A Cinema Near You (CNY) was launched in June 2019 as a two year development programme which aims to improve access to screen and cinema provision in Scotland, targeting those communities where the need is greatest, and where the benefits may be most significant. Funded by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland, it is delivered by Regional Screen Scotland (RSS) in partnership with Film Hub Scotland and supported by Screen Scotland.
Now, as we enter the final phase of the CNY programme, the bulk of its £500,000 budget is committed or projected, and so we will be closing the programme to new applicants from 31 December 2021. If you anticipate applying to the programme for financial support after that date, and you have not already completed an online Expression of Interest form, please do so by 31 December, to open up a dialogue about possible support. The only exception, after that date, is that we will continue to pay for expert site visits and equipment reviews for new applicants.
Originally intended to be completed by June 2021, as a response to the pandemic the CNY programme has been extended so that funding awards can continue to be made up till 31 March 2022, for activities taking place up till 30 June 2022. Moreover, for the past year CNY has also been able to assist existing cinemas and community groups to get restarted and ensure long term viability.
By the end of the programme, we estimate that A Cinema Near You will have advised, supported, and in most cases funded:
• At least 6 existing, new, or planned fulltime cinemas
• At least 8 venues providing, or aiming to provide, regular screenings of new releases
• At least 57 community and volunteer groups, hosting DVD/Blu-Ray screenings (and 19 of those groups have already benefitted from training by Cinema for All)
We’ve also helped to set up, worked with, and in many cases funded, 10 regional screening networks which are able to provide support, capacity building, and networking at a more local level, from Dumfries and Galloway to West Lothian, and from Renfrewshire to the North East.
Our online resource Mapping Scotland’s Screen Community provides a picture of the scale and diversity of the sector prior to the first lockdown, and we will be updating it in the coming months as cinema and screen provision gradually restarts.
Post-pandemic, there is a crucial role for community and local cinema to play in addressing Scottish Government priorities in the areas of town centre regeneration and ’20 minute neighbourhoods’. Although A Cinema Near You will be completed in 2022, Regional Screen Scotland and Film Hub Scotland will continue thereafter to advocate for the importance of community cinema, and will provide support, advice and networking to Scotland’s screen community.