Story reposted with permission from The Times-Standard.
Gregg Foster and I are standing at the edge of the balcony inside the spacious Eureka Theater. She’s a grand old lady, built during the heyday of American moviegoing by a man named Mann. George Mann built several theaters, including others in Arcata and Fortuna. When the lights are down, she’s beautiful. When the lights are on, as they are now, you can see that she needs some work.
But the needs of the building aren’t the heart of the story, Gregg says. He serves as president of the board of the nonprofit Eureka Concert and Film Center. Job one is making sure the theater serves the community. It needs to function as a “third space” — a welcoming community gathering place for the whole family.
Aldergrove Charter School and St. Bernard’s High School hold events there, including graduations. The calendar also includes 21-and-over events, premieres by local filmmakers, performances by area bands in the auditorium and smaller concerts in the lobby. Summer saw an ’80s movie series where attendees received a free slice of pizza from Paul’s Live from New York.
The theater also serves as a concert venue. One recent event brought together the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir and the Redwood Interfaith Gospel Choir. Local organizations hold fundraisers there, too. With more than 100 days booked in 2026, the place is buzzing.
Over the past couple of years, the venue has proven its value to the community. As a result, earnings have been strong enough to hire the theater’s first paid employee in decades.
Gregg’s a finance guy. Now that the theater has demonstrated that people will use and support it, some very real work begins. That brings us to job two: stewarding the facility. The nonprofit is now preparing for a multimillion-dollar capital campaign.
The good news is that the theater has great bones and a solid structure, built with steel beams and poured concrete. Repairs to the roof are nearing completion. New seats have been secured through a gift of surplus equipment from College of the Redwoods.
Donations from Coast Central Credit Union and T-Mobile have allowed the theater to upgrade its technology and lighting.
Still, the marquee needs work, and that won’t be cheap. The finishes need attention, too. The list is long.
A few weeks earlier, Gregg and I had been comparing notes about chairing nonprofit organizations. He told me, “My day job doesn’t keep me up at night. My kids don’t keep me up at night, not anymore. The theater is what keeps me up at night.”
But I can see the vision.
The theater is already the largest indoor live-concert venue in the county. It can hold 900 people downstairs, or 760 when seated. The balcony is terrific. The lobby already serves as a smaller venue for roughly 200 guests and became the semi-official after-party location for the Eureka Friday Night Markets.
Once the upgrades are completed, the theater should become even more attractive to performers and audiences, helping it draw larger acts and bigger crowds.
From a financial perspective, the goal is for the theater to generate enough ongoing cash flow to sustain operations. Gregg talks about leaning into operations and building reliable revenue. Once the facility is upgraded, he says, it has to support itself.
Although the theater now has the one paid staff member, it still relies heavily on volunteers. The organization needs people who can perform hands-on work around the facility, provide customer service during events, assist with administrative tasks and help in many other ways. Gregg says they can put just about any skill to use.
“And,” he deadpans, “if you’re totally devoid of skills, you can be president of the board.”
People can also get involved by sponsoring a movie, which comes with four tickets and plenty of recognition. To volunteer or sponsor a show, email info@theeurekatheater.com.
You can also rent the whole place. Your out-of-town friends might even stay in the theater’s very cool apartment — designed in the “Streamline Moderne” style, whatever that means. To take a virtual tour or book the apartment, visit: https://www.vacasa.com/unit/99451.
You can donate to the restoration effort at: https://theeurekatheater.org/donate/.
Or simply come out and enjoy the theater. You can catch a movie, hear live music, or even see acrobats.
I’d like to believe that old George Mann would be pleased to see all of the activity and the effort at the Eureka Theater. I think he’d say, “The sky’s the limit.”
Michael Kraft writes the Good Work series, volunteering on behalf of the Northern California Association of Nonprofits (NorCAN). NorCAN, a DreamMaker project of the Ink People Center for the Arts, supports connections between people and organizations that work every day to keep our communities strong by offering professional development, board support, networking connections and more. Learn more at https://norcal-nonprofits.org/. To nominate a deserving nonprofit organization to be profiled, email michael@kraftconsultants.com.