OUr Goal
In 2017 Ghost River Theatre received a grant to purchase 4 projectors and accessories. Each projector kit costs roughly $24,000. Our goal now is to create a sustainable system so that we are able to repair and manage the projectors while also contributing to a fund that will allow us to upgrade the projectors every 5-7 years without relying on granting organizations.
5-7 years you say?!
Yes! Projection technology changes and advances so quickly that the state-of-the-art from 7 years ago looks old and outdated. Do you have a 7 year old cell phone? How old is your computer?
Projectors also have a limited lifespan and after a certain amount of hours they lose brightness and overall quality.
How we determine our rates
$70 of all rentals goes to paying a technician to come into the West Village Theatre to sign in and out the equipment. This involves checking that everything is present and in functioning order, organization, reporting, troubleshooting and answering any technical questions that you may have. We have to bring a special person in to do this because we currently have no full-time technical staff member capable of fulfilling this role.
Annual insurance is $2000
Paypal charges 2.9% for every transaction
Repair Fund - Each rental contributes to a repair fund so that if anything goes wrong we can get the projector fixed. This involves sending it to Ontario and could cost between $1000-$5000. Our goal is to have $5000 saved for each projector to cover this.
Website fees
Upgrade fund - each rental contributes to future upgrades. See above.
Why we use a sliding scale
It's pretty simple, we want to offer cheaper rates to artists and companies that have lower budgets. We also think that companies with higher budgets are still getting a deal - our most expensive rate is still a fraction of the cost of other rental companies in the city for similar technology.
With that said, if our rates are preventing you from fulfilling your projection dreams, let us know and we will try to work something out.
Why you need insurance
We wish mistakes never happened. We also wish we could all just shake hands and agree that if a mistake did happen we could work it out. Unfortunately this isn't how the world spins and we need to take measures to ensure the safety and longevity of our program. Because each rental situation is unique it is not possible to provide one blanket insurance cost for everyone.
"But rental company xyz doesn't make me take out insurance!"
We're not a rental company and don't have the type of expensive insurance that they do. Sorry there isn't much we can do about this. If you have an idea about how we can improve this please let us know.
There are many insurance companies in town that can offer short-term insurance. Maybe your current insurance company can help you. If you are looking for somewhere to start, ask us for suggestions at play@ghostrivertheatre.com.