Dylan Skolnick, fired as co-director of Huntington's Cinema Arts Centre, to meet with institution's chairman

Dylan Skolnick, whose ousting as co-director of the Cinema Arts Centre sparked community backlash, will meet with the board to discuss his “potential return” to the Huntington institution his parents founded, its board said.

Matthew Daidola, board chair of the Cinema Arts Centre, confirmed the meeting will take place as noted in a message the board posted on the community website Huntington Matters. Both he and Skolnick told Newsday they plan to meet Wednesday, but the time and place are still to be determined.

“We are entering these discussions in good faith, with the goal of mediating a potential return and working together to build a stronger institution,” the board said in its statement.

When asked about what he plans to discuss with Skolnick, Daidola told Newsday: “He probably has his idea of what he wants to discuss, and I have my idea, so we’ll see how it goes.”

The Cinema Arts Centre has faced criticism since Skolnick’s Sept. 1 firing. Patrons began announcing plans to cancel memberships the following day. The theater known for spotlighting indie films and hosting creatives has since suffered under a boycott, and celebrities like Edie Falco and Martin Scorsese derided its decision.

Last week, a friend of Daidola’s appeared to post a message regarding Skolnick’s firing and the subsequent backlash on the board’s behalf to Huntington Matters, the legitimacy of which Daidola confirmed Friday. The board could not “ignore the painful reality” of the boycott that followed, which the statement said was “intended to protect one person” but could “ultimately cost this community an entire cultural institution.”

“We ask our community to consider where this path leads,” the board continued. “Preserving the Cinema is about more than supporting one person. It is about protecting a shared cultural home, its dedicated staff, and the generations who deserve to experience all it has offered for decades. Whatever disagreements remain, we urgently need our community’s support. Without it, the Cinema Arts Centre may not survive.”

Skolnick said the groundwork for Wednesday’s meeting was laid when he received a text from Daidola on Monday asking to meet and talk. Since the board posted its statement about their meeting, Skolnick has received many texts of “congratulations,” he told Newsday in a telephone interview. These kind words confused him, as he said people are “reading” into the board’s statement, which he called "vague," as well as into the upcoming meeting, “in all kinds of ways.”

He does not think this meeting “is some grand negotiation.” If the meeting is an effort to bring him back to the cinema, “there’s changes that have to be made” to protect him from being terminated once again in the near future.

“Nevertheless, I will always take a meeting about anything involving the Cinema Arts Centre,” Skolnick said in a statement emailed to Newsday. “This is the start of an important conversation. The CAC has been at the center of my life for over 50 years. However, in the course of the past several months, fundamental issues have arisen as to the leadership and governance of this community institution that has caused many to lose faith in it. In order for that faith and community support to be restored, a full discussion needs to be had with all stakeholders to fulfill the Cinema Arts Centre’s mission: to bring the best and broadest range of film and cultural programs to all audiences, lifting spirits, expanding consciousness, and building community.”

In its statement last week, the board said its decision to terminate Skolnick followed “employee complaints, personnel evaluations, confidential HR discussions” that would not be discussed publicly in detail.

The theater also “accumulated significant debt” due to “mismanagement” over the past several years, leading the board “to more closely examine Mr. Skolnick’s management of the Cinema and his ability to address the significant challenges facing the organization.”

Since October 2025, the board “became increasingly concerned about significant operational and personnel issues within the Cinema.” As the board evaluated Skolnick, more concerns “and potential legal issues” arose, “the details of which we are not sharing publicly because they involve personnel matters and the experiences of other employees.”

A human resources firm Skolnick previously retained for the theater “contacted the Board with additional serious concerns” last May.

“The decision to end Mr. Skolnick’s employment followed nearly a year of progressively more structured efforts to address the issues and concerns that had been identified,” the board said. “When additional issues emerged that raised broader risks for the organization, the Board concluded that the employment relationship could not continue. We wish the circumstances had led to a different outcome, but the Board’s responsibility was, and remains, to protect the Cinema Arts Centre, its mission, and its future.”

Skolnick has denied any wrongdoing and previously told Newsday he was terminated for a perceived conflict of interest by taking up work as a freelance film booker for theaters outside of Long Island.