{"id":3380,"date":"2014-06-20T19:24:39","date_gmt":"2014-06-20T19:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/arts-culture\/movies-in-the-park-enters-9th-year-with-help-from-signal-hill-petroleum\/"},"modified":"2014-06-20T19:24:39","modified_gmt":"2014-06-20T19:24:39","slug":"movies-in-the-park-enters-9th-year-with-help-from-signal-hill-petroleum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/art\/movies-in-the-park-enters-9th-year-with-help-from-signal-hill-petroleum","title":{"rendered":"Movies in the Park Kicks Off 9th Year With Disney’s Frozen, 30 Other Screenings Across Long Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"SHP<\/p>\n

Signal Hill Petroleum employees present a check to Partners of Parks at a City Council meeting. <\/em><\/p>\n

As part of their ongoing support of the Movies in the Park program, Signal Hill Petroleum (SHP) awarded a check for $27,500 to Partners of Parks (POP) at this week\u2019s city council meeting.<\/p>\n

The money will fund the series of free movies that are shown from June through August as part of the city\u2019s 100 Days of Summer activities. Movies in the Park, which is in its ninth year, attracts over 10,000 people annually and provides family-friendly entertainment (as well as free popcorn) set in local parks across Long Beach and Signal Hill.<\/p>\n

Drew Santariano, executive director of POP, said that depending on park size, a typical screening yields a few hundred viewers, with attendance growing every year. Partners of Parks is a nonprofit that has operated in the city for around 30 years and Santariano noted that with the help of SHP\u2014with their annual donations covering nearly the entire cost of the Movies in the Park program\u2014the organization has had to do little to no fundraising to sustain one of its most popular programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my opinion, Signal Hill Petroleum is the perfect example of the corporate-public partnership,\u201d Santariano said. \u201cThey step up for all kinds of stuff. They contribute all year long, and Movies in the Park is just one of the things they support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Signal Hill Petroleum Director of Business Development and Community Relations Debra Russell said that the positive feedback they received from the community from the very first year made it easy to want to continue to parter with POP, but the philanthropy of the privately-held oil company is something that is engrained.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause we\u2019ve been here for so long and we do have a big footprint in Signal Hill and Long Beach, we strongly believe that it\u2019s our responsibility to give back to the communities that we\u2019re in,\u201d Russell said. \u201cIt starts from the owners of the company to management at all levels, including every single field representative we have. It\u2019s our company culture. It\u2019s something that we\u2019re proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s series, which starts today with a sing-a-long screening of Disney’s massive hit Frozen<\/em> at Whaley Park, features 31 screenings of 11 different movies throughout Summer at 28 area parks, including a showing of 42: The True Story of an American Legend<\/em> (the Jackie Robinson story) at Blair Stadium on July 19.<\/p>\n

Other movies scheduled for this year\u2019s series are Monster\u2019s University<\/em>, The Lego Movie<\/em>, Planes<\/em> and Despicable Me 2<\/em>. All showtimes are scheduled for dusk, which Santariano stated changes as the season goes on, but typically will be between 8PM and 8:30PM.<\/p>\n

Signal Hill Petroleum signs a revolving 5-year-contract with POP, with the current one expiring in 2016, but Russell said that the relationship between POP and SHP and their support of Movies in the Park should carry into the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something that grows every year, we get immediate feed back, it fits our cultural giving program and we\u2019d absolutely love to keep doing it,\u201d Russell said.<\/p>\n

A full list of screenings: <\/p>\n