Cinema Center: Fostering community and conversation through film for 50 year

Inside the theatre at Cinema Center. Photo by Never Creative LLC

By Dezaray Clawson | Arts & Culture | March 16, 2026

If you ask Executive Director Art Herbig, the Cinema Center is much more than a movie theater.

“Cinema Center is a group of people, a community, who gather around the art of film,” he says. “We’re here to be a service to the people of Fort Wayne and to provide them with experiences that otherwise they wouldn’t get.”

2026 marks 50 years of the Cinema Center. They’ve set a goal of raising $100,000 this year to repair and upgrade the theater. Three summers ago, a harsh windstorm ransacked the theater’s marquee. Their over-10-year-old sound system is on the decline. Repairs like this cost tens of thousands of dollars – a pretty penny for an arthouse theater functioning on a tight nonprofit’s budget. They’re reliant on the community returning the love and care the theater has pushed out.