Community Engagement in Small Towns via Outdoor Movies

Outdoor Movies

Outdoor movies are a great way to enhance community engagement in smaller towns and cities. With the continually changing rural environment it is important for communities to stay active and keep their leadership responsive to their needs. Reaching far flung local constituents and encouraging them to engage with issues and speak their mind can be a challenge. Outdoor movies are a festive way to highlight your active community and encourage interaction with local councils. It is also a free and fun event boosting enthusiasm for your town's unique way of life. These outdoor movies events can also be done inexpensively by approaching local sports stadiums about using their space, such as the local high schools football field and bleachers as seating. Open Air Cinema's portable outdoor movie screens and cinema systems are easy to set up and available large-scale to accommodate big audiences.

Outdoor Movies Selection

Be strategic with your movie selection making it entertaining but also family friendly and relevant to your goals. Think about historical events in your area from manufacturing to mountain climbing. Make it relevant and you will have an advantage over the big budget films available at your local Cineplex. One fun way to plan the season is to look into movies shot locally, for example the film Goonies was shot in Northwest Oregon. Or Tim Burton's Big Fish was shot in small Clayton, Alabama. Build local pride by highlighting some of these little known facts! Once you know your entire season, make an attractive poster to advertise the series and get people excited.

Promoting local businesses at your outdoor movies screenings

Outdoor movie events are also a sneaky way to get in some public interest announcements and to highlight local businesses. Begin each event with information about that night, and quick announcements on local events such as needing volunteers to clean up a local park or clothing drives. Also, promote local businesses as part of your event. Maybe the new bakery would like to cater the outdoor movies screenings in order to introduce themselves to a new audience? Or the local video store would be interested in donating the films.