Jo attended Opening our Doors: Inclusive Cinema in Glasgow 2019 to run a workshop on marketing diverse titles for audiences.

“One of things I enjoy most about working on grassroots and outreach marketing on film projects is the sheer diversity of campaigns you can be involved with as well as the creative freedom you can exercise on the below the line activity associated with these projects.

“As cinemas, community cinemas or festivals its imperative you treat grassroots/outreach marketing as an integral part of your audience development programme – you’ll need to nurture and cultivate these relationships over time.

“Look at your programme at a whole and find the common links between films  – look at I, Daniel Blake and Nae Pasaran! for instance, there is definitely a crossover in terms of the politics or looking at young empowered female led films like Patti Cake$ and Skate Kitchen. Be as strategic as you can with your programming.

“Organisations and individuals you engage with will become your ambassadors and champions so its important you keep the conversations with them going even during your quieter periods or between events.

“Also as local organisations you’re a unique position to understand the sensitivities and culture of your community, this is a massive advantage – think of all the knowledge you have and how it can be best used!”

Top 10 Tips

  1. Start with a SWOT – identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for your upcoming film programme and events.
  1. Positioning – think about how are you positioning your films and events, does it ‘speak’ to your audience?
  1. Identify your audience – customers are only loyal to brands up to a certain point, don’t make the assumption they will come to your venue, engage, engage, engage!
  1. Assets – distributors spend budget on creating sharable assets for social, make sure to keep in touch with them to get up to date content to keep your messaging to audiences fresh!
  1. Data – depending on your CRM/Box Office system can you analyse your audiences by what they watch? If so, do you have permission to contact them (GDPR!) or do you have specific mailing lists e.g.; opera/ballet or kids season.
  1. Outreach – film releases can be so singular but try to identify common themes in your programme line up well ahead of time, e.g. youth audiences, political audiences and build a relationship with these audiences – how do they ‘consume’ their news?
  1. Partnerships – look at recent release of Nae Pasaran!, this film had a ton of support from local union branches, which created audiences (and demand!) for the film ahead of its release.
  1. Research – find out who your audience are with exit polls, not only is it an opportunity to get some key demographics on them but also to find out how they interact with your brand plus get them signed up to your mailing lists. (TIP: Have chocolates on hand for gentle coercion!)
  1. Eventise – not everyone likes Q&A panels, Patti Cake$ had battle raps and spoken word sessions on its opening night.
  1. Think outside the box – creativity sparks ideas, could you run a ‘strategy hack’ with all staff and your youth reps? Could the distributor provide financial support for some one off activity – Tyneside Cinema had a fire-eater for the release of The Girl Who Played with Fire.

2680 out of 7000 languages spoken in the world are endangered. Only a few hundred languages have genuinely been given a place in education systems and the public domain, and less than a hundred are used in the digital world.

International Mother Language Day has been observed every year since February 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. In 2019, the United Nations declared The Year of Indigenous Languages (IY2019) to raise awareness and recognise the important cultural value that they bring to our world.

The UN has proclaimed 2022-2032 the International Decade of Indigenous Languages to draw global attention on the critical situation of many indigenous languages.

This is a great time to focus on planning screenings of films not in the English language, learn about the challenges Indigenous languages face by connecting people through language and culture through film.

Mental Health Toolkit for Employers

The ambition of this toolkit is to help your organisation – whether business, public sector or charitable – support the mental health and wellbeing of your employees. It will help you take positive actions to build a culture that champions good mental health and provide a greater understanding for how to help those who need more support.

[VID] How to engage new young audiences in experiencing theatre

To encourage new young audiences to experience theatre, the Arts Council’s A Night Less Ordinary scheme in association with Metro offered over half a million (618,000) free theatre tickets to anyone under 26 at more than 200 venues throughout England. In this video Jane Finnis, Culture 24, Jake Orr, www.ayoungertheatre.com, Susan Whiddington, Mousetrap Theatre Projects … More

Developing Deaf Audiences in Your Cinema

We set out to find out what the barriers were to building a strong d/Deaf audience in the UK. We conducted a survey of d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing audiences, a focus group of Deaf people and also a survey of exhibitors to understand their experience with developing d/Deaf audiences. 97.5% of respondents to our … More

Fundraising Fundamentals

Whether you’re just starting out in fundraising or you simply want a refresher of the basics, this toolkit will help you put the foundations in place for an effective fundraising strategy.

World Mental Health Day shines a light on mental health experiences.

Now, more than ever, we must recognise the importance of mental health, how it is intrinsically connected to our physical health, and how we can care for ourselves and each other, support community, sensitivity and share experiences and offer solidarity.

In 2020, The World Health Organisation, United for Global Mental Health and the World Federation for Mental Health issued a press release calling for greater recognition of the need for support services, citing:

“Mental health is one of the most neglected areas of public health. Close to 1 billion people are living with a mental disorder, 3 million people die every year from the harmful use of alcohol and one person dies every 40 seconds by suicide. And now, billions of people around the world have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is having a further impact on people’s mental health.

“Yet, relatively few people around the world have access to quality mental health services. In low- and middle-income countries, more than 75% of people with mental, neurological and substance use disorders receive no treatment for their condition at all. Furthermore, stigma, discrimination, punitive legislation and human rights abuses are still widespread.”

Often misrepresented, mental health stories on screen can add to stigma around mental health conditions. Taking opportunities to raise awareness, and supporting education, cinemas across the UK are screening films to broaden understanding about mental health experiences, and ignite important discussions about how we look after each other.

Your film club, your way: SEN/ ASN

The resource covers five of the most popular or impactful films from Into Film’s inclusion project, provides tips for the arrangement of your Into Film club, suggestions for film reviewing and activities to enhance and support screenings.