Cinegi Arts&Film, a Case Study: how it worked and what we learned

Cinegi Arts&Film (CA&F) was an action research project supported by Arts Council England in partnership with the BFI and delivered by Cinegi. The aim was to test how a digital distribution service could bring arts and cultural content, alongside BFI programming, to new and wider audiences as a shared experience in non-traditional venues, such as village halls, and in areas offering limited arts infrastructure and engagement. The CA&F service launched four bookings in January 2017. Screenings of titles from a range of arts organisations - from the Royal Opera House to Graeae theatre company - took place until May 2018. Alongside the findings detailed in TAA/Nesta’s action research report the project also taught Cinegi a great deal about working with existing networks for film and rural touring and about developing new venues and promoters for filmed performance. It uncovered challenges and has provided insight into what works well and what doesn’t. And it provided fresh insights into technical considerations in screening film – including business models, rights issues and film certification and classification, as well as issues arising from the technology used. Screening of filmed performance in non-cinema venues is a very new concept and CA&F is the first significant initiative in this area in the UK and indeed, as far as we are aware, in Europe. Although in the 17 months that the project was live it did not reach the number of audiences initially hoped for, the heartening response from the majority of venues and audiences that did use the service was ‘please can we have more‘