We are pleased to present our definition of Universal Cinema, concluding a key output of the first phase of Towards Universal Cinema.
In early 2021 we completed our Business Plan 2022-26 in which we set out an ambition to develop the concept of ‘Universal Cinema’. We were inspired by Sadia Pineda Hameed’s use of the word ‘Universal’ as ‘a different word for diverse’ in the BFI’s Inclusive Cinema Toolkit, Dismantling Structural Inequality in Your Cinema. Sadia was calling for a new way of talking about and delivering cinemas that are truly welcoming to all, and moving away from language that separates audiences into demographic categories. We wanted to use the learning from: our development programme A Cinema Near You (2019 – 2022); our 2016 research with the Social Value Lab into local cinemas; and our many years’ experience of operating the Screen Machine, to develop a concept that enabled Scotland’s Screen Community to work Towards Universal Cinema and for Regional Screen Scotland to also become a more Universal organisation.
In 2022, with funding from Screen Scotland’s Recovery Fund for Independent Cinemas, we assembled a Towards Universal Cinema Steering Group, comprising members with the lived experience and expertise that current staff and Board at RSS lack. These members were Trishna Singh OBE, Etienne Kubwabo, Phoenix Archer, Neill Patton, and RSS Board Member Elisa de Waal; more info about each group member is on our website here.
Throughout meetings between June 2022 – Jan 2023, we discussed how we would define ‘Universal Cinema’ and what the application of that term to deliverable projects could be for RSS. We wanted to explore what it would mean to work Towards Universal Cinema and how that could benefit cinema goers most marginalised from access to cinema locally. In September 2022, Sadia Pineda Hameed led a workshop on defining Universal Cinema with the Steering Group, exploring origins of the word ‘Universal’ and the barriers we each face to entering venues and public spaces. Following that, there have been several draft definitions shared with the group. The current definition of Universal Cinema, below, is informed by their feedback. It is essential that we always use the term ‘Towards’, as we cannot assume an end point for this work, we will always be trying, and encouraging others, to keep exploring ways to make everyone feel welcome.
The definition should speak to cinema goers, as we centre their experience as a starting point for working Towards Universal Cinema. It should use plain language, that suggests essential elements such as access, and affordability. It should also speak to cinema operators. The use of ‘Community’ refers to whichever group a cinema goer identifies with, and also to the ways that communities are impacted by cinemas economically, culturally, educationally, and in terms of heritage and wellbeing. Towards Universal Cinema as defined in this way is to be used as a tool to start conversations with communities marginalised from local cinema, and with venues seeking to welcome them. Here is how we define Universal Cinema:
A Universal cinema is welcoming to you
A Universal Cinema shows films that matter to you
A Universal Cinema is somewhere you feel comfortable
A Universal cinema is a crucial part of your community.
To work Towards Universal Cinema means trying to ensure that each person who visits has a positive and memorable experience.
People who come into a Universal Cinema do so because they feel welcomed, they feel at ease to enter the space and they know they can return again and again.
From the choice of film, if there’s food on offer, or other activities in the venue, to be in company or go it alone; these options mean they are free to bring their whole self through the doors and are ready to be transported for a time by the power of the big screen experience.
In our conversations with communities and venues we will be seeking to understand how Universal Cinema connects with their needs and the resources required to address them. We want to know how cinema operators would themselves define working Towards Universal Cinema, and how we can support communities to find or create a cinema where they truly belong.