November 14, 2024 Benzonia Academy Lecture: “100 Years of The Garden Theater Presented By: Katie Jones

Benzonia Academy Lecture Series:

“100 Years of the Garden Theater”

Presented By:  Katie Jones

Thursday, November 14th, 4:00 P.M.

The Garden Theater, 301 Main St, Frankfort, MI 49635

The Garden Theater boasts a rich and valuable history. Located on the corner of Main Street in downtown Frankfort, mere blocks from idyllic Lake Michigan, it has served its community since opening its doors in 1924. Join us as The Garden Theater’s Executive Director, Katie Jones, dives into the history of its last 100 years and hear the stories, including how community members came together to purchase the theater and how they spent hundreds of hours bringing it back to life with the goal of keeping it running for another 100 years.

Presenter: Katie Jones

Katie Jones became The Garden Theater’s first Executive Director in June 2021. Her background before her role with The Garden was in filmmaking. She wrote and starred in the film The Cold and the Quiet, which won Best Actress at the Midwest Independent Film Festival and Best Directing, Best Editing, and Best Narrative at the Women’s Independent Film Festival in LA. She has co-starred on shows like Chicago Fire and Nashville. Her producing credits include Boyband, which Fullscreen and Audience Network acquired in May 2016. In 2019, IFC acquired An Acceptable Loss for theatrical distribution, a produced film by Katie starring Jamie Lee Curtis. The position at The Garden Theater is what brought Katie and her family to Benzie County full-time. She was also a longtime visitor to the area with family living locally. In the past few years, Katie has worked with The Garden’s existing resources to host successful events such as the Annual Frankfort Film Festival, Annual Frankfort48 Contest, Holiday Gala at The Garden, Live at The Garden Concert Series, and many film-focused events Katie’s focus is to bring the community together for a shared artistic experience.