A Cinema Near You (CNY) is a two-year development programme that 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.
Regional Screen Scotland opened A Cinema Near You for business on 25 June with a public launch during the Edinburgh International Film Festival. By the end of August we had received a total of 54 initial Expressions of Interest, from groups and organisations based in 20 out of Scotland’s 32 Local Authorities.
Every Expression of Interest has been promptly followed up by email, and, as soon as possible thereafter, by a phone conversation. As a result of those, 8 organisations have already been asked to move to stage two, and have completed an Application Questionnaire. These Questionnaires are then the basis for the third stage, where applicants are formally welcomed on to the Programme, and work begins on a costed action plan to help each organisation meet their individual needs.
Timeline
There is no deadline for an Expressions of Interest, or for being asked to complete an Application Questionnaire. But such a substantial initial response has been a great help in enabling us to build a picture of demand and opportunity across the country. Nonetheless there are still significant gaps, and we’re continuing to work with a range of partner organisations who can help us to spread the word.
Networks
One aspect that has been very encouraging for us is the emergence of potential new regional screen networks. Based on the successful NEATFlicks model in the North East, RSS has already helped to set up equivalent regional networks in Dumfries and Galloway, Argyll and Bute, and Orkney, and is currently working with partners to set up similar groups in Fife and Scottish Borders. We’ve also been independently approached through A Cinema Near You by organisations interested in developing new networks in at least four other Local Authority areas.
As the existing networks have already shown, this model can be a highly effective way of supporting local activity, whether at the level of a fulltime cinema, or a monthly DVD club, and so it’s encouraging that we may be able to assist more such networks, to ensure that the developments we support can be sustainable in the longer term.
Next Steps
A Cinema Near You is being managed by RSS’s CEO, Robert Livingston, and Partnerships Coordinator, Harriet Warman. In mid-October, Harriet will be starting maternity leave, and we’ll shortly be appointing someone to take over her role for the coming months.
For all these reasons—the range and spread of Expressions of Interest, the potential for new regional networks, the recruitment of maternity cover—we’ve decided not to rush into launching the programme strand focused on new DVD groups – Grow Your Own Cinema. We’re currently developing plans for this with our colleagues in Film Hub Scotland, Cinema for All, and Voluntary Arts Scotland. If you’ve submitted an Expression of Interest specifically about DVD screenings, and wanted to get started in the near future, please get back in touch with us. Otherwise, we’ll be sending out more information in a month or so.
A Cinema Near You is being delivered by RSS in partnership with Film Hub Scotland and supported by Screen Scotland, and officers from all three organisations form an Operational Group, which plans and oversees the delivery of the programme and reviews all Application Questionnaires. Once a participant in the programme has reached the stage of drawing up a fully costed action plan, these will be approved by an independent Assessment Panel.
Contacts and further information
Robert Livingston: robert@regionalscreenscotland.com
Morvern Cunningham: morvern@regionalscreenscotland.org
Shona Thomson: shona@regionalscreenscotland.org