Katie Searles, Development Manager at the Tyneside Cinema, joins us this week to talk about the iconic Newcastle building and the important role it has to play in the local community.
The Tyneside Cinema first opened its doors way back in 1937 and has served its patrons faithfully ever since. A Grade II listed building in the very heart of Newcastle upon Tyne’s bustling city centre, the cinema is a historic oasis amidst the modernity of its surroundings.
The last surviving news theatre still operating as a cinema today, it is the North East’s only specialised cinema and hosts a vibrant public programme of films, exhibitions and events from film-makers and artists from around the world. None of this would be possible without the tireless work of the eponymously-named charity:
‘Our commitment as a charity is to hold this great cinema in trust for the people of the North East and Tyneside,’ explains Katie. ‘Our charitable work includes the celebration of our heritage through exhibitions and special programming, a variety of programmes for children and young people and the provision of accessible screenings to make our cinema open to all.
‘We offer meaningful discounts to the people in our community in most need and have a strong commitment to children and young people,’ Katie continues. ‘We [also] run access cinema screenings; relaxed screenings designed to cater for film-lovers who may be on the autistic spectrum, have other learning disabilities, experience anxiety of have sensory issues.
‘We run monthly daytime film screenings for people with dementia and their families and carers. The simple steps and care that were taken in developing Dementia Friendly Cinema enables people who are often excluded to enjoy an everyday cultural experience in a supportive, friendly and social environment.’
Over the recent Festive season, the cinema held a Christmas raffle and was able to raise more than £10,000 which is being matched by Arts Council England and plans to invest this income in supporting its charitable aims.
Despite these admirable goals and results, however, Katie does acknowledge the difficulty of helping people to understand that the Tyneside Cinema is a charity, not just a commercial venue. While the money from the cinema’s commercial venues (the Tyneside Cinema Bar Café, The Coffee Rooms and Vicolo) is invested back into the cinema, the charity still ‘needs to do more than ever to raise funds to ensure Tyneside Cinema can continue to thrive and be here for future generations of film-lovers and cinema-goers,’ says Katie.
The Tyneside Cinema has recently signed up to work with Donr’s Text Giving service to help make it easier than ever for supporters to donate to the cause. The charity would like to raise £4,000 to provide headsets for those film-lovers with visual impairments and those with hearing difficulties.
‘We then have a stretch target of £10,000 which will be used by the charity towards running our various accessible screenings, including our Access Cinema and Hard of Hearing screenings, which require a number of technical and non-technical resources to deliver well.’
The Tyneside Cinema wants to ensure that film is an open and enjoyable medium for all. If you’d like to help them do so, please text ‘ACCESS’ to 70085 to donate £5*.
*Texts will cost the donation amount of £5 plus one standard network rate message.
