Crowning new owners
After eight years in downtown Charlottesville, the Violet Crown theater will soon be under new ownership. The news comes at the end of the Virginia Film Festival, which showed several movies in the theater.
Violet Crown opened on the Downtown Mall in 2015, following the closure of a Regal cinema at the same location. The name of the theater will remain, but it will be operated by the Austin, Texas-based Elevate Entertainment Group.
EEG will acquire all four of Violet Crown’s U.S. theaters—which are located in Charlottesville, Santa Fe, Austin, and Dallas—in December of this year. Bringing on the four theaters allows the company to add 30 new screens.
EEG plans to improve the Downtown Mall location, including changes to the first-floor dining space, and hire more employees.
“Our journey with Violet Crown has been extraordinary,” said Violet Crown founder and CEO Bill Banowsky in a statement about the acquisition. “We’ve cultivated a unique moviegoing experience that caters to film-lovers, and that remains unchanged. I am confident that this acquisition will continue to bring the best film experience to the community, and am grateful that we found a team with the resources, passion, and vision to take Violet Crown to the next level.”
Student walkout at UVA
Tensions were high at the University of Virginia on October 25, when students staging a walkout in support of Palestine met counterprotesters on the steps of the Rotunda.
Organized by 15 student organizations—including Students for Justice in Palestine, Divest UVA, Arab Student Organization, and the Queer Student Union—the walkout called for the university to respond to the siege on Gaza. Since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that killed more than 1,400 civilians, Gaza has been under siege by Israel. Amid steadily worsening humanitarian conditions and Israeli airstrikes, more than 8,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
In an informational post about the walkout, students demanded that UVA call for an end to the attack on Gaza, acknowledge the “ongoing genocide” in Gaza, and “divest from weapons manufacturers” arming Israel.
Hundreds of students attended the walkout. While the event was peaceful, a small group of counterprotesters tried to sing over the walkout chants, and held up the Israeli flag.
Pro-Israel students referred to the walkout as ignorant, and said that protesters were supporting a terrorist organization.
In brief
Punkin chuckin’
Halloween has come and gone, but your jack-o-lanterns, soon to rot, are probably still sitting around. Never fear, the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority is bringing back its Great Pumpkin Smash, where you can dispose of your decorative gourds. Take your pumpkins to the McIntire Recycling Center by November 7, drop them into a large container, and they’ll be shipped off to a composting facility. The service is free and open to the Charlottesville and Albemarle communities.
Good’s gratitude
Congressman Bob Good congratulated Rep. Mike Johnson on being elected Speaker of the House of Representatives. Good wrote on Twitter/X that Johnson “brings new hope for the American people. I look forward to working with him to fight back against the radical Biden agenda.” Good was one of eight House Republicans who joined Democrats in voting to oust previous speaker Kevin McCarthy on October 3.
Darden donation
David and Kathleen LaCross have upped their multi-million dollar gift to the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business to a total of more than $100 million, the largest gift in the school’s history. The LaCross family’s initial gift last year reached $50 million after being matched by UVA. The massive donation will go toward pioneering artificial intelligence and a new residential college, according to UVAToday. David LaCross is a Darden alumnus, while his wife graduated from the UVA College of Arts & Science.
