Sedona AZ (July 12, 2017) – With broad-based support from throughout the Sedona community, the Sedona International Film Festival (SIFF) has successfully completed a $250,000 matching-grant fund-raising campaign to offset increasing costs and reduce debt.

“The campaign was an overwhelming success. The outpouring of support has been phenomenal and we’re now in the planning phase for a wonderful festival in February, the 24th annual Sedona International Film Festival,” said SIFF Creative and Development Director Pat Schweiss.

The campaign, including the $250,000 match, generated slightly more than $500,000 “to right the ship and take care of our short-term and longer-term debt,” added Chuck Marr, the SIFF board’s treasurer. “It’s really amazing to sit back and think that in two-months time, you can have such a tremendous outpouring of support. Apart from the financial contributions, the comments we heard about the Festival and the Mary D. Fisher Theatre have been incredibly edifying for us.”

The campaign began May 1 as part of a comprehensive strategic plan to “redesign our business model and create a more efficient operation” in the face of rising costs and increasing debt, Marr said.

Schweiss said that changes to the Festival format will be “transparent to our donors, patrons, sponsors and ticket buyers, but will be designed to control expenses going forward while maintaining our commitment to bring a great festival with great independent films to Sedona.”

“We are still planning a 10-day festival, and we will be revising the screening schedule and ticketing system to make it easier to pick and see the films,” Schweiss said.  “As we have already made very clear, we will not be doing any major concerts,” adding that there “will still be additional events surrounding and complementing the films to make the festival diverse and, of course, great fun.”

The activity schedule at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre will continue as planned and additional information about the upcoming Sedona International Film Festival will be announced the months ahead, explained Schweiss before adding, “We continue to strategically assess our business model and every aspect of what we do.”

For more information about Mary D. Fisher events and about how to become a Sedona International Film Festival member, visit www.sedonafilmfestival.com.

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