Many people worry about the job market, but for adults with disabilities, their opportunities are even more limited. Eighty percent of adults with disabilities do not have a job in the United States. Prospector Theater in Ridgefield, Connecticut has been working to change that.
“We provide employment opportunities to people with disabilities through the operation of our four-screen movie theater, e-commerce popcorn business, and lots of other cool, relevant, fun jobs and meaningful facets,” said Ian Foss, creative director at the theater. “We exist to prove that we can work, want to work and work hard. We really just need the opportunity.”
Valerie Jensen founded the theater 10 years ago. She has a sister with Down syndrome and ran a theater group with SPHERE, a volunteer-based organization that helps adults with disabilities in various areas, like education and employment. She saw firsthand some of the struggles they faced.
“Val identified a need in the community and realized that the town of Ridgefield needed a movie theater,” Foss said. “And she also recognized that her friends with disabilities that were at her program at SPHERE needed employment opportunities.”
The nonprofit tries to give its employees, or “prospects,” meaningful employment that plays to each individual's strengths and interests. They call this “sparkle.”
Prospects can use their sparkle in a number of roles at the theater. Of course, there’s the obvious jobs: box office, concessions, ushering, and cleaning crew. But the theater has made a variety of other opportunities for prospects. They have their own production team that makes all of the pre-show content that plays before a movie starts. They also produce all of the marketing and social media content. The theater has its own cafe that serves a variety of coffee drinks and alcoholic beverages.
Prospects can earn food and beverage certifications through their work at Heads Up Cafe, which can help them be better prepared for other employment opportunities outside of the Prospector. The theater also has its own brand of gourmet popcorn made in-house at its location in Ridgefield. Some prospects make artwork for current movies, and others dress up as characters for opening weekends. The list could keep going, but the point they want to make is that every job is a meaningful one.
The nonprofit has more than a hundred employees. More than three-quarters of them self-identify with a disability.
Gabe Kavookjian has been a prospect since 2015.
“I do have Down syndrome. You’re around a lot of people who have it around here, like Down syndrome and autism, too,” said Kavookjian.
He works with the theater’s production team. Production is his sparkle. He said he did it in high school and college, and his grandparents also worked in that field.
“I’m Ian’s secondhand man for pre-production. I do pre-show. You know how you see a movie before the movie is for a pre-show? And the pre-show is like on an update at the Prospector, like what’s going on,” Kavookjian said.
Diane Sludock was one of the first five prospects at the theater. She mainly works at the box office now.
“I love working here cause it gets me out of the house and doing something that I like. It’s different because people treat me well here, and the other places where I used to have a job, they didn’t treat me well,” Sludock said.
The theater pays every prospect above minimum wage to allow them to be financially independent.
“We really take pride in our work and we work incredibly hard, and we recognize that work by paying above a standard of what a typical wage would be anywhere else,” Foss said.
He said it allows them to provide the basic necessities for themselves.
Ben Daddona, another one of the original prospects, said it’s a huge help for him.
“It’s very important, especially [because] I have bills to pay. I’m on my own, you know; it’s life, unfortunately,” Daddona said.
He said the Prospector is different from other companies he’s worked for.
“I just think the way the organization’s run is run differently. Everybody kind of learns at their own pace, and the theater basically believes in second chances,” Daddona said.
Connecticut received nearly $200 million in federal grants for special education in 2023. But people with disabilities age out of school and transitional programs when they turn 22. The Prospector said when the benefits stop, there’s a question mark. That question mark has gotten even more complicated with President Trump’s attempt to close the Department of Education.
The Prospector turned 10 years old last November, and they said they’re looking forward to the next decade.
“The Prospector’s going to keep on growing and showing the world that we can work,” Foss said.
Since its start, the theater has employed more than 300 people and paid more than $27 million to prospects.
