Working Towards
In 2022 we started working in earnest to implement plans laid out in our Business Plan 2022 – 2026 to develop the concept of a ‘Universal’ Cinema – somewhere truly welcoming and inclusive to all. The roots of this work go back to our 2016 report, Your Cinema Your Community compiled with the Social Value Lab, which supported our advocacy of the importance of screen provision by identifying the six domains of influence that a local cinema can have: Culture, Community, Economy, Heritage, Wellbeing and Education. The report was crucial for us in showing the multiple ways that a local cinema can be embedded and important to its local community, and should be at the heart of local plans and development programmes.
That report was further important because it showed that a cinema has an impact on their local community no matter the size, location or demographics of where it is situated. It affirmed the intention behind the name of our organisation – that we needed to have a Regional outlook because beyond the rural touring circuit of the Screen Machine – Scotland’s towns, villages and edge of cities can all benefit from support to make local cinema as inclusive and welcoming as possible.
Our advocacy and development work led Screen Scotland to ask us to deliver a funding programme to address gaps in cinema provision and this, in partnership with Film Hub Scotland, became A Cinema Near You (CNY). It ran for three years from June 2019 – June 2022, extended due to the pandemic, and supported new and established local cinemas all across Scotland. Supporting new screen networks such as Picture House in West Lothian run by Generation Arts, Linstone Housing Association in Renfrewshire and with Cinemor77’s work in coalfields communities, we saw the challenges specific to communities of low income to making local cinema truly accessible and inclusive, and the great work being done to address this. We continue to respond to enquiries from new cinemas and deliver direct support to emerging exhibitors and screen networks via our Now Showing programme (running until March 2023), and new Guide to Screening Films, which you can access here.
Alongside the reach of this work, we identified that our support was still not reaching people most marginalised from accessing cinema locally to them. The impact of the pandemic, the cost of living crisis and long-term systemic barriers prevent people from having the big screen experiences that create meaning and memories in our lives. Initially we were inspired by the words of Sadia Pineda Hameed who wrote the BFI’s Inclusive Cinema Toolkit: Dismantling Structural Inequality in Your Cinema. In it, Sadia uses ‘Universal’ as a different word for Diverse, as she questions the use of certain language in Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion work that don’t really communicate what we mean when we talk about spaces where people feel represented, welcome and at ease.
We set out to adopt ‘Universal’ as a new term for a cinema that is truly welcoming to all, respecting the very different experiences and contexts that local cinemas operate within. We also acknowledged that to develop universal as a term for cinemas, we needed to become more ‘Universal’ as an organisation, and invite people and voices into our planning that were not currently represented in our team and Board.
At the same time, our learning from CNY and from our operation of Screen Machine and partnership with INDY Cinema Group identified a question – would Scotland’s communities benefit from an expansion of touring, mobile and part time cinemas provision, to enable more people to access local cinema? For example, if the costs for delivering new release cinema (DCP) were subsidised, could film programming choice develop, or ticket prices be lowered to attract new and wider audiences?
Funded Activity
In April 2022, we were awarded £24,000 from Screen Scotland’s Recovery Fund for Independent Cinemas to develop ‘Towards Universal Cinema’. Towards is an important distinction because ‘Universal’ is not a destination, it’s an evolving process. This funding supported two initial activities:
- The creation of a steering group comprising individuals who had the lived experience and knowledge that we at RSS lacked. Together we developed a definition of ‘Universal Cinema’ and the beginnings of a pathway to integrate the concept into our core work.
- The commission of an independent feasibility study into the potential expansion of the touring DCP model, that covered: identification of suitable spaces, identification of potential hosting groups; demand for Screen Machine 2 once replaced by Screen Machine 3; legal terms for formal partnership between RSS and INDY Cinema Group.
In July 2022 we commissioned Mainstreet Consulting to carry out the feasibility study into the potential to expand touring, mobile and part time new release (DCP) cinema. Their approach included extensive benchmarking research into other models of touring cinema in mainland Europe and UK-wide, stakeholder and RSS staff interviews, surveys to potential new cinemas and existing exhibitors both DVD and DCP and mapping of existing cinema provision across Scotland against areas high on the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. Their report, completed in December 2022, has informed the planning of further Towards Universal Cinema projects.
Learning Group
Alongside the two main activities, we created a learning group for the staff of RSS, to reflect on what kind of organisation we are and want to be, to learn as individuals and as a team and to input to the direction that RSS takes Towards Universal Cinema.
The Learning Group:
- Had group discussions of texts/podcasts about inclusion work and leadership, from writers and thinkers such as Jemma Desai and Brené Brown.
- Discussed the Values of RSS, eventually leading to new values embedded in our Business Plan.
- Participated in Anti-Racism training delivered by Intercultural Youth Scotland
Our Towards Universal Cinema Steering Group met between June 2022 – January 2023 and formed an inspiring and motivated group. The members were: Trishna Singh OBE, Phoenix Archer, Neill Patton, Etienne Kubwabo and Elisa De Waal. You can read all about the Steering Group here.
Defining ‘Universal’ Cinema
We also worked with Sadia Pineda Hameed on the definition of ‘Universal’ Cinema and in November 2022, Sadia delivered a workshop to the Steering Group, unpacking the root meaning of ‘Universal’ and focusing on the barriers we each face in crossing the threshold of a space – be it as cinema, a museum, shops, hospitals and other services. We then worked on a definition of ‘Universal’ that focuses on welcome, belonging, ease of access, having choices and opportunity and a desire to return. You can read the definition here.
Next steps
Our initial funding period for this first phase of Towards Universal Cinema activity came to an end in January 2023. With the focus currently on sustaining the Screen Machine service and in particular, the build of a new machine, Towards Universal Cinema is at present a driving principle of our own audience development work. Access screenings such as dementia-centred screenings, and relaxed screenings have had recent funding to be trialed, with the intention they will become core to the Screen Machine programme. Meanwhile schools screenings and festival partnerships are an ongoing part of the offer in as many communities that we visit as possible.