Engaging New Audiences with Community Cinema
Engaging New Audiences – Community Cinema, a project of ITVS, offers stations, organizations and community groups films from the PBS Independent Lens series to hold screenings featuring discussions, partners and audience involvement. For PTV stations, Community Cinema is providing a new opportunity to reach diverse audiences. Looking for a way to engage with a younger adult audience? To date, about 19 percent of the attendees are ages 19 – 29 and 43 percent are ages 30 – 49. The main criteria are that events are free and open to public where all points of view are welcome! What Community Cinema events can do is reframe debate, advance discussions and create empathy around topics and issues that important to your community.
ITVS provides all the tools needed to plan, promote and hold an event in your area with extensive promotional and program materials that are adaptable to your community needs. ITVS also has staff support to not only help you get started but to help sustain your CC program. One of the key benefits is the ability to create community partnerships, often times related to some of the national organizations partnering with the film and local organizations committed to those issues in your area.
Screenings happen in a variety of venues. Art house theaters, museums, libraries, churches, college campuses, etc. CC events in St. Louis Missouri were presented as an example of successful events. Examples were given of ways to fund events including working with organizations and businesses in the community. They partnered with the Missouri History Museum which had a large auditorium and received funds from the Employees Community Fund of Boeing St. Louis and State Louis University to help cover any cash costs like light refreshments. The local newspaper, the St. Louis Beacon is also a partner for Community Cinema. The ideas for activities and ways to involve the audience were endless.
For stations, CC can raise your profile in the community, provide significant promotional opportunities, create new partnerships and maybe even help find new members.
ITVS also offers Community Classroom, a free curriculum-based resource that engages educators and students through film.
For more information, contact one of the presenters: Tiffany L. Verkler, AETN tverkler@aetn.org; Sydney Meyer, Nine Network smeyer@ketc.org and/or Allison Inman, ITVS: Allison_inman@itvs.org
South Carolina ETV