Other Examples of Successful Restorations and Heritage Sites
It can't be done.....
Its too expensive....
The building is past repair....
There is no use for it....
Really?
Listed below is brief information and links to other projects which show what can be done with similar listed buildings. There are plenty more.
The Deco is a magnificently restored 1930s cinema located in the heart of Northampton offering a variety of affordable meeting rooms and functions for corporate, social and theatrical events.
Supervised by English Heritage, the multi million pound restoration has combined the original stunning Art Deco styling with 'state of the art' technology.
The multi-faceted Stag Community Arts Centre was originally opened as the Majestic cinema in 1936. It has been at the heart of the Sevenoaks community for decades and continues to delight audiences of all ages. More than 25,000 people currently visit the Stag every month, making it the ideal performance venue in Kent.
The 450-seat Stag Theatre boasts the largest performance stage in the South-East. It is the perfect choice for professional and community productions. The theatre regularly hosts choral and orchestral concerts, dance shows, musical theatre productions, pantomimes, school plays, and much more. There are an additional 140 on stage raked seats which can be used for performances in the round too.
The Stag Cafe and Bar is open from 10am, Monday to Saturday, and has free WiFi. It is available to hire seven days a week. The venue is on the first floor of the Stag and can be reached via the central stairway in the foyer and by lift from the ground floor.
The venue is perfect for small groups and has seen much use for business meetings, parties and masterclasses in catering and arts. There are two cinema screens at the Stag, including 3D. The latest release films are shown and the range includes something for all ages. The cinema's digital screens can be hired for business events, private parties and more.
The Stag Community Arts Centre supports local arts in all forms. The Stag Art Gallery Wall is located in the Lode Cafe/Theatre Bar and is free to exhibit on. All genres of art are welcomes, as well as work within an equal opportunity remit. The Stag Art Gallery Wall is also available to visiting artists to display framed work.
The Stag Plaza is the perfect performance venue for theatre, gigs and events and parties. The venue has capacity for up to 300 standing, 150 seated theatre-style or up to 150 for sit down meals. There is a fully equipped kitchen with servery, a bar, stage, and full theatrical lighting and sound.
Apart from the regular bookings by music promoters, theatre and dance companies who love using this performance space, the Stag Plaza sees regular use hosting special events such as the Mayoral Civic events, the Sevenoaks Business Show, Arts and Crafts fairs, boot fairs, stamp fairs, auction valuations, product launches, training seminars and networking events.
The Malt Hall
Campaigners are celebrating the completion of an £80,000 scheme that has transformed their much-loved historic cinema. The Malt Hall has been turned into a performing arts venue as part of a £1.5m project to upgrade Lymington Community Centre. Now renamed The Malt, the Grade II listed structure is due to re-open tomorrow after a ten-week closure.
It will still be used to show films and stage plays performed by the Lymington Players but some of the seats can now be removed, enabling part of the auditorium to be used for weddings, fashion shows and other events.
Paul Sherry, the Community Association’s Development Director, said: “It’s a listed building that goes back a long way.... The interior was looking very tired, the seating was very uncomfortable and the facility could only be used as a cinema and a theatre.... It was in dire need of some TLC. The work carried out in the past few weeks has given it a great lift.”
The scheme is part of a five-year project to refurbish the entire community centre, parts of which date from the 1740's.
A corridor linking The Malt with the entrance to the centre will be converted into an open plan art and exhibition area. The cafe will be replaced by a restaurant with a landscaped courtyard and the Phoenix Room will be used to provide a new home for a pre-school based at the centre, enabling its existing base to take on a multi-purpose role.
Community Association bosses are hoping to obtain grants towards the cost of the scheme, which includes a new first-floor function room. Improvements to
Association Chairman, Pete Wagstaff said: “The building has been turned into a multi-purpose facility that’s fully equipped to host a wide variety of events, including music recitals and live screenings of opera and ballet."
“We’re thrilled to have completed phase one of our 20:20 project. The new look given to The Malt represents our commitment to provide facilities that will meet the needs of our visitors in the 21st century and beyond.”
Music, TV and Movie legends past and present have graced its stage during a rich history spanning a century. A building of national historical significance, it houses Wales’s finest example of an Art Deco theatre or cinema and preserves the memory of local men who tragically died during World Wars and in the local coal mines.
Now, after more than 30 years of neglect, the first phase in restoring the dilapidated Celynen Collieries Institute and Memorial Hall in Newbridge, South Wales, is nearly complete thanks to a grant of £500,000 from the Big Lottery Fund’s People and Places programme.
In a restoration project totalling more than £5.9 million, funding from the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) and the Heritage Lottery Fund will help leave a lasting legacy in the community by ensuring the buildings continue to be the centre of cultural, educational, social and community activity for another hundred years to come.
This week, planners revealed that the first phase of the project, which is to completely renovate and refurbish the Celynen Collieries Workmen’s Institute building, will be completed by March 2013. Funded by BIG, the refurbishment of the Institute building was due to be completed by December this year but progress has been hampered by bad weather.
Originally opened in 1908, the Institute building was financed by a group of local miners who wanted to improve the area’s social amenities. Once open, the newly refurbished premises will include a brand new library and IT centre, community meeting rooms.
Howard Stone, the Chair of the project, has lived in Newbridge for over 50 years and was one of the locals who came to the rescue when there were threats to tear the unique building down and build a car park or a block of flats over the site: “The intention of this project is to return the building to the original use it was built for,” says Howard. “The library was originally part of the Institute and was re-located to a pre-fabricated building across town in the 1960’s. But now it’s coming back.”
“The Institute library was apparently one of the best stocked libraries in South Wales. There were numerous first edition books here and lots of miners learned to read here - my father being one of them. Institutes like this were considered to be the Universities of the Valleys and people like Aneurin Bevan even taught themselves how to read in places like this.”
“The library alone is estimated to attract 40,000 visits on top of the 35,000 visits a year we are already getting through the doors in other parts of the facility,” he says.
“It’s going to be a real buzz seeing this magical place come back to life again and restored to its former glory. The Committee have been fighting over the last 10 years for this and the first major breakthrough was getting the Big Lottery Fund money. That’s what really released the floodgates to get the other funders onboard.”
Following the completion of the Institute building, a further grant of nearly £3 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund will be spent on the second phase of the project to fully restore and refurbish the Memorial Hall ballroom and the auditorium which houses the cinema and theatre. The auditorium, with its lavishly decorated interior, has been closed for over 30 years and is regarded as a hidden jewel lost to a whole generation since its closure.
Even in its current state of decline, the beautiful auditorium is still in demand and is regularly used as a backdrop for Film and TV productions since it last functioned as a cinema in 1972. Films such as ‘House’, ‘Very Annie Mary’ and ‘Flick’ (starring Faye Dunaway) were shot in the auditorium. More recently, scenes for BBC dramas ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘Sherlock’ have been shot at the ‘Memo’ and it was also used as one of the locations for ‘Shirley’, the acclaimed BBC drama charting the rise to fame of singer Dame Shirley Bassey.
Below the auditorium is a ballroom still in use and described as the largest in the South Wales Valleys. The ballroom’s stage has provided the backdrop for musical legends across the generations. From dance bands to punk rock, tea dances to teddy boys, and from rock and roll to heavy metal – the Memo has seen all styles in fashion and music. Sir Tom Jones is among the long list of notable people who have performed on its stage over the years.
In the 1970’s and 80’s, the Memo was on the national circuit for up and coming bands, many of whom went on to become rock legends in their own right. The Stranglers, Iron Maiden, Dire Straits, Motorhead and Whitesnake are but a few of the names who proved to be an inspiration for many locals to get involved with music and form their own bands - the most notable example being James Dean Bradfield. He worked as a barman in the Memo in the 1980’s and went on to become the lead singer of the Manic Street Preachers who dominated the music scene in the 90’s.
Highlighting the importance of preserving and developing the building for future generations to enjoy, Howard Stone says: “We believe that by investing in the heritage of the past, we will be able to bring benefit to the future. We will do this by creating a project that will provide access for all, enriching the cultural and educational experience of the people of Newbridge and surrounding area.”
“We intend to ensure that the building once again becomes a hub of activity for music, cinema, theatre, learning, heritage, community activity and access to new technology. This is our legacy to other generations who will be using this building.”
The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) announced a grant of £3,992,000 to transform the neglected Grade II listed Art Deco Globe Theatre on Stockton High Street into a live music and comedy venue with capacity for around 2,500 people. It is one of the first buildings to be awarded funding through HLF’s new Heritage Enterprise scheme.
The Grade II Listed Globe is an Art Deco ‘super theatre’ situated on the main high street in the centre of Stockton. It originally opened its doors in 1935 and between the 1950s and 1970s was a premier venue hosting famous acts including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, Cliff Richard and the Shadows, Buddy Holly, Lonnie Donegan, The Bay City Rollers and Mud. The Beatles played the Globe twice, the first time on 22 November 1963, the day US President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
The building closed its doors for the last time in 1997 and has since suffered from significant deterioration. This new HLF funding can now see it re-opened as a live music and comedy venue with capacity for audiences of around 2,000 people and the potential to create 64 FTE jobs. The Globe Stockton Foundation will deliver this project in partnership with Stockton Council and the building’s owner, leading local developer Jomast Leisure and Property Ltd, along with a leading entertainments event organiser.
Dame Jenny Abramsky, Chair of HLF, said: “In almost every town and city there is at least one historic building standing empty that at one time was at the heart of the local community. Whilst much-loved, these buildings present huge financial challenges. This new scheme works to unlock the potential of these precious old buildings, encouraging private investors and encouraging regeneration. The result is good for us all – substantial economic growth, much-needed new jobs and a wonderful part of our heritage saved from further neglect.”
The Trustees of the Globe Stockton Foundation, commented: "The Globe Stockton Foundation is delighted with the news that the Heritage Lottery Fund has approved its application for development funding. The Jomast Group, Stockton Council and David Wilmore of Theatresearch have been working hard for over two years and submitted a very compelling and powerful case for support. This is fantastic news for Stockton and the wider region."
Leader of Stockton Council, Councillor Bob Cook, added: “The Globe has hosted world-famous acts like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Cliff Richard and holds a special place in the hearts of many so I'm delighted to hear the Globe Stockton Foundation bid for Heritage Lottery Funding has been approved.
"It is very exciting news as it means the stunning, Art Deco elements of the building are one step closer to being restored to create a spectacular music venue that would again attract the kind of big names that will bring thousands of visitors into a bustling and lively Stockton Town Centre.
“We have formed a close working partnership with Jomast to help them bring this wonderful Grade II listed venue back into use as we believe it can become a huge asset for Stockton High Street. I am looking forward to hearing more details so we can start working with Jomast and the Globe Stockton Foundation to plan the next steps for the redevelopment of the building.”
Heritage Enterprise addresses ‘market failure’ – where buildings have previously failed to attract investment or realise their commercial potential because the cost of repair has meant that – until now – they were not commercially viable. The Lottery investment announced today bridges that financial gap. It will specifically help fund vital repairs and conservation works to historic buildings, converting them into safe, usable and inspirational spaces for new businesses. By doing so, this Lottery grant will help remove one of the key obstacles currently standing in the way of regeneration by transforming neglected buildings into productive enterprises that will create local jobs and generate wealth.
Heritage Enterprise launched with the publication of the first ever comprehensive analysis of how businesses across the UK use historic buildings. New ideas need old buildings revealed the positive impact historic buildings have on the UK’s economy and their proven ability to contribute to growth. The key findings of the analysis demonstrated a commercial business based in a historic building generates more wealth than is the average for the UK economy as a whole.
Jenny Abramsky added, “Our research was incredibly revealing. The important role heritage plays in creating a strong sense of identity and place is well known. However, these new findings demonstrated for the first time the role heritage buildings play in economic development.”
A once derelict swimming pool has been transformed into a vibrant and welcoming community hub, thanks to a £4 million project involving staff from Birmingham City Council, Acivico, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), Balfour Beatty and people from the local community.
Primarily financed by HLF and Tesco, through the sale of the former Stirchley Community Centre site, the restored Grade ll listed building formally opens for business as Stirchley Baths on Thursday 14 January. It follows a three year building project and many years of community support to get the building reopened.
Deputy Leader for Birmingham City Council, Cllr Ian Ward, said: “Thanks to the hard work and vision of council staff, partners and volunteers, what was once a dilapidated and derelict pool has now been restored, renovated and reshaped to become an outstanding facility. I am particularly impressed by the way local people have been involved in this project at every step, and having been involved I am confident that they will nurture and care for this centre at the very heart of the community.”
Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund West Midlands, Les Sparks, said: “Money raised by National Lottery players has helped re-open this Edwardian treasure, bringing it back to life in January for the first time since 1986. It will be a fantastic asset for the local community and an excellent venue to have on your doorstep, as well as for visitors from further afield. This project is an excellent example of how HLF funding can breathe new life into old buildings.”
The new centre will provide space for the local community to meet with support for heritage, arts and culture, health and wellbeing, learning and enterprise. It will also be available for weddings, events and parties. The swimming pool itself has been converted into a community hall. Other facilities include a cinema space, meeting rooms, and café and there are historic displays throughout the site, including the original architect’s plans, quotes from former baths users, old photographs and a display of old signage and pool steps.
The former Bournville Lane Swimming Baths opened in 1911 on a site given by the Cadbury brothers but despite being Grade II listed, closed in the late 1980s.
The Abbeydale Picturehouse, Sheffield
CADS took on the lease for the The Abbeydale Picture House in January 2017, and plan to continue the long-term restoration project to bring this incredible building back into full use. The project will consist of two stages:
Short term restoration, space-hire and events
CADS’ background is steeped in successful projects involving bringing dilapidated and disused buildings back into use – and this project is no different. Our intention is to continue the fantastic work undertaken by previous users of the building (Hand Of, Friends of Abbeydale Picture House), and the owner, Phil Robins, to make all of the spaces within the listed site safe, event ready and vibrant! This will ultimately include the balcony spaces, all former bar and restaurant areas, the backstage area and smaller rooms. Once full, the building will host studio space, event space, a licenced cafe and much more.
Long Term Restoration and Heritage
Alongside these efforts CADS' are applying for Heritage Lottery Funding to undertake the full restoration of the former ‘picture palace’. CADS' will be exploring and researching the heritage of the building and its historical significance on a national scale.
Across all the CADS buildings we look to utilise our spaces to fulfil both our core aims and our charitable objectives, and The Abbeydale Picture House will become a key crux of this. Our primary charitable use of the building will be providing subsidised space for the local community, social enterprises, charities and early- career creatives to use, and providing access to a diverse and inspiring range of arts and culture.
The history of The Rex Cinema, Berkhamsted
The Rex has one huge screen set in a glorious 1938 art-deco proscenium with the sharpest film projection and clearest non-booming sound anywhere in the world. Throughout, its seating is big and soft. It has been called luxurious. It is better. It is civilized. It reminds us of what we have long stopped expecting from public buildings.
There is a good wine list with snacks on clean plates. We are open 362 days a year with a new (ie different) title most days and nights. Only the block-b’s run longer, by demand. More often the small, little known films from across the world, return by demand to full houses over a sustained period.
A short history…
The Rex opened with ‘Heidi’ starring Shirley Temple on 9th May 1938 to full civic applause. Due to progress and the received wisdom of the time – home videos and voracious multiplexes were it. Small single screen cinemas were dead and gone. Hence The Rex closed down on 28th February 1988. It reopened as it is now on 5th December 2004. Far from dead, it sells out almost every night, whatever the film. In the early seventies the balcony/circle was boxed-off by a central partition to create two screens in the upper circle. The huge proscenium arch surrounding one of the biggest screens in the UK was closed and turned over to bingo. It would be 30 years before a film would be projected once again on to that (albeit brand new curved and tilted) main screen.
It is true that during the Rex’s two-screens bingo years, in an intimate moment in the picture you were watching, you could hear the film next door and the bingo being called downstairs all at the same time. After many years of words and games, politics, long negotiations and chasing restoration money, the dream came true. We re-opened after more than sixteen years of derelict neglect and threat of demolition.
The Rex is a one-in-a-million dream we can all enjoy while we’re still here. People come because it is special. Every public building should be this special. You only stretch the budget once to make something welcoming, comfortable and perfect.
Now into our fifth year, we sell out most nights, with the most obscure titles even in the worst of times. Films from all over the world in all languages. The Motorcycle Diaries sold out every month for the first two years – Dec 2004 to Nov 2006 – some months for two or three screenings. An estimated 9,000 people saw it here at The Rex.
If a title sells out and still more people want to see it here, we bring it back again and again. The formula is simple:
The repertoire is diverse, exciting and busy – over 30 films a month on one screen, from big blockers to tiny obscure titles. The surroundings are civilised and enticing, the atmosphere warm. The welcome absolute, the ambience cool, the anticipation electrifying. The tickets are cheap. There is no popcorn, no flacid hotdogs. You can have a drink anywhere in the auditorium. The audience is not ‘captive’. There is no extra charge for being here. People come for all of this, for the place, for the warmth. Somewhere in there, they come for the film. It is a night/afternoon out at the pictures. The audience wears Sunday-best. You can wear nice clothes. You won’t get covered in detritus or your Sunday-best globbed in chewing gum (no dress-code, people have decided this for themselves). The seating is not only generous (In all but two rows in the circle, even the tallest can’t reach the seat in front) It is spotless. Downstairs, in the ‘stalls’, you sit in big red, swivel chairs at small, round, candlelit tables, with white tablecloths to the floor.
In 1964, with support from the Nuffield Foundation, the University of Southampton built a theatre on its campus for the people of Southampton. The theatre was built by Sir Basil Spence, OM RA, who worked closely with Sir Richard Southern as consultant for the interior design and layout of the theatre, which was officially opened by Dame Sybil Thorndike on 2 March.
Nearly twenty years later on 1 November 1982, Nuffield Southampton Theatres (NST) became an independent producing theatre funded by Arts Council England, Southampton City Council, the University of Southampton and Hampshire County Council. Over the next 25 years, NST came to be recognised as a major force in British theatre.
The theatre shows many ways of working with and encouraging young and old talent alike. The Royalty would have a limited stage area but the main auditorium would make a grand setting for performances.
Bang in the heart of the city, Exeter Phoenix is the South West’s foremost multi-artform venue. In our building you’ll find several art galleries, a large auditorium for gigs and theatre, a cinema, a filmmaking hub complete with editing suites, artist studios, a radio station, sound recording studios run by Sound Gallery CIC and a print workshop all centred around a friendly café bar serving delicious locally sourced food and drink.
With hundreds of events programmed each year, spanning music, art, film, theatre and comedy as well as a whole host of learning activities, Exeter Phoenix is a vibrant venue proud of its diversity and revelling in its eclectic buzz. In our programme you’ll find award-winning work by internationally renowned artists alongside new work by local creatives. We like to develop new talent – giving the artists we work with the tools to experiment, take risks and realise their best ideas – and we love it when our audience can say they saw great work here first.
Our new independent screening space, Studio 74 launched in October 2015 and presents an inspiring regular programme of first rate alternative film and the latest art house releases, alongside festivals and exciting immersive film events. Whether it’s to engross yourself in a good story or catch an eye-opening documentary, we invite you to come and give Exeter’s new solar powered cinema a go.
The Creative Hub is the umbrella name for all the things Exeter Phoenix does to nurture the city’s arts scene besides putting on events. We offer everything from artist support and advice, training, creative opportunities and networking socials, and we cover all art forms, from filmmaking to visual art, theatre and music. Whether you’re already an artist, or simply someone who wants to hang out with likeminded people, the Creative Hub is a great way of keeping connected.
Whether you want to learn a new skill, spark new ideas or simply wish to be entertained, we hope you can join us at Exeter Phoenix soon.
Strand Arts Centre is a charity and not-for-profit Cinema & Arts Centre. We are proud to occupy a building which has made such an important contribution towards entertaining and educating the people of East Belfast and further afield since 1935. We believe this heritage coupled with its significant architecture and location makes it the perfect place for an Arts Centre in East Belfast.
We have a daily film programme, special events, classic movies, free film clubs, Live music, theatre, workshops and more...
About Us
Strand Arts Centre aims to:
- To promote the arts, culture and heritage by:
- Establishing and managing an arts centre as a cultural and social amenity
- Organising promoting and presenting concerts, performances and events
- Providing community and arts programmes to meet the needs of the whole community
- Maintaining, repairing and preserving a building – the Strand cinema in Belfast – of architectural and historical interest
- To provide facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreation and other leisure time occupation with the object of improving the conditions of life of members of the public
- To advance education in the appreciation and practice of the arts including the arts of cinema, dance, drama, literature and performing, participatory and visual arts generally
- To promote such other charitable purpose as may from time to time be determined
Our Vision
The Strand Arts Centre’s strategy involves the wholesale refurbishment of the building to modernise through-out providing high specification performing arts space including a drama/dance studio, 3 workshop rooms and 2 theatres as well as a cafe, bar/restaurant and gallery space.
Tyneside Cinema
Visit the Tyneside Cinema website to see what else a cinema can do.
The cinema had occupied its Pilgrim Street site since 1937, and had by 1999 declined to a critical state, with many believing it would eventually be forced to close. The cinema required a number of improvements, and despite its history and prime location, the cinema had a serious financial deficit. A significant investment in the structure was required, and following a survey of the building, the cinema's board of trustees realised that a capital investment of about £7m would be necessary. The project secured the support of organisations including One North East and the Northern Rock Foundation. Seats removed from the Classic screen were sold in 2006, raising more than £5000 for the restoration project. The stated aim of the project was to celebrate the cinema's heritage as a newsreel theatre and also look to its future in the digital age.
The £7m restoration and renovation project was undertaken between November 2006 and May 2008. Original features inside the building had to be protected during the project, and the work uncovered a pair of original stained glass windows and mosaic floor tiling which had been hidden for years.
The Tyneside reopened in May 2008, following the major restoration of its original auditorium, alongside a modern extension and redevelopment of the upper floors designed by Fletcher Priest Architects and consulting engineers Cundall. The work added a new level to the building with two new screens, the Roxy and the Electra, housed on top of each other. A single projection block behind serves all of the cinema's screens. The increase in screens enabled more flexibility to respond to demand, and created space to move films around. A new bar, and a film learning centre called the Tyneside Studio, partly designed by filmmaker Mike Figgis, were also installed.
The project was completed with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Tyne And Wear Partnership, the European Regional Development Fund and many other trusts and foundations. The Tyneside project was also supported by members of the public, with over 700 individual donors giving to the redevelopment.
Cinema film and projection heritage network.
In 70mm
"To record the history of the large format movies and the 70mm cinemas as remembered by the people who worked with the films. Both during making and during running the films in projection rooms and as the audience, looking at the curved screen."
in70mm.com - a free, not for profit, web magazine, with more than 550 articles about all aspects of 70mm Films, history and technology. Some previously published in The 70mm Newsletter between 1994 and 2005. Most are written by readers and you are invited to write your story too.
in70mm.com is building a web site of documentation, 70mm equipment, stills, ads, movie credits and a complete list of all known movies shown in 70mm and 3-panel and filmed in a photographic processes wider and larger than 4 perf/35mm film. in70mm.com is a private enterprise. A hobby project. The owner and editor is Thomas Hauerslev, who can be reached via e-mail.
in70mm.com - a free, not for profit, web magazine, with more than 550 articles about all aspects of 70mm Films, history and technology. Some previously published in The 70mm Newsletter between 1994 and 2005. Most are written by readers and you are invited to write your story too.
in70mm.com is building a web site of documentation, 70mm equipment, stills, ads, movie credits and a complete list of all known movies shown in 70mm and 3-panel and filmed in a photographic processes wider and larger than 4 perf/35mm film. in70mm.com is a private enterprise. A hobby project. The owner and editor is Thomas Hauerslev, who can be reached via e-mail.
There is an interesting piece on development of projection 1895-1930 by Rob Mitchell under News/2014.
In the Cyber Museum we feature extensive coverage of Cinerama, CinemaScope, Technirama, Panavision, Vistavision, Superscope, Todd-AO, Technicolor, Cinecolor, Kinemacolor and other motion picture photographic processes. The web site also features a great deal of historic material on the development of early motion picture sound systems of the variable area and variable density optical soundtracks, plus Vitaphone sound on disc motion picture audio systems.
Welcome to the Scottish Cinemas project. This website is dedicated to recording and archiving our historic cinema architectural heritage, and to act as a information resource for people interested in that often overlooked part of our social history.
The project primarily concentrates on Scottish purpose built cinemas, with particular emphasis and details on the cinemas of Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The focus of the website is to provide a photographic and historical record of all surviving cinema buildings, including those now unrecognisable or otherwise highly altered over the years. Cinemas that have now been demolished are also featured where photographs exist and copyright allows us to use them.
A network of volunteers means that the website is constantly expanding and there are frequent updates of new material and cinema news.
We aim to present photographic references of the current state of these buildings, highlighting original decorative features where they survive, and often focusing on how they have been adapted for other uses, while at the same time telling their history with the help of archive material where available.
The Projected Picture Trust
Welcome to the online home of The Projected Picture Trust. The objectives of the Trust are encapsulated in the statement: To locate, preserve, renovate and exhibit the equipment and data, past and present, of still and moving images”.
Situated right in the heart of Bradford, UNESCO City of Film, we exist to promote an appreciation and understanding of media through seven floors of galleries, an extensive collection and research facility, and three cinemas including the UK's first IMAX theatre.
London’s Cinema Museum is devoted to keeping alive the spirit of cinema from the days before the multiplex. Set in historic surroundings in Kennington, close to the Elephant & Castle, the Cinema Museum houses a unique collection of artefacts, memorabilia and equipment that preserves the history and grandeur of cinema from the 1890s to the present day.
The Bill Douglas Cinema Museum is home to one of the largest collections of material on the moving image in Britain. Both an accredited public museum and academic research facility, we have a collection of over 75,000 items. 1,000 items are on display in our Galleries. The Lower Gallery explores the development of pre-cinema visual culture up to 1910 and the Upper Gallery celebrates cinema from 1910 to the present. Everyone is welcome to visit our galleries and our research facilities are open to all.
The museum chronicles the development of optical entertainment from shadow-puppets and 17th century manuscripts to the most recent Hollywood blockbusters, including artefacts such as Magic Lanterns, rare books, prints, and an extensive variety of publicity materials. The diversity of this collection provides an insight into the changing dynamics of the moving image and the history of our relationship with it.
Earlycinema.com aims to provide an introduction to the first decade of motion pictures and the developments which helped shape cinema as we know it today. The site is by no means a complete account of the development of cinema, and concentrates on the major events in cinema's history encouraging further reading and research.
A timeline picks out key events in the development of this exciting medium from the optical toys of the early 1800s through to experiments in motion capture and the work of Thomas Edison and the Lumière brothers.
Meet some of the pioneers of this new medium and discover the effect their contributions had on moving pictures. Earlycinema.com has profiles of such leading figures as Thomas Edison, William Dickson, Georges Méliès, Birt Acres and the Lumière Brothers.
The technology of motion pictures is explored with a look at some of the major inventions in early cinema including the Zoetrope, Kinetoscope and Cinématographe.
An illustrated chronological history of the development of motion pictures covering 2500 years leading to the discovery of cinematography in the 1800's
The Projection Project is a research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council which investigates cinematic projection. It documents the projectionist’s role as it passes into history, following the switch of most cinemas to digital projection between 2010 and 2012. It also looks at the contemporary expansion of projected images outside of the cinema.
Running from October 2014 to January 2018, the project will use interviews with projectionists, archive research, feature films and photographs to explore historical projection and the digital transformations of the twenty-first century.
Learning space dedicated to the art and analysis of film sound design. Historical information on early sound systems in cinemas too with many links to articles on cinema history.
A guide to Britains film and television history. Also facts and figures such as cinema attendance back to 1933 and numbers of feature films produced each year.
Film Education Org
Following the closure of Film Education in April 2013 this site and its library of resources will remain accessible, free of charge, for teachers and their students across the UK.
Whilst no new content will be added to this site we are pleased to provide links to online teaching and educational resources.
Learning on Screen is a charity and membership organisation. We are experts in the use of moving image in education, delivering online academic databases, on demand video resources, training, information and advice. Our work is developed through communication with our members and through the findings of our specialist research unit, providing the higher and further education sector with trusted and scholarly audiovisual services.
We are currently transitioning into our new name and new branding. Over the coming weeks and months we will be regularly updating the site to reflect our new identity. During this transition, the URL will remain as ‘bufvc.ac.uk’; we will switch over to our new URL, ‘learningonscreen.ac.uk’,