Your donation will help continue a long history of cinema on the South Shore of Long Island!

The Plaza Cinema & Media Arts Center is a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3), community supported organization. This means there are no shareholders and that all monies are used to fund programming and operations. The Plaza’s operational model follows the principles of other successful Art Houses—a model that brings cultural and educational programming under one mission-driven roof and is fiscally supported by a combination of admission and tuition, philanthropic funding, grants, business sponsorships, and community contributions.

As the only Art House Cinema on the South shore, The Plaza has a cultural, historical and financial impact distinctly different from commercial multiplexes. People who come to see a film or take a class also eat and shop locally. The Plaza has become a hub for intellectual enrichment and a breeding ground for discourse and cross-pollination of ideas. Media arts classes provide creative outlets for children and teens. Field trips, media literacy workshops and continuing teacher and leader education classes create a vital synergy between education and the arts. The Plaza attracts new residents while enhancing the quality of life for locals.

The purpose of Plaza initiatives, goals and partnerships are to engage and nurture a diverse audience, people of all ages and backgrounds. The Plaza community spans a 20-mile radius and attendance in 2019 reached 18,000+.

As a single screen cinema with 68 seats, The Plaza has the capacity to show an average of 95 films annually, showcase eight recurring curated film series and host an average of 45 guest speakers with notable filmmakers and actors such as Isabella Rossellini, Richard Guay and Nancy Savoca, Claire Riley, and James Solomon. Its long standing partnership with the local St. Joseph's College spans faculty and experts from several departments. Various series highlight environmental, social, humanitarian and current affairs.

From a historical perspective, The Plaza brings back cinema in a unique and modern context. Patchogue and the South shore have served as the home for many legendary cinemas and vaudeville theaters. Past venues in the area were Lyceum Theater (1895), Star Palace Theatre (1910 - ‘60s), Unique Theatre (1920-25), Rialto Theater (1925), The Granada (1928 -‘50s), and Plaza Theatre (1962-86).