Following an announcement today of UK Government Levelling Up funding of £1.5 million to renovate Filmhouse, Ginnie Atkinson, Director, Filmhouse Edinburgh told The Edinburgh Reporter that the hope is the cinema can open again in the autumn.
She said the announcement of £1.5 million funding to refurbish Filmhouse is “beyond her wildest dreams” and it “absolutely” allows the project to go ahead.
Ms Atkinson added: “We hope to get work underway in May and it will take around five or six months to do the work.
“There are only a few of us on the Filmhouse team but we are a fantastic team and we all have complementary skills – but we could not have done this without support from Screen Scotland and The City of Edinburgh Council. There has been a lot of support for the plans.”
UK Government Minister for Scotland Donald Cameron announced funding for six Scottish Projects today. He said on a visit earlier in the week to Filmhouse on Lothian Road: “Congratulations to the Scottish projects receiving more than £3.8 million in the latest round of the UK Government’s local asset saving Community Ownership Fund.
“It was a pleasure to visit Filmhouse, Edinburgh, and see first-hand just how much it meant for them to be awarded £1.54 million to help re-open this much cherished venue.
“The other winners – Macaulay College in the Western Isles, Castlemilk Community Football Trust in Glasgow and community centres in Penicuik, Kilmarnock and Newton Mearns – means that 47 community assets right across Scotland are sharing almost £17 million from the fund.
“I encourage community groups across Scotland to see if they might be eligible to apply for the next and final round. Overall the UK Government is now investing more than £3 billion into levelling up across Scotland.”
Council Leader, Cllr Cammy Day said: “This is an amazing outcome for those who have worked tirelessly to bring a plan together for a new model of Filmhouse. From the small team of volunteers to the many people who have donated to support their campaign – huge congratulations. I’m also grateful to the UK Levelling Up Fund for recognising the importance of these types of projects that may not have happened without this funding. My colleagues at The City of Edinburgh Council will also continue to offer support where we can to see a new Filmhouse rise again.”
PHOTOS from the ministerial visit below courtesy of the UK Government
Crowdfunder support
Filmhouse Edinburgh have already raised £254,460 through their Open The Doors crowdfunder asking the public to put their money towards refurbishing and reopening the much-loved former church on Lothian Road.
When the new company set up the Crowdfunder in September they already knew that they needed £1.25 million, although their application to the Levelling Up Fund was for a higher figure as by then they had more detailed costings. The company will contribute £400,000 and the newly announced funds of £1.5 million means that all the capital which is needed to bring Filmhouse back is now in place.
The renovated cinema will definitely have a café as this was one part which cinema goers loved and it has been mentioned often in comments on the Crowdfunder page and on social media. A café also forms an important part of the business case which Filmhouse Edinburgh have developed ahead of taking on the building from the council. The renovation project will include modernising the toilets throughout the building.
Ms Atkinson explained that when the company was applying for funding from the Levelling Up Fund, the support for the Crowdfunder was very important and all the positive comments only added to their case. She said: “We must say thank you to all of the people who have donated and supported us because that money is crucial. It helped us when completing the application and explaining the level of public support for our project. We got supporting letters from ward councillors, our MP and then we had all the testimony from people on the crowdfunder.”
The capital sum enables a complete refurbishment of all three screens, but excitingly it also allows for a fourth screen.
This will help with scheduling more films. Ms Atkinson said: “Having more screens makes it all easier. It means that we can hang on to the less commercial films a bit longer, perhaps. It also is a really great space for education work and all the ancillary things that we do. It will give us more flexibility. The thing that’s good about all of this, fundamentally, is that by creating a new modern comfortable cinema experience, we we aim to attract new audiences. These will be audiences that will become loyal and will return and that will support or make the business model sustainable.”
Asked if this will now make Filmhouse a real competitor against other cinemas in the capital, Ginny said yes it definitely would and that they “need to be competitive”. She explained however that Filmhouse has a couple of things that make it unique – by screening films which are culturally important but which nobody else shows. And while she wants the cinema to be more modern and comfortable it will not be the same as the others.
(There will be no nachos in Filmhouse.)
There will be slightly fewer seats in each cinema, but they will be more comfortable than the old ones with more legroom. The renovation will also involve taking down the wall behind the box office to open the welcome area and make it feel modern and introduce more light, and the award also allows the company to refit the café bar.
As well as the capital sum of £1.9 million there will be a need for cash and personnel to actually open the doors, so the fundraising does not actually stop here. Filmhouse Edinburgh will have pre-opening costs and are still fundraising to cover that part of the scheme.
The next step is for Filmhouse Edinburgh to firm up the design, get some pretty drawings and they will release some news about all of this as soon as they can.
Fundraising contributions can be made here https://crowdfunder.co.uk/filmhouse-open-the-doors
Filmhouse Edinburgh will enter a 21 year lease of the building with owners Caledonian Heritable who bought the property from The City of Edinburgh Council after the old Filmhouse parent company went into administration. The cinema closed abruptly in October 2022.
In addition The UK Government has awarded £2million to support The King’s Theatre on Leven Street as part of Round 3 Window 2 of the Community Ownership Fund and funding for six Scottish community buildings.
The UK Government is supporting a total of six community assets in Scotland with a total of £3.8 million.
The investment from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ Community Ownership Fund will ensure the various community spaces are protected for future generations.
In the whole of the UK the Department has announced £33.5 million to save more than 80 projects in local communities.
Projects receiving funding in Scotland include:
· Crookfur House: A revival of facilities in a supported living estate in East Renfrewshire to create a fit for purpose and needs led community hub. Thanks to this government cash boost, this group will be able to reap the rewards of a new café, community spaces and support staff offices.
· Filmhouse: Reopening of a new and improved cinema in Edinburgh that will be sustainable for generations to come. The venue will screen films that would not otherwise be accessible as well as host up and coming film festivals to be enjoyed by local people and visitors.
· Penicuik Youth Hub: Transforming this community centre in Midlothian into a ‘Youth Hub for excellence’, providing dedicated spaces for young people to have more sporting and performing arts opportunities in their local area.
· Castlemilk Community Football Trust: New money to create high-quality sporting facilities in Glasgow with the aim to increase community engagement in football and other grassroots sports. They will also provide fitness classes and community social events and activities.
This is the third announcement of funding from the third round of the Community Ownership Fund, bringing the total spending from the pot to more than £103m with 333 projects rescued so far.
Since Round 1 of the Fund, Ministers have funded all bids which have passed the criteria for successful applications. This approach allows the Department to fund the maximum number of projects. In future windows ministers may choose to prioritise funding to underrepresented areas to help even out any regional imbalances.
The next round of the Community Ownership Fund, Round 4, is the final round. There will be two bidding windows in Round 4 to allocate remaining funding. The next bidding window, Round 4 Window 1, will open on 25 March 2024 and close on 10 April 2024.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
