Black Bear Film Festival to offer memberships

By Linda Fields
MILFORD — Thursday afternoon, April 19: the setting was the home of Barbara J. Buchanan. The subject was new community involvement and outreach. The audience included about 20 represented Milford’s retail and service businesses, arts and media organizations.
The main speaker was Will Voelkel, who took over as executive director of the Black Bear Film Festival after Jerry Beaver resigned.
“Will is bringing a new era to Milford," said Buchanan in her introduction. "He has a lot of ideas that encompass not only film but music, education, and history."
“And lots more," quipped Voelkel.
One new idea, just implemented, was suggested by Buchanan: to create a “Patrons Den” Membership Club that will function as a premium for members who join. The different tiers of membership will afford different and various benefits, such as free tickets, priority seating, special screenings, or other insider events.
“There’s never been a membership club, and membership carries a more meaningful relationship," explained Buchanan. "It’s a question of belonging. By belonging, there are perks.”
In elaborating on some of the other new strategies for the Black Bear Film Festival, Voelkel said the current board of 12 people is reaching out to the community and surrounding areas not only for members, but partners.
“One tenet is to honor the tradition and legacy of Black Bear and to build on it with a series of film-related events," Voelkel said.
High on the agenda is a schools partnership initiative that Voelkel said is creating a lot of excitement among students and teachers in several districts.
“We approached five schools across four counties spanning three states," Voelkel said.
In this initiative, students are asked to submit one short film to be played at the film salon. A jury of professionals will then select a winner to be shown before the opening night movie at the start of the film festival weekend.
In a related initiative, Voelkel said students would produce 15- to 30-second commercials for the festival. And an upcoming “Artful Bear” will be created at the Dingman Delaware Middle School.
Other schools that will be involved so far include Delaware Valley High School, Sussex Vo-Tech, Wallenpaupack High School, and Port Jervis High School.
Voelkel would like to establish partnerships with other Milford organizations, like the Milford Music Festival, community theater groups, with Grey Towers, the historical society's Columns Museum, and Peter’s Valley craft village.
“It’s about getting people to engage with each other through film and the arts," Voelkel said.