothbaycinema.org for more information on Harbor Theater and for its latest movie programs and reviews.

With offices in Ellsworth and Portland, the Maine Community Foundation works with donors and other partners to improve the quality of life for all Maine people. To learn more about the foundation, visit www.mainecf.org.