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Status
Received: on time
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Income
£171.0K
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Spending
£143.0K
Public benefits
A direct benefit that flows from managing St Mary’s Hall as a community asset is the provision of an accessible, central location for public events, performances, meetings and classes. The regular programme of film screenings and festivals, information events, classes, playgroups, markets, seasonal community events, music events and more organised
directly by NCC, by others independently and in cooperation with NCC translates into the direct benefits of opportunities for the local population to socialise, learn and be entertained and culturally enriched, and so improve all of our lives. Being mainly a voluntary organisation, NCC encourages people to be active in the community in a voluntary capacity while also learning about screenings and event management and developing their own skills. By providing premises to local community groups, trainers, traders, event managers, arts and music talent, the public benefit NCC creates are the opportunities for others to develop their livelihoods, skills and professional capacities. NCC’s purpose to advance environmental protection and conservation offers a small environmental benefit to the planet and the public benefit of raising awareness of the critical existential threats of climate change. These benefits are demonstrated in several ways. Firstly, the provision of a focal point for events is demonstrated by the number of groups and individuals scheduled to use the building. The uptake of events and attendance is demonstrated through audience and participant numbers. We regularly conduct audience or participant surveys to assess levels of satisfaction and whether they meet expectation and need. We monitor our waste management and assess any activity through the lens of environmental sustainability. NCC’s beneficiaries are all inhabitants of the South Down area. While many of the events are aimed at the general population, specific sectors of the population are targeted for others: for example, seasonal events benefit everyone, relaxed screenings benefit people with neuro-diverse conditions and their families; small children and their parents benefit from classes and playgroup activities aimed at encouraging social inclusion; people in isolated areas benefit from NCC’s Nomad cinema where we take cinema to underserved locations for one-off screenings. Our purpose to advance environmental protection and conservation benefits the planet in a small way and provides encouragement to others to follow suit. No harm comes to participants and audiences of the events, performances and classes through any deliberate intention. Private benefit may arise from these benefits to the performers, traders and educators who may raise an income from their activities and to local businesses from increased footfall and from our purpose to advance environmental protection to buy from local suppliers, but these are outweighed by the benefit received by the wider population and the planet. The trustees and volunteers gain private benefit in the form of skills and experience which are transferable to other settings. However, these are incidental and necessary to ensure the benefit is directed to our beneficiaries
... [more] [less]What your organisation does
Newcastle Community Cinema (NCC) is a cinema and community hub. Based in St. Mary’s Hall in Newcastle, County Down, our facilities include a cinema, full proscenium-arch stage, a large airy hall, kitchen, green rooms and a large front yard. These facilities lend themselves well to our purposes to run the hall as a community asset for cinema, arts,
cultural, social, sports, education and other community-led activities. On the cinema side of NCC, we screen a monthly programme of films. Each year, we run film festivals and film-adjacent events. We take cinema to the community through our Nomad events, screening films in rural or unusual locations. We also run workshops on film-making. We team up with our partners in film, such as BFI’s Film Hub NI, INTO film, ACCESS Cinema to maintain our position in the community cinema network. On the community side of NCC, individually or in association with other organisations we run community events, workshops, market days, information and awareness-raising events. The hall is available for hire to organisations to run their own activities. On the arts and cultural side of NCC, we facilitate live musical, comedy and theatrical performances and ensure there is a vibrant summer programme on offer for the busy Newcastle summer season. Many of our activities are run by a cadre of volunteers. We make sure we offer meaningful, fun and practical opportunities to get involved and contribute to not only to running NCC but also shaping and influencing it. Indeed, maintaining our profile and relevance to the community is crucial and we engage with the community via social media, surveys and face to face opportunities to make sure we are on the right track. We touch on pressing social issues in our programming and we aim to raise awareness of the lives and cultures of others to achieve a better understanding of our changing communities and diversity with a view to creating more compassion and tolerance towards others.
... [more] [less]The charity’s classifications
- The advancement of citizenship or community development
- The advancement of the arts, culture, heritage or science
- The advancement of environmental protection or improvement
- Other charitable purposes
Who the charity helps
- Children (5-13 year olds)
- General public
- Language community
- Mental health
- Parents
- Preschool (0-5 year olds)
- Unemployed/low income
- Voluntary and community sector
- Volunteers
- Youth (14-25 year olds)
How the charity works
- Arts
- Community development
- Community enterprise
- Cultural
- General charitable purposes
- Medical/health/sickness
- Playgroup/after schools
- Rural development
- Volunteer development
- Youth development
