Gawler Cinema is a vital community asset that wants to continue to operate well and provide for the needs of the community.

In 2023 Hope Central, a church bought 11 Murray St Gawler with the hopes of restarting the Cinema and bringing it back to the community hub that it had been. At that time the rates were around $12,000. Since then, the rates have risen to around $17500.

Other things we want you to know about the cinema

• The Cinema is mainly volunteer run.

• The Cinema operates at a loss and we are struggling.

• Other community cinemas are known as Not for Profits and have exempted council rates.
• The Cinema is Hope Central church place of worship - Places of worship are not assessed for rates according to Federal law
• The Cinema is primarily used by the elderly and children. 
• The Cinema is used by community groups for fundraising approximately once a month. This is a vital point of connection and support for those groups.

We want to keep operating but we need the rates reduced to 27%.

We sell on average 72 tickets per week which equates to $360 profit. $17500 for rates is not tenable for operation.

Please sign in support of the Gawler Cinema rate reduction to 27% by the Gawler Council

BELOW is full disclosure of a Letter to Council written by Pastors Joe and Jodie Habermehl, Senior Pastors, Hope Central, Gawler, Elizabeth and Salisbury which has been dismissed. It even suggests a fair assessment of how the cinema can continue to find a balance between the needs of the cinema and church and the responsibility of the business to do it’s part in contributing to the council budget for the function of the Town. This too has been dismissed.

Dear Gawler Councillors,

Firstly, let me thank you all for your continued service to our beautiful town. As a resident of this community, my family and I appreciate your devotion and care.

By way of a brief introduction, this letter to you is regarding the Gawler Cinema and our hope that you can help us keep this vital community asset operating well and providing for the needs of our community. I am Pastor Joe Habermehl, pastor of Hope Central, the church that bought the Cinema building and uses it for worship and ministries including the cinema ministry which we view as a service to our community.

The Situation in brief:
We purchased the Cinema in 2023 with the hopes of restarting the Cinema and bringing it back to the community hub that it had been. At that time the rates were around $12,000. Since then, the rates have risen to around $17500. The Cinema operates at a loss and we are struggling.

For context:
The Cinema is mainly volunteer run. There are only 2 part time employees (total of 32 hours) and about 30 volunteers. The church community maintains the view that the Cinema is a ministry of the church for the community, not a profit-making business, and so they volunteer their time.

The Cinema currently runs at a loss. The first year it lost about $35,000. This year we are just breaking even but with increased costs across the budget, including the rates, we are expecting a $34,500 loss again for 2026. This is despite our efforts to augment the income from patrons with $12,000 in community sponsors and running a second hand clothing shop that generates $23,000 in donations for the cinema.
Wallis leased the Cinema for six months before it closed and it ran at a constant loss for them despite the bigger negotiating power they had on costs.

We only keep 50% of the price of a ticket as the distributers cut as well as having to pay to use the movies (approx. $300 to $500 per movie). To pay only the rates bill of $17500, we need to sell 100 tickets per week. Currently, during the school terms, we sell around 72 tickets per week.

The people we serve:
The Cinema is primarily used by the elderly and children. It is a vital hub and opportunity for connection and community within the Gawler council. We have special “silver screening” sessions each morning for seniors to see a movie, have a cup of tea and a sandwich. Each school holiday we host hundreds of children seeing movies and building memories at a minimum price. This is an important service to the many OSHC services in the area. We provide a low cost candy bar and tickets to support families taking their kids for an outing.

Many people come in alone and we try to connect them up with people so that they can watch a movie together. Loneliness and isolation are real issues for many and we see the Cinema as an important way we can bring people together.

The Cinema is used by community groups for fundraising approximately once a month. This is a vital point of connection and support for those groups. The Cinema is used by many community groups as well including:

- The Gawler Council
- Sporting clubs
- Fringe Festival
- Youth groups
- Special interest groups
- Novice movie makers, etc

Why we are approaching you:
Other community cinemas (we have spoken to the directors of the Blythe Cinema directly about this) are known as Not for Profits and have exempted council rates. Some councils in fact make contributions to the funding of their local cinemas. We are hoping we can find a way to partner with the Gawler council in a sustainable way as well.

Places of worship are not assessed for rates according to Federal law, and we feel that perhaps a balance could be found between the church worship and ministry use and those of a rate paying business. While the option is there for us to close the Cinema and have the building reclassified as a place of worship, we would gain the goal of not paying council rates and lose the goal of maintaining the Cinema.

Our suggestion:
We have analysed the use of the building to try to find a balance between the needs of the cinema and church and the responsibility of the business to do it’s part in contributing to the council budget for the function of the Town. This is our assessment:

The buildings use calculation:

- Cinema: Tuesday to Friday 10am to 4pm and Friday nights 2 times a month. (26 hours)
- Op shop: Tuesday to Friday 9am to 5pm (32 hours)
- Café and offices for church ministry Tuesday to Friday 9am to 5pm (32 hours)
- Church worship: Sundays 8am to 4pm (8 hours)

Building use summary:

- 72 hours of each week the building is being used for church ministries and 26 hours for the Cinema.
- The usage is 73% church, 27% Cinema

Our hope is that the Council will see the clear need for the Cinema as a community asset and provide us with a Rebate of 73% on our council rates. This would bring our council rates down to $7020. Not to push it too far, but perhaps the council could use this money to become one of our major sponsors as well with all of the associated benefits outlined in our sponsorship package.

Thank you for your time in considering this matter,

Pastors Joe and Jodie Habermehl
Senior Pastors, Hope Central,
Gawler, Elizabeth and Salisbury