Michael Skinner

By Michael Skinner OTB

— Off The Bench, a Lincoln-based voluntary organisation, have set out to bring back the Ritz cinema to its former glory. The team keeps The Lincolnite updated with their progress every week.

Following last week’s visit to London, this week we went to visit the Arts Picturehouse in Cambridge for another insightful meeting. A long chat with Trish Sheil, the film education officer, allowed us to find out how it would be possible to work with schools and local communities.

Many ideas have spawned from this, including film and media workshops for people of all ages. We want to empower young people to go through the whole process of having an idea, filming it, and then seeing it up on the big screen.

This leads nicely onto the announcement of two new appointments here at OTB. In moving forward with the project, we have taken on two media production assistants who are Chris Curtis and Ben Mills. Both are local lads, and incredibly talented.

They have been tasked with documenting the project, and once the cinema is up and running, to go out and make professional level commercials for local businesses.

Over the last few weeks the OTB team have been meeting with Jaki Fisher, a lecturer with the School of Art at the University of Lincoln. As a former Ritz patron, Jaki’s enthusiasm for the project has been up alongside ours since the project was announced.

Jaki has been getting Creative Advertising students involved with the project. For when the building work is underway, we wanted some visually stunning hoardings to adorn the site. The students haven’t disappointed — each group of students has created 6 photographs and we’re having a tough time narrowing it down.

This is where you come in. We believe all these images deserve to be seen, and so we are planning to hold an exhibition of the images. We want to know people’s views and let them decide which images should be used.

As a little taster, the image at the top was created by Creative Advertising students Harriet Stringer and Jake O’Coy. As this exhibition is developed further, we shall keep everyone informed. It’s all so busy and exciting at the minute and we want everyone to be involved in the project.

Next Week: Read Chris and Ben’s views for the Ritz project and how they’ll be involved. Meanwhile, you can follow @OtbRitzCinema on Twitter.

By Michael Skinner OTB

OTB’s Michael Skinner at the Phoenix community cinema in East Finchley, London

— Off The Bench, a Lincoln-based voluntary organisation, have set out to bring back the Ritz cinema to its former glory. This week, the team went to London to draw inspiration from a similar project.

The OTB team took the opportunity on Wednesday to draw inspiration from a similar project in London. We were fortunate enough to be invited down to the Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley to view their project and ask questions. We went down with high hopes, and we weren’t disappointed by the 200 seat community venue.

After having a chat with general manager Cassie Birtwistle, the similarities between the two cinemas were clear to see. The Phoenix itself opened in 1910 (27 years before the Ritz) and was run as a purely commercial venture up until 1985. Since then, the cinema has been run as a community project via the Phoenix Cinema Trust and underwent major restoration just last year to celebrate its centenary. Those in tune with The Ritz’ history will realise that our renovation work coincides with the 75th anniversary since its initial opening in 1937.

Through its character and charm, the Phoenix has been able to build up and retain a loyal customer-base. The traditional and personal experience is something that many, including ourselves, find hard to tear away from.

Despite the retro art décor interior of the cinema, the Phoenix has had to move with the times, just as The Ritz plans to also do. Richard Crompton, Technical & Projection Manager, explained the cinema has the facilities for 35mm projections, but much of the showings are now done via digital equipment to enhance quality. We ourselves similarly want our patrons to experience the traditional offering at The Ritz, but also not compromise picture quality.

Seeing what has been achieved at a very similar project to our own has whetted the appetite of the whole team. We’re not naive to think that mistakes won’t be made along the way, but meeting people and seeing how they have done things is helping us learn what we need to do. The whole trip has further strengthened our belief in The Ritz project and what can be accomplished through community power.

Check back next week for news on a Ritz Photography exhibition currently being compiled by students from the University of Lincoln including a sneak preview.

If you’re not already involved but want to be, contact the team on [email protected] or follow us on Twitter @OtbRitzCinema.

More on the OTB Ritz Cinema project:

• Please find your seats, the film is about to begin
• Work begins to restore Lincoln’s Ritz cinema
• Support pours in for Ritz cinema project
• Inside the Lincoln Ritz cinema revamp project