COLUMBIA — Since South Carolina’s only nonprofit art house theater, The Nickelodeon, reopened under new leadership a year ago, it has been building back slowly and filling seats at screenings of “Where the Crawdads Sing” and “Air” and an album launch party for a popular local DJ.

The again-full theater marks progress for an organization that in recent years has struggled through missteps around racial equality and a pandemic that had its viability thrown into question.

The Nickelodeon’s new leaders say they are taking steps to regain the confidence of Columbia area movie-goers whose backing is needed to keep the movies playing. Still, some former employees are skeptical of promises for real change, feeling that the organization never answered publicly for allegations of systemic racism within its walls. 

Starting in 2020, the two-screen cinema at the heart of Columbia’s Main Street entertainment district found itself in the midst of a reckoning, punctuated by a global pandemic and a national movement over racial inequity following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of police.

The Nick stumbled as it tried to adjust to challenges brought by COVID-19. There were blunders as conversations about race held the national stage. Revolving leadership also raised concerns throughout the community about the organization’s health.

The 44-year-old theater, its associated Indie Grits Lab program and the umbrella organization that operates them, Columbia Film Society, faced allegations from former staff that included pay inequity and a work environment hostile to people of color. The Indie Grits Lab director resigned in 2020 as a result. And the Film Society executive director who handled the controversy would later leave the organization in 2021.

Before all this, The Nickelodeon, Indie Grits Lab and an associated film festival that, at its height, drew in 12,000 people, were trumpeted for the ways they were helping to revitalize the downtown core.

In addition to showing films not available at the multiplex, the theater has long billed itself as a cultural touchstone,  hosting a variety of special events from the album launch for one of Columbia’s pre-eminent Black artists, Preach Jacobs, to a speaker series on affordable housing.

The Nick board members spoke openly to Free Times and said they took the racial allegations seriously, but according to former employees, instances of racism continued. An interim director came and went amid controversy, having used a racial slur during a conversation with staff.

Ultimately, The Nick again temporarily closed in February 2022 for what board members at the time called “spring cleaning.” The Nick leadership now says there were problems with some personnel, and the closure and terminations came at the recommendation of its outside human resources firm brought in to review the organization and its employment practices.

“There was just such turmoil at that time,” said Xavier Blake, a former board member who now works in community engagement for the organization. “That made things kind of hard to go forward.”

Yet former employees allege the closure served as another act of inequality as people of color were removed from staff. They saw it as a smokescreen for an organization that had failed to address the issue of racism.

“I find that’s very much where they continue to drop the ball today is not being open enough and truthful enough with the people about what their real intentions are,” said Thaddeus Jones, former director of programming at the theater. “Even how we were dismissed from our positions is shrouded under the guise of spring cleaning, which is just a slap in the face.”

An open letter

The Nick’s first bout of criticism came in an open letter posted to social media, penned by two Black former employees accusing the organization that oversees The Nick of “longstanding issues of institutionalized racism that have for too long been silenced or ignored by the management and staff.”

As government-mandated closures amid the coronavirus pandemic hammered arts organizations across the country, the letter pointed out that most of those who lost their jobs at The Nick belonged to a minority group.

“In the wake of COVID-19, the CFS (Columbia Film Society) went from having a relatively diverse staff of Black, non-Black POC, and genderqueer employees to having (a staff) that was predominantly all white,” the letter said of the staff furloughs that started in March 2020 and gave way to full layoffs that May. “The CFS removed the vast majority of its part-time and full-time Black staff, while keeping its two white directors and one Black manager.”

In addition, the letter spoke of instances where racial slurs and offensive language were used by leadership, as well as pay inequity.

Sumner Bender, a theater teacher who had previously served on the board of Trustus Theatre, came on as the organization’s executive director about nine months ago, long after the letter was published, but she said it has informed her approach to the role.

“We had staff that said this organization isn’t treating people of color the way it should,” Bender said. “It was my duty to make sure I use that information in a way that was valuable and intentional.”

To start, The Nickelodeon has added annual diversity, equity and inclusion training for staff and for its governing board. Earlier, in 2021, the board also gave all full-time staff a 15-percent raise to make wages more competitive on a regional level and bumped up pay for part-time staff serving customers from $10 to $15 per hour.

“The pandemic measurably reevaluated how we do business, especially as a theater,” Blake said. “It brought some things to the forefront that we were not doing correctly.”

Bender and Blake recognize The Nick will have to continue to prove change through action.

In March, the Transgender Awareness Alliance hosted a film screening at the theater.

“They called us up and point-blank asked me, ‘Why should we work with The Nickelodeon?” Blake said. “And I said, sure, we had some missteps in the past. But we’re looking forward to rebuilding that trust.”

The alliance’s executive director M. Greg Green said he had been aware of the issues raised by prior staff, which included an LGBTQ staff member. Green decided to give The Nick a chance to “show up better for the queer community and help build that trust back up.”

“You can do one thing to ruin trust,” Green said. “It takes 10 things to rebuild that trust but it’s about taking steps in right direction.”

Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina also paused its charitable giving to The Nick for one year in 2020 during the pandemic, Bender said. When she came on as executive director, she spoke to the insurance giant about the open letter and the changes she hoped to make at the theater in response. The company asked why it should continue supporting the Nick. 

“I said, ‘Because that letter has given us a foundation to build from, because we can recognize the weaknesses and we can recognize the faults of what came before and do everything we can to use that as education and to move forward,'” Bender said.

“As somebody coming in brand new, I can hope to never have that happen again, and I can do everything in my power and make it not happen again.”

Still, others said the allegations in the open letter were not the only acts of inequality to take place at The Nick.

Problems continue

Shanel Jackson, the theater’s former director of operations and membership, was the only staff member of color allowed to remain after COVID-related furloughs became permanent. That was the case until late 2020 when the organization hired Jones. 

Jackson said she hadn’t always taken the murmurings about racial inequality within the organization to heart until she experienced it firsthand.

Jackson told The Post and Courier in several interviews about an incident that took place after Jones had been hired, in which a White employee had accused Jackson of attacking her. Jackson denies the allegation and said her own account was not taken into consideration. Instead, she felt villainized and said her accuser further retaliated against her.

Jackson also presented the board with an instance when she said a White coworker talked in the office about going on a cruise to Jamaica, and upon seeing Black men on the island, stated she feared them.

Finally, Jackson alleged in a complaint to the board that former Executive Director Anita Floyd passed over an Asian woman for a marketing job, stating it would be difficult to adjust to the woman’s accent. 

“I believed she definitely had taken part and she also encouraged in her silence that it was OK to treat people of color different from their White counterparts,” Jackson said of Floyd.

Floyd said she was not familiar with the complaint against her hiring decision for the marketing position and deferred further comment to the Columbia Film Society, adding that the “organization has moved on and is doing well.”

Ultimately, as The Nick built back its staff, it would again boast a diverse team, with three people of color working full time — Jackson, Jones and Rae Groover, hired to do marketing in early 2021 — and a number of others working part time, serving customers or running projection.

Groover said Floyd touted the organization’s diversity and inclusion efforts during his interview.

An outside firm was hired to hold safe-space training and encourage discussion around these issues.

But Jones and Floyd said they often felt like their ideas and contributions were being dismissed or ignored by management.

Amid all this, Jackson and Floyd’s working relationship would deteriorate after Jackson lodged complaints.

Jackson said she had acted as a whistleblower but instead was punished by having her hours reduced and not being given access to tools needed to do her job. Others on staff told The Post and Courier they could feel the tension and took notice when Jackson wasn’t around as much.

Then, Jackson said, she was fired in mid-2021 after working at The Nick two years. Floyd announced her own departure shortly after, prompting the board to ask Jackson to return to work, needing someone with experience running the theater.

In September 2021, former CEO of Together Women Rise in Greenville, Beth Ellen Holimon, was brought on in an interim role leading the theater. Holimon had a background in diversity, equity and inclusion and said she was proud of the work done while she served in the interim role.

But Holimon left after a number of former Black employees, including Groover and Jackson, said she used a racial slur during an office conversation. 

Groover and Jackson said they had been talking about a post they had seen on social media pertaining to the use of a racial slur. They said Holimon interjected, asking what makes it wrong or not wrong for a person to use the slur, repeating the slur in her question. 

“Last year at The Nickelodeon, during a conversation with a group of colleagues, a Black employee referred to a well-known artist by using a term in a context with which I was not familiar,” Holimon said. “In an effort to better understand the context, I asked the employee to explain the word’s meaning. In doing so, I repeated the word.

“The use of inappropriate or offensive words is unacceptable in any context. I learned from this moment, and continue my anti-racism journey through greater self-awareness, contribution to change, and accountability.”

With her departure, The Nickelodeon was again adrift by early 2022, without an executive director to run it.

“The board was just acting as one in crisis mode for a long time,” Bender said.

An outside HR firm was brought in to conduct an evaluation of the organization and its employees. Board members were told they needed to make a complete change. So on Feb. 28, 2022, The Nick announced it would again temporarily suspend screenings to focus on hiring a new director and to restructure its staffing.

Jackson, Jones and Groover were all terminated. Part time staff members were laid off.

In the former employees’ eyes, The Nickelodeon had once again taken out staff members of color without owning up to it publicly. It would prompt Jones to film a documentary, uploaded to Youtube, about the experience.

Bender said The Nick has offered to screen Jones’ film in its theater when it’s complete. Jones is working to finish the third, and likely final, part of the film. 

Jones said, while the screening offer may seem like a good idea on its face, he thinks a neutral venue would be more appropriate.

“It felt a bit disingenuous, like a way to take control of the narrative rather than fostering a real conversation,” he said.

Building back slowly

The Nick would remain shuttered until April 15, 2022, raising questions in the interim and casting doubt on the organization’s long-term survival after so much instability.

Using a temporary staffing agency recommended by the HR firm, the theater reopened a couple of days a week. The HR firm also chose to bring back just two former part-time employees. Two weeks later, Bender’s hiring was announced. She would start in June.

When Bender stepped into the role, she worked with the staffing agency to bring its employees on permanently and emailed other former part-time staff about reapplying, one of whom responded.

“I want to hire as many people as I can from a diverse background, whether it’s age, race, sexual orientation, any of that, but at the same time, it’s going to take trust from the community for them to believe that this is a place that will respect them,” Bender said.

Today, The Nick is up to about 20 employees, three of those in full-time roles, Bender said.

Much of the work is centered around the theater and putting on events, still far from the vast array of community-centered efforts previously held by the Indie Grits Lab arm of the organization, such as media literacy programs and film boot camps.

Starting out small is intentional on Bender’s part.

“We’re rebuilding,” she said. “If we rush, we’re going to do things wrong…. If we can take our time and be very intentional about it, then we’re going to minimize problems.”

Bender said she is asked often when will the Indie Grits Film Festival return. The society is aiming for a 2024 return.

“Indie Grits will come back,” Bender said. “How and what it will look like, that’s the question mark. It will most likely look a lot different.”

The festival had once put Columbia on the map of the independent film industry, but Bender said it had also become too big for The Nickelodeon to do on its own.

“If we’re trying to make an organization that’s going to last the test of time, we have to understand the parameters in which we work,” Bender said. “We want it to be valuable to Columbia.”

Former Free Times Managing Editor David Clarey contributed to this report.