Plymouth Arts Cinema has been awarded £15,000 emergency funding to help the organization to survive the ongoing venue shutdown due to COVID-19, thanks to National Lottery funding through the BFI Audience Network (FAN) COVID-19 Resilience Fund.
The BFI Film Audience Network (FAN) has allocated emergency funding to independent exhibitors across the UK through the BFI FAN COVID-19 Resilience Fund. £1.3m National Lottery funding, plus a £150,000 contribution from the Mayor of London’s Culture at Risk Business Support Fund, has been made available to provide grants to those in critical financial need as they continue to face months of closure and uncertainty.
Director and Film Programmer Anna Navas said:
“Plymouth Arts Cinema is delighted to have been successful in achieving support from the BFI Covid-19 Resilience Fund. Even with this lifeline the future is going to be uncertain for so many of us in the independent sector but every single bit of support and funding from BFI during this time is vital in helping us secure a future. There is certainly hard work ahead but this funding means we have a better chance of weathering the months ahead and helping us safely get back on the big screen as soon as we possibly can.”
Plymouth Arts Cinema is raising further £3600 through Crowdfunder, to welcome 300 of Plymouth’s Key Workers to special film events when the cinema is able to reopen. The campaign has raised 83% of its target, with 16 days left.
Anna Navas said:
“We want to say a huge thank you to Plymouth’s Key Workers for all their efforts during lockdown. We are going to run a series of screenings of much loved films – sing alongs, classics, and cult favourites, and we want to invite 300 key workers to take an evening off and come to relax with us in front of the big screen.”
The cinema has been closed since March, and the aim is to reopen at the end of September. Staff are working hard to put new cleaning and social distancing procedures in place for a safe reopening. This will result in a greatly reduced capacity, and will impact the amount of income the cinema is able to make through ticket sales.
By ‘paying it forward,’ anyone who pledges towards the Crowdfunder is also helping to ensure the future stability of Plymouth Arts Cinema, an independent and iconic local organization since 1947, and the growth of culture in Plymouth.
Pledges to the Crowdfunder can be made here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/cinema-tickets-for-plymouths-key-workers
Congratulations to all the South West BFI FAN COVID-19 Resilience Fund Awardees:
AFRIKA EYE – £3,554
BARN CINEMA – £10,000
COMPASS PRESENTS – £5,027
CORNWALL FILM FESTIVAL – £5,700
CREATIVE KERNOW – C FYLM – £7,000
CURZON CLEVEDON – £10,000
EXETER PHOENIX – £15,000
FILM BATH – £8,000
LIGHTHOUSE POOLE – £5,000
MERLIN CINEMAS – £5,000
PLYMOUTH ARTS CINEMA – £15,000
PORTSMOUTH FILM SOCIETY – £1,500
SLAPSTICK – £8,000
SOUTH WEST SILENTS – £700
STRODE THEATRE – £10,000
THE CUBE CINEMA – £4,000
THE POLY – £14,000
THE POUND – £9,000
THE REX CINEMA & PURBECK FILM FESTIVAL – £23,000
THE ROSES THEATRE – £13,840
THE WATERMARK – £5,000
WESTLANDS – £5,000
