Vision+Media has invested over £160,000 into audience development and screen heritage in the North West.
Over £130,000 has been provided to film festivals and exhibitors including Manchester’s Cornerhouse cinema, the Kendal Mountain Festival and The Dukes in Lancaster through the Audience Development Investment Programme (ADIP).
Meanwhile, the North West Film Archive at Manchester Metropolitan University is set to benefit from £31,500 of financial support through the Screen Heritage Investment Programme (SHIP). The finance will be used to run an archive screening and service development programme, including the preservation and cataloguing of new acquisitions.
The investment is being made via funding from the UK Film Council, through the Regional Investment Fund for England.
Deborah Parker, Head of Audience Development at Vision+Media said: “By making this investment, we can help to make culturally diverse film more accessible to mainstream audiences right across the region as well as preserving and restoring film archives of the past, allowing people to really learn about their heritage.
“We’ve selected these recipients because of their ability to promote the North West as a centre of excellence for film that is not only culturally diverse, but educational and inclusive, too.”
The following organsiations have received finance through ADIP:
Cornerhouse, Manchester's international centre for contemporary visual arts and film has been provided with £72,000 to deliver its programme of specialised film and education activity. This includes the exhibition of new releases, themed seasons, the successul Projector educational programme for schools and its audience development programme, focused on reaching culturally diverse and disabled audiences.
£18,000 has been invested into The Dukes in Lancaster. The Dukes will use the finance to deliver a programme of culturally diverse film, accompanied by engagement opportunities, events and educational activities to increase audiences, develop understanding of specialised film and promote the North West as a region of excellence in film.
The Kendal Mountain Festival has received £15,000. The festival showcases films dealing with mountain culture, including documentary, animation and feature films on the environment and also runs an extensive outdoor lecture programme.
Kendal’s Brewery Arts Centre has received £7,500 of investment for its Film Education and Access Programme. The programme provides a diverse and varied year round programme of contemporary art house, cultural and classic cinema screenings with supporting educational activity.
Student film and moving image festival Exposures 2010 has been provided with £6,000. The largest competitive festival for student film, presenting the very best film and moving image from local, national and international young filmmakers studying at universities throughout the UK. The festival takes place at Cornerhouse in November.
Abandon Normal Devices, a festival celebrating new cinema and digital culture, has been provided with £5,000. Described by The Guardian as “a boldly freewheeling art and film festival - something of a call to arms”, the festival takes place at venues across the region and is a partnership between Cornerhouse in Manchester, FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) in Liverpool and Folly in Lancaster.
Rochdale’s Rais Academy, which educates and fosters appreciation of Asian arts and culture is set to benefit from £3,500. This finance will enable it to host educational workshops and film screenings in Rochdale, Blackburn and Ashton.
The 5th Manchester Kurdish Film Festival, which will take place at Cornerhouse next year, has received £3,500 of financial support. The festival provides a culturally diverse film experience through films from Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey as well as Q&A’s and workshops.