BFI to make $8m audience engagement investment
The British Film Institute (BFI) has announced $8m (£6.48m) in cash awards to 17 organisations as part of its new National Lottery Audience Projects Fund. The awards consist of longer and shorter-term financial aid to be donated over the next three years. The investment is hoped to invigorate the market, encouraging diversity of film audiences across the UK.
Thirteen awards are for protracted projects set to run until March 2026. The National Lottery Audience Projects Fund will support six venues and four festivals, alongside three audience development organisations over three years and four short-term awards.
According to the BFI, the 17 projects intend to generate 4.67million admissions in total across the UK and lead support for 203,846 screenings, of which 91,357, or 45 per cent, the BFI said will be accessible screenings. Of the 17 awards, 11 will be given to organisations based outside London and South East England.
List of Awardees:
Multi-Year Awards (April 2023-March 2026):
- Broadway Cinema awarded £480,000 for ‘BROADER’
- HOME awarded £555,000 for ‘Re-building a diverse audience’
- Phoenix Leicester awarded £270,000 for ‘MyPhoenix 2026’
- Queen’s Film Theatre awarded £270,000 for ‘Priority Audiences’
- Showroom Cinema awarded £480,000 for ‘Another Country’
- Watershed awarded £585,000 for ‘Rebuilding audiences better – with inclusion at the centre’
Festivals And Special Programmes:
- Arts Alive in Shropshire and Herefordshire awarded £180,000 for ‘Flicks in the Sticks – Reaching Out…’
- Reclaim The Frame awarded £420,000, ‘Reclaim The Frame With Me’
- Carousel Project awarded £363,000 for ‘Oska Bright Film Festival’
- Tongues on Fire awarded £105,000 for ‘UK Asian Film Festival 2023-2026’
Audience Initiatives:
- Cinema For All awarded £520,440, for ‘Building diverse grassroots audiences through the power of affordable, local, volunteer-led cinema’
- Independent Cinema Office (ICO) awarded £1,329,999 for ‘Support for screening specialised film to the widest range of audiences’
- YourLocalCinema awarded £114,000, for ‘YourLocalCinema Audience Development’
Short-Term Projects (April 2023-March 2024):
- Derby QUAD awarded £70,000 for ‘New Worlds of Cinema’
- Flatpack Festival awarded £90,000 for up to 12 months, for ‘Open Up’
- StoryFutures awarded £66,000, for ‘Virtual Reality Hubs Network’
- Tyneside Cinema awarded £150,000 for ‘Tyneside Cinema Audience Development Project’
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