A press release from the Department of Digital, Culture Media & Sport released today states that 42 cinemas are to share £650,000 in critical funding with many more Cinemas to receive cash in the coming weeks.
Idris Elba OBE & BFI Governor came out to praise the funding, said:
In a time with so much change and uncertainty around us, there is comfort in the familiarity of a comfy pair of seats and some popcorn at your local cinema. It’s a simple and effective way of bonding with our cities and culture. We depend on the independent cinema and they depend on us to support them, now more than ever.
Culture Recovery Fund
The “Culture Recovery Fund” was put aside by the Government totalling £1.57 billion to aid the recovery and future of businesses in the cultural sector after the first outbreak of COVID-19.
In the first awards made today by the British Film Institute (BFI) Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden announced the following Cinemas were to be recipients.
A £30 million pot has been allocated by the BFI to aid cinemas in the current climate on behalf of the Department.
The full list of successful cinemas is:
- Bellingham Film Palace, London £4,662
- Hailsham Pavilion, Hailsham, East Sussex £5,760
- Hollywood Plaza, Scarborough, North Yorkshire £5,450
- Boleyn Cinema, East Ham, London £8,325
- Lexi Cinema, north-west London £8,439
- Jam Jar Cinema, Whitley Bay, Northumberland £5,914
- Keswick Alhambra, Keswick, Cumbria £4,884
- Kino, Hawkhurst, Kent £8,469
- Kino, Rye, East Sussex £8,469
- Kino, Bermondsey, south-east London £8,469
- Regal Cinema, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire £8,375
- Red Carpet Cinema, Barton under Needwood, Staffordshire £9,973
- Kinema in the Woods, Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire £4,002
- Totnes Cinema, Devon £4,602
- Savoy, Heaton Moor, Greater Manchester £4,983
- Orion Cinema, Burgess Hill, West Sussex £5,254
- Hollywood East, Dereham, Norfolk £5,318
- The Clifton Community Arts Centre, West Midlands £3,662
- Rex Cinema, Wilmslow, Cheshire £5,365
- The Northern Lights Cinema, Derbyshire £8,050
- The Regent, Christchurch, Dorset £5,292
- Backyard Cinema, south-west London £8,207
- Sherborne Cinema, Gloucester £8,940
- Ritz Cinema, Belper, Derbyshire £10,000
- Showroom, Sheffield, Yorkshire and the Humber £10,000
- Reel Cinemas £139,958 14 Reel cinemas receiving support for health and safety equipment – Borehamwood (Hertfordshire), Chippenham
(Wiltshire), Chorley (Lancashire), Dudley (West
Midlands), Kingston Upon Hull (Yorkshire and the
Humber), Blackburn (Lancashire), Morecambe
(Lancashire), Rochdale (Greater Manchester), Wakefield
(West Yorkshire), Widnes (Lancashire), Hollywood Park
(Burnley, Lancashire), Market Quay (Fareham,
Hampshire), Scala (Ilkeston, Derbyshire), Majestic
(Bridgnorth, Shropshire)
- Royston Picture Palace, Hertfordshire £46,096*
- Saffron Walden Community Cinema, Essex £46,096*
- Catford Mews, south-east London £252,697*
£200,000 per venue
Credit: Pexels
Cinemas still have until October 30th to apply, there’s £200,000 available per application to aid sustainability.
They also offer safety grants to help independent venues meet the additional costs of creating safe and COVID secure environments for customers and staff alike.
Notable claimants include Saffron Screen, the Essex based, non-for-profit Cinema is now able to return to creating pop-up screens for local villages.
This gives the only opportunity in local areas to see a range of mainstream to foreign language movies.
Safety Grant Awards
Kinema in the Woods, in Woodhall Spa, received a Safety Grant of £4,002 so that the site can welcome back its diverse audiences that attend its wide range of screenings including baby-friendly film showings and regular accessible screenings for local people with autism and dementia.
Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, said:
The UK’s cinemas and film & TV production industry are a key part of our culture – they provide thousands of jobs and help to entertain the nation. So I’m delighted that we can support independent cinemas through the Cultural Recovery Fund, and help to get productions up and running again through the Film and TV Production Restart Scheme, protecting vital jobs across the industry.
The £500 million Scheme is designed to help TV and film productions across the country that have been halted or delayed by a lack of insurance to get back up and running.
The Scheme will give productions the confidence they need that they will be supported if future losses are incurred due to Covid-19.
A Welcome Relief
This is certainly a welcome relief to an industry struggling in the current climate, with film delays we discussed last week.
Along with the growing troubles of the box office entering a “critical quarter”, these grants and funds from the BFI and government could be imperative to these Cinemas surviving.
You can view all the details of the government press release here.
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