The Grand Cinema's longtime leader has announced he is retiring later this year after being in the role for 18 years.
Executive Director Philip Cowan has led the Tacoma independent theater through periods of growth, the COVID-19 pandemic and, more recently, a campaign to buy the building that houses the theater. Cowan said that fundraiser to buy the Merlino Art Center could reach its goal by early summer, which he sees as a good time to let someone else take the reigns.
"It's an opportunity to give a break ... and be able to hand it over to somebody else, and then let them help shape some of that future. Rather than having it shaped for them," Cowan told KNKX in a recent interview about his retirement.
The Grand Cinema is the only nonprofit movie theater in Pierce County. It puts on events like The Tacoma Film Festival and the 253 Short Film Competition, as well as independent, international and local film screenings.
Cowan's last day on the job is Aug. 1. After that, he said he plans to travel to Africa and New Zealand, and a trip to Yellowstone National Park with his daughter. He said there is a possibility later on that he would take on an interim executive director role with a local organization, but nothing permanent.
"I don't expect to have another full time job," the 59-year-old said.
Cowan studied at the University of Texas at Arlington for his undergrad and later got his Master's from Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona. Fresh out of college, he became a financial analyst for about five years, but that didn't sparked passion in him.
"And I just made a very, very conscious decision that I wanted to do jobs that I enjoyed," Cowan said.
In the late '90s, Cowan nabbed a job as director of ticket operations for the Tacoma Rainiers Minor League Baseball Team. In his eight years with the ball club he became the assistant general manager and then the finance director.
In December 2006, Cowan was hired to lead The Grand Cinema. Around then, Cowan had a daughter, who grew up at the theater and helped Cowan with children's programming.
"We did a 24-hour Harry Potter marathon at The Grand," he said. "That was technically for the public to come see, but it was really one of those father-daughter things, like, 'I wonder what it would be like to watch all the movies back-to-back.' And I was like, 'Hey, I run a cinema. I think we could make that happen on a big screen.'"
Cowan said his biggest challenge has been audience habits and interests in movies since the pandemic. He said the theater now plays a few more mainstream movies than it did before to bring in audiences.
"You know — we're a nonprofit, but you still got to keep the doors open and pay the bills," Cowan said. "But those films support all of the really smaller stuff that we do."
The Grand Cinema's board of directors has setup a search committee to find the theater's next leader. The job will be posted in the coming weeks, and the board expects to hire someone by the summer.
Cowan's advice for his successor is to learn from mistakes and listen to staff at the theater.
"Listen to them, pay attention to them, and then just kind of feel your way through it and learn as you go," he said. "And know that anybody is going to make mistakes, but you learn through those mistakes."
When asked what a movie about Cowan's life as the director of the cinema would need to include, Cowan said it would be a lot about community and the people who work and volunteer there.
"I love that connection that this job brings through The Grand," he said. "And that's definitely the thing that I'm going to miss the most, is just being able to connect with people about what we're doing."
