Wexner Center for the Arts Introduces Food and Drink for Film/Video Screenings

Starting June 2, the Wexner Center for the Arts will collaborate with Heirloom Café, the independently-owned restaurant located in the center’s lower lobby, to offer concession items for guests before Film/Video screenings scheduled on Thursdays and Fridays. 

The Wex’s Film/Video Theater has long operated as a traditional institutional screening room, without a concession stand. In recent weeks, the Wexner Center Store began offering a variety of packaged snack options to take into the theater, including candy and healthier baked goods. The Heirloom café will expand the options by staying open until films begin at 7 PM, selling beer and wine along with Coke products, sparkling water, cold brew, and juices. But Heirloom chef Zac Huffines is especially excited to experiment with different flavors of gourmet stovetop popcorn. 

Initial offerings will include a classic style with clarified butter, a vegan variety popped in coconut oil with seaweed and pink Himalayan salt, and popcorn flavored with Sammy's everything bagel seasoning. “I’ve got a bunch of other ones I want to try, and it’ll be a rotating selection,” says Huffines. He also plans to broaden the non-alcoholic drink options with items like infused waters. 

"Heirloom expressed interest in being more closely associated with Wex programming,” notes Mark Spurgeon, head of visitor experience. “We had a great event in February in which they assisted NAICCO Cuisine with food to accompany a visit by the Indigenous Canadian filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin. We’re looking forward to continuing this work by making more food and drink available for filmgoers and exploring other possibilities in the future.” 

The addition of concessions also builds on efforts to make visiting the Wex more accessible and inviting. These include a reduced parking fee of $2 for most Film/Video events at the Ohio Union garages, the availability of low-cost $6 tickets for all Performing Arts events, and free admission for all Learning and Public Practice programs, such as artist talks. 

The arrival of movie snacks coincides with a June film program full of new and newly restored films, including Cauleen Smith’s Drylongso, a classic portrait of Black life in the 1990s (June 2–3); the critically acclaimed doc The Melt Goes on Forever: The Art and Times of David Hammons (June 23–24); and the award-winning French thriller The Night of the 12th (June 29–30). These will be followed by a summer film series dedicated to Italian horror icon Dario Argento, which kicks off July 6. 

More information about the Heirloom Café is available on its website. For the latest Film/Video programming at the Wex, go to wexarts.org/film-video. 

(Thumbnail photo: Sylke Krell)