@blackbusiness

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YES!! OWNERSHIP!! 🖤❤
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NextAct Cinema
921 Reisterstown Road
Pikesville, MD 21208

SupportBlackBusiness #BlackTheaters #KeepOurDollarsBlack #BlackBusinessesMatter #ForUsByUs #RootingForEverybodyBlack #blackowned

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blackhistory #blackcreative

blackhistorymonth

blackandproud

blackmen

blackkings

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From Huffington Post: “When #AnthonyFykes and #RobertWright met, they immediately connected through their love for movies. But the pair never imagined that a shared passion for cinema would lead them to open their own theater together.

NextActCinema, the only #BlackOwned movie theater in the state of Maryland, opened on March 7 & the response has been overwhelming, the owners say. After a few viral posts online & media coverage, moviegoers from all over have shared messages of support & excitement about the theater’s opening. ”I’ve gotten emails from Texas, from Chicago, from South Carolina, from California,” Fykes, 38, told HuffPost. “The support has been very humbling for us because we didn’t know that what we were doing could have such a social impact.” They renovated the #PikesTheatre in Pikesville, Maryland and gave it a brand new look. There are two small but comfortable theater rooms with 43 seats each. Guests can order popcorn, a meal or wine from their seats, delivered by the theater’s waitstaff.

Even though black-owned movie theaters are rare today, there is a long history of successful theaters that were catered to #BlackPatrons. Those theaters not only served as places for black people to watch movies but as communal spaces when they were being excluded.

The #HistoricCarverTheatre in New Orleans, for example, was built in 1950 amid #JimCrow laws that kept Louisiana and the South segregated. Former NBA star #MagicJohnson owned a chain of theaters named after him before they were acquired by AMC Theatres in 2006. His theaters brought films to black communities that would usually have to drive further out to watch a movie.