Credit union VP backs Dairy with movie series

BOULDER — Local credit union executive Jeffrey Kash takes the typical theater experience beyond the screen with his pre-talks and curation of overlooked and underappreciated titles.

“Jeffrey really puts things into context and points out what’s interesting about the movie and what to watch for,” said Glenn Webb, director of programs at The Dairy Arts Center in Boulder, a nonprofit facility that receives support from Kash’s film series.  “Understanding those kinds of things really opens up a movie when you’re watching it.”

Kash, a self-proclaimed “movie buff,” presents his monthly film series, “Cinema Classics with Jeffrey Kash,” in Boulder’s only art house cinema, The Boedecker Theatre inside The Dairy Arts Center. He selected the Arts Center, a nonprofit founded in 1992, to host the series as a way to continue contributing to the group after several years of serving on the board, which he rejoined this year as the liaison to the Boulder Arts Commission.

Curator and host of the series, which began in April 2022, Kash is the assistant vice-president of community relations at Premier Members Credit Union, a presenting sponsor for the series since January 2023.

“Jeffrey is excellent at curating this series. It runs the range from comedy to more serious stuff, and there’s been some mysteries,” Webb said. “They’d all be considered excellent films.”

Many of the films are award winners or mentioned in online lists and are removed one to two steps from the list of mainstream, popular classics. Most are repertoire content and not new releases.

“They’re excellent films but might have been overlooked,” Webb said.

Oftentimes, Kash will arrive before a show to greet the audience, and he knows many of the regulars. During his 10-minute film introductions or pre-talks, he explains what’s happening behind the scenes, offers fun facts about the stars and costars, talks about their careers and those of the filmmakers, and touches on worldwide events occurring at the time of filming.

“My pre-talk depends on the film,” Kash said. “For me, it’s the opportunity to be able to introduce well-known stars and directors in their lesser-known films.”

The Boedecker Theatre, which seats 60 and has state-of-the-art audio-visual and “big comfy seats,” often is the only one showing the film on the big screen that year, Kash said.

“One of my favorite things is I feel like I’m watching the film in the year it was released with a fresh audience. Everyone is so in tune and present,” Kash said. “My absolute favorite thing is the community we built. … I’m so thrilled the credit union is providing this service and building this community here.”

Kash brings in his followers, curated through his email lists, to complement the regular patrons of The Dairy Arts Center, a multidisciplinary community arts center that serves all ages and abilities and serves more than 100 performing art organizations and nonprofits. It offers cinema, theater, dance, music, exhibitions and classes, plus cooperative workspaces for local artists. 

The Dairy’s 42,000-square-foot building, originally owned by the Watts-Hardy Dairy, used to be a milk-processing facility and now is a space for art galleries, performance venues, rehearsal spaces, teaching and dance studios, and offices.

“Booking, in general, tends to be fairly diverse, and I try to keep it that way,” Webb said.

The showings at the Dairy range from documentaries to narrative films and from heavy to light subject matter that “can fit a variety of tastes,” Webb said.

“We’re not just slaves to ticket sales,” Webb said. “We’re mission-driven in our programming and make sure to have quality cinema and offerings that represent voices that may not be in the mainstream but have the opportunity to find an audience here in Boulder. That builds an audience around what we do that doesn’t exist in general in commercial theaters.”

By establishing audience loyalty, the Dairy is able to help build a community that’s brought together through their common interests, Webb said.

“People get to know each other through our extra programs that invite discussion,” Webb said. “Jeffrey does a great job of introducing movies but also allowing for discussion after movies.”

The Premier Members Credit Union’s support of the film series covers the monthly licensor right fees for each film, allowing for 100% of ticket and concession sales to go directly to supporting the Dairy. The film series raises an average of $5,000 to $6,000 a year, helping the Dairy to keep rental rates low, support a fulltime box office, market its events and operate a free, public gallery.

“That’s really our mission as a whole is for the Dairy Arts Center to be a shared resource for the community of Boulder for artists and art lovers as well,” Webb said. “We’re grateful to the Premier Credit Union for sponsoring the series, so we can continue to offer without risk the interesting discussions.”

Kash hopes other businesses will do similar things and continue supporting the arts.

“I’d like to see this entire series as an experience for businesses to find ways to differentiate themselves,” Kash said. “It’s a way to support the arts and build community without competing.”

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