For Together For Cinema this has been our first full calendar year of operation and with only a few weeks to go I can confidently say that it has been a great success. This is of course my slightly biased opinion but I’m optimistic that this is the general feeling of our industry and all those involved in helping make the magic happen in the venues that we work with.
Since our last report at the beginning of September one further cinema room has been completed, we have had two opening events and we have one installation that is due for completion by the end of November. This will be 8 completed good cause cinema room projects for 2022, 7 in children’s hospices and one for the Dorset Children’s Foundation (see slide 4). Had these rooms been paid for installations they would have cost in the region of £260,000. Thanks again to all the installers and the product donors for making these rooms happen.
We have 4 more opening events planned for this year, and these will be in Stoke, Sittingbourne, Gosforth and Poole. By the end of 2022 we will have completed 37 cinema room installations at a normal ‘paid for’ value of £910,000.
We have been in touch with and/or visited all 7 of our proposed installations for 2023, 5 at children’s hospices, a disabled centre for children and young adults in Surrey, and the Resources For Autism centre in North London (see slide 5). We will hit the £1,000,000 mark of good cause installations in the Summer of 2023.
We attended the EI Live! show, the Smart Building Awards and the CEDIA EMEA Awards. These events were tremendously successful for us and the feedback we continue to get is hugely encouraging. I was moved and delighted to see Chris Pinder receive two Special Recognition Awards, and very honoured to be asked by CEDIA to present the CEDIA EMEA Award to him personally.
As an industry united to make a difference, we continue to make a real difference to thousands of children, young adults and their families and care team. Please read on for more detail and more news.
Ian Morrish
Founder and CEO, Together For Cinema
At the start of the year we had an ambitious 7 cinema room installations planned and I’m delighted to say that we have delivered on these. Just to keep us on our toes we also added in a refurbishment of a previous installation that we had completed in 2014. So, for 2022, 8 good cause cinema room installation projects completed!
Please see below for a full status update:-
- Jigsaw Cumbria’s Children’s Hospice, Carlisle.
Installer: Majik House. Completed March 2022. ????
- Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People, Loughborough.
Installer: Decorum Technology. Completed April 2022.
- Julia’s House Children’s Hospice, Corfe Mullen, near Poole.
Installer: Living Home Technology. Completed July 2022.
- The Dorset Children’s Foundation, Bournemouth.
Installer: Living Home Technology. Completed August 2022.
- Dougie Mac Children’s Hospice, Stoke-on-Trent.
Installer: Trusted Technology. Completed August 2022.
- Demelza Children’s Hospice, Sittingbourne.
Installer: Modus Vivendi. Refurbishment completed August 2022.
- Andy’s at St.Andrew’s Hospice, Grimsby. (pictured)
Installer: Sonic Vision. Completed September 2022.
- St Oswald’s Children’s and Adult Hospice, Gosforth.
Installer: Creative Install. Completed November 2022.
For 2023 we currently have 7 installations in discussion and these are outlined below. As with all plans we have to be subject to change so the list below may change, however, we will target 7 more installations for next year. The current installation plan is as follows:-
- Butterwick Children’s Hospice, Stockton-on-Tees.
Installer: Your Digital Lifestyle Ltd.
- Cherry Trees, East Clandon.
Installer: Nethaus Ltd.
- Ellenor Hospice for Children and Adults , Gravesend.
Installer: TBC, though believe we have someone..
- Hope House Children's Hospices, Oswestry.
Installer: TBC.
- Resources for Autism, London.
Installer: TBC, though believe we have someone..
- Richard House Children’s Hospice, London.
Installer: TBC, though believe we have someone. .
- Robin House Children’s Hospice, Ballach.
Installer: TBC.
…and for the moment, this will be the basis of our delivery for 2023.
With 7 installations we need 7 installers and 7 more 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 might be able to donate.
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...
For 2022 Together For Cinema secured 47 industry sponsors at varying levels of commitment ranging from our Bronze level at £500 up to our Platinum level at £5,000, and we are hugely grateful to every single one.
There are ambitious plans for 2023 and various commitments that we need to enter into which will further strengthen the long term security of Together For Cinema as an industry recognised charitable organisation. Based on our income and expenditure forecast we need to generate a further £25,000, on top of what we generated in 2022, and our sponsorship appeal for 2023 will start very soon.
We operate on a very tight budget with limited expenses and ‘do the best we can’ to make a difference and promote this difference to our industry and beyond. But there is so much more that we can do…, and much of this ‘more that we can do’ needs funding.
Be it professional consultancy, legal or accountancy fees, PR and Marketing assistance or luxury products to help make an installation as amazing as it can be, our expenses will undoubtedly increase for 2023.
Can you help in any way?
Can you possibly consider becoming a first-time sponsor of Together For Cinema?
Can you possibly increase your level of sponsorship commitment?
Packages start from £500/year and you will receive a Together For Cinema Sponsor Pack (plaque, pin badges etc…)
and some social and trade media exposure. It is of course in our interests to publicise your commitment.
Please do what you can to help…
Listed below are a few other updates that might be of interest:-
I’m delighted to announce that Gasoline Media, an industry recognised Marketing and PR agency, have agreed to manage ourMarketing and PR activity on an expense only agreement. This is great news for us as there is so much to say and so many good things happening that the messaging needs ordering and management by a professional and skilled agency. With this in mind a huge thank you goes to Sarah James, Managing Director, and Teresa Latter, Account Director, of Gasoline Media, who have kindly agreed to take Together For Cinema under their wing.
We are extremely grateful and very excited about this new partnership. More news to follow…
This has taken some time to pull together but we are in the final stages of completing our application, and this will be submitted to the Charities Commission very soon. Along with being a charity comes other responsibilities such as appointing the right accountancy firm, seeking legal advice etc… It’s a complex process but hopefully, very soon, we will have some good news.
Starting in November there will be a series of 12-14 short videos posted on LinkedIn (and ultimately on our website) explaining various aspects of Together For Cinema. Such topics as how we find our venues, the installation process, our funding, our partners, our aspirations etc… Please feel free to comment as I’m keen to make them as informative as possible.
A hugely productive 8 weeks focusing on closing things out for 2022, and prepping for 2023 and the next stage of Together For Cinema’s development.
Lots to do over the next two months with one more installation being installed, 4 opening events, furthering our installation programme for 2023, sponsorship renewals, new sponsor appeals, a charity status application, finalising accountants, defining our Marketing and PR activity, preparing for ISE in Barcelona etc...
Gosh…, I thought when I committed full time to further Together For Cinema I’d perhaps be a little less busy that I was during my 13 years at ISE, but this isn’t the case!!!! Hey ho…, and as Charles Dickens wrote…, “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done…” and this is definitely the case. I am aware that I have a hugely privileged position in the industry and will do all I can to help further the good that we as an industry united are delivering to our community.
Finally, a big thank you to Gary Chapman at Creative Technology who is project managing our final installation of the year. This is at St Oswalds in Gosforth and should be completed by the end of November. Again, lots of support from the industry and particular thanks must go to Lutron for donating both automated blinds and lighting control, for this installation.
Lots more is happening and feel free to touch base if you have any queries.
I thank you again for your support and remember…
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