Heritage ceramics project

As part of our National Lottery Heritage Fund Restoration Project, we are working with five key partnership schools (Brudenell Primary, Quarry Mount Primary, Rosebank Primary, Leeds City Academy and Lawnswood School) within our local community to create a permanent ceramic exhibition in partnership with our friends at Firefly Pottery. The exhibition will be on display on the stairwell of our new extension.

Last month, we welcomed our first two schools, who visited the cinema for a tour exploring our Grade II listed cinema, local film history and key heritage features with a particular focus on our own iconic ceramic features; our Bermantoft’s pottery faience with terracotta lettering and the mosaic flooring which welcomes audiences on arrival and takes them through to our recently re-discovered terrazzo flooring throughout the foyer. The participants are then asked to respond to what they have seen and heard and produce their own tiles with markings, images and patterns alongside a palate of glazes inspired by colours found at the cinema.

This project is a celebration of our continuing work with our youngest audiences, which the funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund has allowed us to build upon and enhance, with a particular focus on our local community in order to make sure our audience reflects our closest neighbours and our community has a vested interest in the cinema for many future generations to come. In order to make sure we remain accessible, inspiring and engaging, we have worked closely with local schools and colleges to develop stronger more responsive partnerships, from screenings and workshops for our youngest audiences, including the introduction of an after school club for Brudenell Primary School to create a safe place to experience film and engage with their local cinema. To opportunities and projects to inspire our next generation for filmmakers and creatives, including our cinema takeover project where students are given the tools and support to put on their own screenings, including the upcoming ReRun screening of ‘Dead Poet Society’ with Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College.

We opened as a community cinema in 1914 and we are still just as committed to serve our community today, the permanent exhibition will be a reminder of this aim and signify the importance our community has had on our long history and continuing success.