eTown Hall has a round stained-glass window directly behind its projection booth. To get Sundance's new projector working, the window was taken out and rebuilt with optical glass at its center, so the beam can pass through the old church window to the new perforated screen, eTown's Chris Coomey told the Daily Camera. The same kind of work is happening across town this fall, as concert halls, school auditoriums, and an 1898 open-air pavilion are refitted for film.
The festival runs January 21 through 31, 2027. The rooms will still be here afterward. For people who live here, the bigger question is which of these upgrades will still be in place in March. The answer depends a lot on who started the work and why.
Eleven screening rooms, three different stories
Sundance lists 11 screening theaters in Boulder. The venue-by-venue reporting on the rooms getting upgrades splits them into three groups. Some projects were underway before Sundance arrived. Some are university investments with year-round goals stated publicly. And some are festival installations with no published plan for after January.
| Venue | What's changing | What's on record about after January |
|---|---|---|
| Chautauqua Auditorium | Insulation, geothermal radiant floors, removable insulated wall panels | A year-round conversion that began before Sundance was announced |
| Boulder High School Auditorium | Projector, screen, lighting, accessibility, seats | Funded by BVSD's 2022 bond, designed starting in 2024 |
| Casey Middle School Auditorium | Mechanical, electrical, accessibility, seating, windows, plumbing | HVAC work completed under the 2022 bond in summer 2025 |
| Macky, Roe Green, Muenzinger | Dolby Atmos sound, new screens, projection | CU frames it as a year-round campus investment |
| Boedecker Theater | New screen with finer perforations | A year-round arthouse cinema |
| Boulder Theater | New cinema sound system and screen | No published retention statement |
| eTown Hall | Projector, screen, Atmos with 40 speakers and six amplifiers | No published retention statement |
| Gordon Gamm Theater | Trolley-mounted projector, speakers, acoustic treatment, new seats | No published retention statement |
The upgrades Boulder was already building
Chautauqua's winterization is the upgrade most certain to stay. The Colorado Chautauqua Association began turning the auditorium into a year-round space before Sundance named it a venue. According to the Daily Camera, Chautauqua says the work will add more than 200 potential programming days each year to a wooden building that has mostly served warm-weather audiences since 1898. The insulated wall panels come down in warmer months. Heat comes from radiant floors powered by a geothermal bore field. Chautauqua COO Jason Hill told the paper that final inspections and commissioning should be done by mid-December and that the auditorium's year-round operation begins with Sundance.
Nobody has announced what fills those new winter dates yet. Chautauqua's public calendar, as captured this month, showed October 2026 events and no winter or spring 2027 auditorium listings. In a Sundance interview, the association's CEO described the retrofit as being for modern year-round cultural use, not just the festival, but she didn't name a specific show for after it.
Boulder High follows the same pattern. Much of its auditorium work came before Sundance's February announcement. BVSD began designing the larger project in 2024 and started construction in 2025 with money from the district's voter-approved 2022 bond. The first summer added new carpet, LED lighting, and a new projector and screen. This summer brought an accessibility upgrade, though the new seats were delayed and still needed to be installed as of BVSD's August update. Casey Middle School's auditorium HVAC was also upgraded under the bond in summer 2025, before Sundance entered the picture. At the Boulder Public Library, Canyon Theater's sound had already been upgraded before festival planning began. Sundance will calibrate it to Dolby cinema standards rather than rebuild it.
CU's version is already playing on Wednesday nights
The university has been the most explicit about the long term. CU Boulder Today described the Macky, Roe Green, and Muenzinger work as a strategic investment expected to benefit students and the campus community year-round. Macky's system is built to switch between Dolby Atmos for film and enhanced sound for concerts, and its acoustic panels are removable. At Roe Green, seats dating to the 1980s are being replaced with new theater seats that have drink holders, and the work was scheduled to wrap this month.
Muenzinger is the one you can test now. Before the renovation, the 400-seat room used a curved wall coated with screen paint, and speakers had to be wheeled in for each showing. Now it has wall-mounted speaker arrays and a new screen, and the Daily Camera reports the upgraded system is already in use. The International Film Series has screened films on campus since 1941. According to CU, it draws more than 3,000 students and community members to about 60 films each semester. The next three dates on the IFS fall schedule, which runs into November:
- King Kong on October 14
- The Environmental Shorts Program on October 21
- Event Horizon on October 28
The Dairy's Boedecker is another room that's in use right now. Documentaries make up roughly 40% of its regular programming, and the new screen has smaller perforations. Dairy Executive Director Melissa Fathman told the Daily Camera that smaller holes mean a better picture. This week the Boedecker schedule lists The Big Cheese and How To Divorce During the War, running October 14 through 18.
Where the record goes quiet
Three of the most-talked-about upgrades don't have a published answer about what happens after the festival. Boulder Theater is getting a new cinema sound system and screen. The operator, Z2 Entertainment, presents it as an addition to the live-music room, not a replacement. In Sundance's July profile, quoted by the Daily Camera, Z2 CEO Cheryl Liguori said:
"We have a great sound system for live music, but what's being installed is new cinema sound and a new screen."
At eTown, Sundance's production company installed the projector, and Sundance is adding Dolby Atmos to the hall's existing system. The Gordon Gamm, which normally hosts live theater and dance, got a projector on a trolley so it can be rolled out of the way for performances. None of the coverage says who owns or keeps this equipment after January. The rebuilt stained-glass window at eTown is the one change in that building that is clearly permanent. Whether Boulder Theater turns into a regular film venue again depends on that unanswered ownership question.
Getting into the rooms in January
Ticketing has gone differently than the city's original deal suggested. When Boulder City Council considered its incentive package in January, Boulder Reporting Lab reported that Sundance had agreed to offer specialized ticket sales for Colorado residents. On October 7, the Daily Camera quoted Sundance saying no pass or package is exclusive to Boulder or Colorado residents. For the 2026 festival, Utah residents could buy a 10-ticket locals package for $675 while the general full-festival package cost $920. Sundance says it designed three packages with locals in mind, but anyone can buy them:
- Matinee, $350. Ten screenings that start before 5 p.m., January 25 to 29.
- Second Half, $450. Ten screenings from January 27 to 31.
- Encore, $675. Ten screenings, excluding each film's first public screening.
None of the three includes premieres during opening weekend. Public package sales start October 15. Single tickets cost $37 and go on sale January 8, after package holders start picking screenings on January 7. Anyone ages 18 to 25, and enrolled students of any age, can buy $15 Ignite tickets after free registration, which opens December 8. Most talks will be free and first-come, first-seated, according to Sundance's audience development lead. Talks and other non-screening programming are listed at Canyon Theater, the Dairy, eTown Hall, and CU's Old Main.
The weeks on either side
Day-to-day disruption will stretch past the festival's 11 days. BVSD lists January 5 through February 5 as its impact window. The district expects heavier traffic, restricted access, and limited parking at Boulder High and Casey, with possible changes to after-school activities and athletics. Most venues don't have their own parking, so the city is promoting a "park once" approach using the HOP, SKIP, and JUMP buses and a Chautauqua Connector. Visit Boulder says plans include free HOP service matched to the festival schedule and up to 5,000 shared e-bike passes. The city says route and parking details are still coming.
Downtown storefronts may change too. Boulder B-Sides will fund roughly 8 to 10 Boulder County artists or arts organizations, up to $15,000 each, for pop-up work in vacant commercial spaces from January 15 to 31. Selected artists and locations haven't been announced. Local businesses that join the Boulder Chamber's Official Friend program get window clings and a listing on the festival site.
The upgraded rooms will be put to use again in spring. The Boulder International Film Festival moved its 23rd edition to April 8 through 11, 2027, because of Sundance's January arrival. Boulder High's auditorium, with its bond-funded projector and screen, has long been a BIFF venue.
If you're weighing a Sundance package against IFS nights at Muenzinger, or wondering when Chautauqua's first winter season will be announced, Rachel Weinberg follows these Boulder venues closely and is glad to talk through what the festival means for your corner of town. Schedule a free consultation.
