Bi-Monthly Update No.6 - March 2022

Together For Cinema began its official industry sponsored good cause enterprise journey on March 1st 2021. Now, exactly a year on, I am delighted to report that we are recognised as an AV industry good cause enterprise, we are secure, we have growing industry backing, we are delivering on expectation, we have lots of good work to do and will very soon become a registered charity.

Of course none of this would have been possible without the comprehensive and willing support of so many in our industry.  Be you a partner, sponsor, product donor or simply someone that likes or shares our social media posts, we thank you and ask you to continue your support. We cannot do what we do without you.

With the collaborative help of our industry we have achieved a great deal, however, there is so much more that can, and will be done. As our outreach to good causes continues we find more and more deserving venues that could do with our assistance. Venues where poorly children and young adults need the cinema experience brought in house as it is almost impossible for them to go to the cinema. It really is a great gift that we give…

We started 2022 in good shape and positioned well to further the progress of Together For Cinema. The first two months have been incredibly busy with various site visits, too many Zoom calls to mention, numerous Social Media postings and continued telephone engagement with many industry peers keen to help as best they can.

The good news is that we are almost financially secure for 2022, we have 4 new cinema room installations on the go with all required products almost secured, we have Chris Pinder from OneAV running the Marathon des Sables to help raise funds for the us and we are preparing to apply for charitable status. A busy, but great start to the year…

Keep well, and please read on for more detail.

Ian Morrish

Founder, Together For Cinema

 

Installation Update 2022

We have a very ambitious 7 cinema room installations in plan for this year, 4 are already well underway with almost all product’s confirmed and an installation schedule. The other 3 will be defined over the next few months.

This is the most we have ever planned in a single year, and the 7 installs will have a normal

installation value of about £160,000. This will take our total to 36 donated cinema rooms.

The 7 venues, along with the committed installers, are as follows:-

  • Jigsaw Children’s Hospice, part of Eden Valley, Carlisle.

Installer: Tim Burrow of Majik House. Install date: March 2022

  • Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People, Loughborough.

Installer: Gary Mills of Decorum Technology. Install date: April 2022

  • Dougie Mac Children’s Hospice, Stoke-on-Trent.

Installer: Andy Bell of Trusted Technology. Install date: April 2022

  • Andy’s at St.Andrew’s Hospice, Grimsby.

Installer: Ben Cook of Sonic Vision. Install date: May 2022

  • Julia’s House Children’s Hospice, Corfe Mullen, near Poole.

Installer: Luke Crutcher of Living Home Tech. Install date: September 2022

  • St Oswald’s Children’s Hospice, Newcastle upon Tyne.

Installer: Gary Chapman of Creative Install. Install date: October 2022

  • Resources for Autism, London.

Installer: TBC. Install date: October 2022

 

Installation Update 2023 and beyond

We have a full schedule for 2022 and as with all best laid plans there may be some delays. With this in mind, and the possibility that a 2022 install may drop into 2023, I’m keen to set up no more than 5 or 6 cinema room installations for next year. The current plan is looking like:-

  • Ellenor Hospice for Children and Adults , Gravesend. Installer: TBC.
  • Claire House Children’s Hospice, Liverpool. Installer: TBC.
  • Richard House Children’s Hospice, London. Installer: TBC.
  • Dorset Children’s Trust, Poole. Installer: TBC.
  • Robin House Children’s Hospice, Ballach. Installer: TBC.
  • Derian House Children’s Hospice, Chorley. Installer: TBC.

…and for the moment, this will be the basis of our delivery for 2023.

Another 6 or 7 installations will need another 6 or 7 installers, projectors, screens, AVR’s, speaker packages, racks, control, lighting etc…, so please do what you can to help and spread the word to those installers, manufacturers and distributors who also might be able to help.

We are grateful to so many of you who support the Together For Cinema cause but we need this help to be an annual commitment in order to keep making these very special cinema rooms happen.

Please do what you can...

 

Sponsorship Update

Renewals of our 2021 sponsors was hugely successful with almost all sponsors kindly renewing their sponsorship of Together For Cinema for 2022. I hope their willingness to renew was based on the appreciation of what we achieved in 2021 and what we are looking to achieve going forward. Either way a huge thank you to all that renewed.

Beyond our renewing sponsors, we are delighted to welcome, as it stands now, another 12 new sponsors, giving us a total of 45 industry sponsors. These can be seen on our Sponsors and Partners page at https://togetherforcinema.co.uk/our-sponsors-and-partners/.

However, and as well as support appears to be, we still need another few sponsors to achieve our budgeted goals for 2022. The sooner we can secure these sponsors, the sooner we can focus on completing the installations and developing our other activities to further the difference that we can all make in our community. With this in mind…

Can You Become One Of Our Sponsors?

If you are interested in becoming one of the Together For Cinema sponsors, you can do so from as little as £500. Every penny of support will be committed to furthering the cause and making a difference to the children and young adults that we look to help.

You will receive a Together For Cinema sponsor pack and some social and trade media exposure, not than anyone ever donates for any specific return, but it helps us to publicise those that do.

For further details please email me at ian@ad-con.uk or call me on 07768 398007.

Please do what you can to help…

 

Fundraising Update

Chris Pinder of OneAV Takes On The Marathon des Sables Challenge For Together For Cinema!

Over 6 days, from March 27th to April 1st, Chris Pinder, Managing Director of UK B2B AV trade distributor One AV, will run the equivalent of a marathon a day in the Sahara desert in temperatures in excess of 50 degrees centigrade – and all to help raise funds for Together For Cinema. He has an ambitious target of £25,000 and is determined to hit it…

This is an incredible challenge and one that Chris is quite rightly taking very seriously. He’s been training for almost 12 months now and has changed his diet to ensure he is in the best shape he can possibly be. This of course does not permit any alcohol, and on the lead up to the event he is eating dried food and sleeping a lot on the floor, all to get him prepared for the extreme conditions and the pressures his body will be put under.

I tip my hat to Chris and am full of respect for his determination and commitment. As an industry we should back him and be very proud of what he is taking on, and for a great cause. To sponsor Chris, please go to his website at www.pinder.com/mds.

Run well Chris, enjoy as best you can, but most importantly, just come home safe and sound…

AV Industry Sporting Tournament To Be Announced Very Soon

Working with two wonderfully supportive companies in the commercial AV industry we will soon announce an AV industry sporting tournament. Keep an eye on social media but rest assured I will let you know when I am allowed to announce it!

 

Recent Developments

Listed below are a few of the other positive recent developments that we’re delighted to report on:-

  • Charitable Status

We have begun the process to submit our application to the Charity Commission to become a registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). I’m optimistic that we will be able to confirm this status in the Summer of this year.

  • The Together For Cinema ‘Million Pound Ball‘ – A Celebration Of A Great Collaborative Industry Effort

This idea has been welcomed with overwhelming support and is expected to happen in the Summer or Autumn of 2025. The plan is for no Awards (phew! I hear you cry!), no overpriced tickets, a few ‘money can’t buy’ auction items and a few celebrity visits.

Further engagement with the new CEO of Medicinema has led to a closer relationship and a possible long-term scenario of us working together on various projects. This is a slow burner but an exciting one…

We are looking to install our first cinema room at their London office towards the end of 2022.

This has been in discussion for a while and we will soon be entering into a pilot sample scheme whereby 5 children’s hospices will engage with a Cisco account manager and the results will be assessed and a strategy defined.

  • The Recycling Of Old, Dated and Second-Hand AV Equipment

There is a real desire for this to be developed and we hope to further our plans very soon.

 

In Closing

Recently we have been made aware of the phenomenon that is ‘Cinema Therapy’. This can be found on Wikipedia and is defined as:-

“A form of therapy or self-help that uses movies, particularly videos, as therapeutic tools. Cinema therapy can be a catalyst for healing and growth for those who are open to learning how movies affect people and to watching certain films with conscious awareness. Cinema therapy allows one to use the effect of imagery, plot, music, etc. in films on the psyche for insight, inspiration, emotional release or relief and natural change. Used as part of psychotherapy, cinema therapy is an innovative method based on traditional therapeutic principles.”

We had no idea there was such a thing but we’re delighted to know that there is. It gives Together For Cinema a greater depth of responsibility to continue to deliver to our community for many years to come.

There are lots of wonderful things about Together For Cinema, with the most amazing being seeing the difference we make to so many children’s and young adult’s lives. However, one other fabulous benefits is to see the industry come together with the common goal of giving back to the community what we all do on a day-to-day basis. There are no demands on ROI, there are no egos, there’s no competition, it’s the simple coming together of good people to help make a difference.

Together For Cinema is proud and privileged to have been a catalyst to help the industry collaborate for an important cause.

We thank you again for your support and remember…

“Together For Cinema – together for better”

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