A Cultural Cinema Partnership has been announced as 5 key film organisations join forces to consider new opportunities for the sector.
Today, September 15, five Arts Council funded film organisations announced plans to officially develop a Cultural Cinema Partnership in order to respond to challenges facing the film sector in a world emerging from COVID-19.
The group (comprising access>CINEMA, Cork International Film Festival, Galway Film Fleadh, Irish Film Institute and Dublin International Film Festival) will consider ways in which the sector has changed during the pandemic, and will also identify opportunities for the future of cultural cinema.
A key focus for the Cultural Cinema Partnership will be on audiences. Ireland has traditionally been known as having one of the highest per capita cinema attendances in Europe, and the Partnership will research, explore ideas and champion audience development strategies to attract audiences both old and new back to cinemas following an unprecedented period of lockdowns, closures and reduced capacities.
A spokesperson for the Partnership said: “COVID has had a severe impact on arts audiences around the world, and film is no exception. Through the development of this Partnership, we aim to combine our joint expertise to bring together our festivals, cinemas and venues to see how the artform can continue to develop and be engaging for audiences”.
The Partnership originally came together informally in 2021 as part of a successful Arts Council funding application to help build digital capacity within the organisations.
