Talking Therapy - Cinemas, Collaboration and Creativity in the Community With Peter Laisen

Transcript

Nobody give me sin for this That’s reason why I try both If all is cold I can see a thousand times all day Ask against mental illness The charity is run by a Danish guy who lived in Scotland called Peter Leisen who also owns a picture house and intends to restore it to its former glory in the coming years At some point a couple of years ago Peter was on the hunt for people who could help him build this arts charity and I put my hand up I’ve since been on a whirlwind journey that has seen us become collaborators and close friends and us delivering some stuff that I thought I’d never be able to do This interview was originally recorded just to get his thoughts down on what the crew was and what it represented But listening back to this I was blown away by the spirit, optimism and ambition here and I wanted to share it It’s a great interview and not just of local interest I’ve been banging on for years now that the antidote to the widespread social divisions that we observe pretty much everywhere at the moment is community and cooperation By creating bonds on shared issues and activities we can build bridges between ourselves and those who may have different backgrounds and opinions from us As a community we can generate optimism and action and work together to fight the ills of society while also forging lasting friendships and bringing something positive, inclusive and fresh to the world It could be via sports, caring the community, gardening, gaming, spirituality, inclusivity, the arts or all the above The point is the community, the relationships and the webs we spin that bind us together So go out there, find an organisation that suits you and your particular proclivity and get involved, be it online or in the real world This is the story behind the community that I found in the words of its founder I hope you enjoy it I intend to do a few more episodes on creativity in the community in the coming months So watch this space I’ll see you soon, bye I’ve always driven up and down the high street here and wondered what this building was all about It was looking a bit different from anything else I’ve always been curious And then when the for sale sign came up, that was the first time I realised, alright, okay, this is now changing hands It’s always been boarded up for about 10 years So I’ve always wondered what was going to happen The first time I went up for sale, I wasn’t in a position to really do anything about it But I subsequently learned that when I went up for sale and was up for auction sale On the day of the sale, the building got listed So a local group of people had canvassed for trying to get the council to list the building And it was listed on the day of the auction, so the auction sale fell through Chris, the previous owner, then wondered what to do And a year later, so he essentially put it back up for auction as a listed building And that’s really when I saw it again, booked a viewing And I remember it absolutely vividly Going in and walking up the main staircase, the feature staircase, up into the projection room And I opened the two doors into the gallery And I just remember being absolutely blown over With the fact that this amazing 1926 Art Deco cinema was hidden behind this To most kind of nondescript frontage hook But the amazing thing is, it’s been in the same family for 60 years It has started to dilapidated somewhat But it has been looked after, and there’s very little we can’t see The original bones of the building, the original colours, the original carvings, features, light fittings It’s all there So I just remember looking and thinking, oh my god, it’s like stepping 100 years back in time And I really got that feeling up my spine And that’s when I realised that I should try to preserve this I put my bed in for the auction, and I won the auction So I was the happy owner of a 1926 Art Deco small town cinema in Oxford Island So that’s really where the journey began So the first thing you do when you suddenly have a building like that And you start to say, what can we do? And you start a feasibility study And that’s really when we realise the history of the building So if I take you back to 1926 when it was built So it was a cinematic kind of entrepreneurial time More and more business people realised there was a market for purpose built picture houses before then There had been cinema in community halls, and scouts halls, and churches and so on But there wasn’t really purpose built So it was built with a couple of retail units It had a tea room upstairs And you’ll see in some of the press, it was like a palace They described it as a palace And remember this was Art Deco, it was like post international exhibition in Paris So it wasn’t actually like a modern cinema, which is essentially a black box This was a cinema in pastel colours and Art Deco design And a cream carved ceiling in Preston Which is like an 1860 American kind of design It very quickly became the hub of the community That’s where people met, that’s where people socialised They got the news from the cinema And it was genuinely, genuinely like an anchor point for the community So back in 1926, it was silent movies So the first film that was shown in the picture house were the Gold Rush with Charlie Chaplin And there is a musicians’ pick in the cinema We don’t quite know if there was actually musicians or piano players sitting playing down there But back in the 1920s, the first period of the cinema’s life would have been silent movies with live music People would come in, they would get the news They would sing the national anthem at the end of the shows People would sneak out quickly to avoid having to sing it And then in the early 30s, and if you look in the cinema You’ll see there’s a sound chamber behind the original screen That wasn’t there in the beginning, so that was in the early 1930s Where the speakeas suddenly became a thing And obviously colour as well So colour and sound were introduced over a period of time And being a new cinema, obviously you had to upgrade So in the early 1930s, the Octolara cinema became a speakeas cinema And then the following couple of decades were really the prime for cinema ever It was the boom of Hollywood It was just incredible, the amount of films that were made And in 1946, in the UK, 32 million people went to the cinema every single week So if you take the elderly and the babies out of that total population number And see, actually, almost a full population went to the cinema every single week Which is just incredible Well this was before common ownership of televisions, right People would be able to sit at home with the wireless But they couldn’t watch things This was the only place they could go and watch the things that were coming out of Hollywood Absolutely, I mean, mainly Hollywood But obviously, I mentioned Hollywood because it was the heyday of Hollywood But there was actually booming cinema and film production everywhere It was worldwide at sorts But you’re actually right, and to be honest The TV was what eventually had to kind of affect all the cinemas So in the Octolara Picture House, or the Regal as it was called at that point Was sold to the Antiques family in 1962 And that was as a direct result of the TV coming into more and more homes Numbers of people going to the cinema was reducing And all cinemas had to kind of figure out what to do next Some cinema survived and continued as cinemas Some cinemas were converted to bingo halls If you look across the country, if you go into a bingo hall It’s very likely there is a false ceiling And if you pop your head through the false ceiling Above that, you’ll probably see an old cinema So that was how most cinemas were converted into bingo halls For this particular one in Octolara There was a survey of the local population And the rumor has that actually it was really in favor of keeping the cinema Or having a bingo hall But the Lord promised we’re having none of the idea of having a bingo hall in Octolara And so it was kind of shelved So the thing I haven’t really talked about is why build it Because it’s lovely to preserve an amazing old 1926 cinema And to be honest, that is the romance of this project To be able to restore something back to exactly how it was For the original purpose And we can do that because we can see everything that was there So that is amazing But it’s only amazing if it does something for the local community And the people that it touches So we set up the Octolara picture house crew Which is essentially going to be the charity that is going to run this place And the idea is that when we get the building refurbished And we run it as a venue An amazing historic venue with two auditoriums A restaurant, a bar, a cafe, two retail units An art library and multi-use space towards the back Then all the profits from this place will go into outreach work And outreach work for what? Well, the Octolara picture house crew Is a charity that wants to support anybody Who needs or could benefit from a creative journey And a creative journey can really be anything Anything that supports that person In terms of expressing themselves Finding like-minded people Getting camaraderies or new friends A sense of belonging And essentially also an opportunity to showcase what they do Some people have very hidden talents Sometimes there’s prohibitors to people Starting their creative journey in the first place And actually just beginning to think about it or joining in And suddenly it can go from strength to strength And they can find tremendous pleasure Some of it is about the outputs It’s lovely to obviously write a piece of poetry And recite it in front of other people Or it could be that somebody paints a picture And again is brave enough to put it out there and get critiqued But quite often it’s being part of the process Of actually creating the artwork in the first place Creating the piece of poetry Making a short film An animation film Or maybe carve a piece of wood Or anything really The latest group of creatives we have Is a group that do miniature painting of warhammer And dungeons and dragons Mini figurines And again that’s a completely different kind of hobby From some of the other things we did But it’s a lovely addition to what we do So you take a very broad view of creativity And so you’re effectively I mean go into what this practically looks like in a little bit But effectively you’re looking for people who just want to do stuff So it could be ballet It could be we’ve got obviously already got performance But you’ve got writers But pottery I don’t know Just chair making I’m looking at a chair So the point here is to support anyone who’s doing anything creative Regardless of their purpose And to give them support on a platform To either meet other people To make their creations Support them to make their creations I imagine if someone wanted to make a film A short film say Might not have enough people To help them make it They might not have the right equipment Or access to the right equipment And so on And the crew could put its weight behind Supporting that person to deliver that Maybe a bit of help with funding Blah blah blah And that’s sort of the wider thing here Someone just wants to learn how to do some watercolour To someone who actually wants to make a movie And it’s sort of anything in between That’s exactly it Because we have to realise That we’re all completely different people And a creative journey for one person Can be completely different from a creative journey for another So we’re not really trying to dictate What the creative journey is We’re not really trying to dictate How it starts How it’s developing And how it’s evolving into maybe Multiple creative journeys Or multi-disciplined creative journeys What we really want to do is encourage people Who might have an urge to do something But don’t do it So why wouldn’t they do something then, Conor? It could be a confidence issue It could, as you say, it could be a resource issue It could be a knowledge issue It could be just an absolute kind of An anxiety issue of If I actually start to do that What will happen? Will I not be able to pay my bills? Will I find a dead end And actually get depressed about it? Will I be ridiculed? Yeah, absolutely There’s a lot of kind of unknowns When you try to do something So our point is like Trying to support, facilitate, enable Remove prohibitors, remove barriers And that can be simple things That can be just creating an environment That’s actually welcoming And that doesn’t have prejudice Or judge you Or dictate to you anything You can actually just come and participate On your own agenda Or your own kind of readiness But then of course If you then opt in And participate in whatever capacity Then we want to make sure that you can then Expand on that initial engagement And that can be that you either want to Participate in more It can be that you have an idea you want to do So it requires materials, space The teaching, coaching, mentoring And then there’s all the boring things that go with some of this stuff If you do something and you Want to show it something You might need something like marketing You know If you organize an event You need things like licenses You need insurance All these kind of things that for most people are Not the strong point It’s not really core to what they’re trying to do And they have real prohibitors to Actually just going on that creative journey that you want So the crew is all about Removing barriers, support And facility and showcase But what is the crew and what is its relationship With the building of the cinema The picture house So the crew is a group of people How do you think about it as an entity I mean it’s also a charity So it’s a registered charity It’s a registered charity It’s got four trustees Who have got different skills A lot of effort is clearly going into The kind of the project of creating the picture house But this is back to Why do you create a cultural hub A cultural kind of or a heritage centre An art centre That is clearly because you want to fill it with people that enjoy spending time there So the crew is always Is a charity that wants to create A heritage centre An art centre A cultural centre For Octorada and the community beyond It is essentially about impacting people’s lives Making it a nice environment And we’re not ashamed of saying that we are Going to cheat the actual venue as a business And try to run it as a profitable business And then all the profits from the business Will go into the charitable outcomes or purposes Which is supporting people’s creative journey That is not necessarily happening on the premises In the picture house So the picture house is a vehicle An income generating venture project That will enable all these creative journeys Either in the picture house Because we’re already hoping that a lot of things will be showcased in the picture house But actually it’s glass root Glass root kind of activities, workshops That can happen anywhere At the moment we do lots of events in the Aiden Hall in Octorada We’ve done events in the churches In collaboration with the scouts And as it is right now We are organizing events and activities in the picture house But obviously if that has to close Because we want to regenerate it and renovate it Then we will use all sorts of venues across the community area To do all these activities And so there’s a group of volunteers already There’s quite a few Some central core You’ve obviously got the charity and the trustees But on the ground you’ve got We’ll go into the individual groups in a bit But there is ultimately there’s a sort of a strata of leadership And then a big pool of just people who have volunteered their time And so that could be manning the door to an exhibition It could be putting up display boards for an art exhibition It could be doing the makeup for a theatre production It could be doing the electrics or something for a theatre production So there’s a group of people with a diverse set of skills Who have all regularly or one point or another Given their time freely to support something the crew is doing Absolutely. The crew is only the crew through all the wonderful people That give up their time to support their activities And naturally as we talked about earlier We’re not prescribing anything We’re not dictating how things are run So anybody can come along and kind of come up with a good idea Come up with a discipline that they would like to do So some people will have leadership skills They are driven They might have a real desire to help others and shape a program So we have been really fortunate over the last two or three years That we have been able to launch like dedicated programs for certain disciplines And you have to write there’s leaders within those disciplines They have kind of taken the taking charge and they are making things happen Within that discipline, whatever it is There are activities, events And they, quite often, they are either led by the leaders Or maybe somebody who is like what we call an events leader or an activity leader So to give you an example Within the arts community, the crew art We have a leadership team And they kind of look at the capabilities The strategic kind of approach to everything I guess they kind of verify that everything is sensible and achievable and so on But in terms of actually carrying out lots of the activities That can be any number of people stepping up And saying I’ll take charge of this I will lead this group I will teach this group Or I will organize this and then get other people to come and help Underneath the leaders, there is a large group of volunteers Who simply just want to be part of something that is clearly good for people They enjoy other people’s company There is a real camaraderie We know we are doing something really good for a lot of people We can see that the overall scope of the program is expanding We can see more and more people participating And that is just so joyful for so many people And there is such a variety because of some people They would like to be really practical We talked about the drama group There are so many different things There is a make up There is costumes There is props There is all the technology, lighting, video, audio So there is lots of different things If you actually want to become an actor Or maybe write a piece Then that is more creative But actually you can be part of a creative team With being practical with your hands And maybe be behind the scenes But actually making it happen So there is a role for so many different kind of people And again, we have volunteers Youngsters, kids that are volunteering And we have lots of people right into their late retirement And as you have suggested there There is no restriction here A lot of the people who join up to do some level of volunteering Have no prior experience in any of the arts That they are helping with And it is not in the least bit an entry criteria It happens to be an arts based program But it is to bring anyone in Whether they have got any experience Or any interest in experience Because we put on the art exhibitions And we said there is going to be refreshments So we had volunteers manning the refreshments And so anyone can come along And some people have a prior career A prior speciality And obviously they can offer that to the charity As a volunteer or as a program leader Or as an events leader I mean that is magical Because clearly if you get some very competent people They are able to pass on their competencies to others And that can only be a good thing But equally a lot of people come along And do something for the first time And that is the beginning of them learning about that And growing in confidence and so on And the other thing is the kind of idea that You come along You grow in confidence You grow in skills And then suddenly you become the one that is passing on to others Or maybe take charge of a certain thing Because you are now under the skin of whatever you are doing And now you can actually lead others But there is really no specific way of getting involved And that is the whole point We want to try to be as inclusive and open and accessible Most of what we do is completely free as well We want to make sure that is not the financial situation of anybody’s private economy That should stop them participating A good example was back to our miniature painting class That requires some equipment It requires some materials and so on And we provided that So anybody who comes along Have a try before they can come And they don’t have to do anything They don’t have to buy anything They don’t want to bring anything They can literally come and try it out More hammer is expensive I can imagine it sounds like a brand But my point is they all said maybe next to somebody Who has been in that hobby for five years And has spent a lot of money on it And can spend a lot of money on it They might be very ambitious They might go to exhibitions with it They might go to competitions with it But again mixing that up And having an environment where people at different levels Can sit side by side And enjoy the hobby together And enjoy inspiration That’s what it’s really about I mean we’ve had people in Obviously my side is on the art The art exhibition side But people who have come along And they’re just turning up to man Just to man the doors or something And you know, no I’m not an artist I’ve got no previous I just want to help out And then they do that a couple of times And I cut the times And end up chatting to them And they go Yeah well I’ve been drawing for years Or I’ve been painting for years And it’s like Okay so you are an artist And no no no I’m not an artist And it’s People don’t think of it like that way Like I do this as my hobby And you do that You must be like professional And it’s not really like that at all And I think that even being involved in that experience People see that actually Oh no That they’re the same as me I could be doing this too And I think there’s a lot of people out there And I can use my area But I guarantee the people involved in the theatre And all of these things People will turn up And don’t really see themselves as part of that Suddenly become part of it And they already had the skills And some of the things these people turn up with You know, blows my mind You know what I mean How could you say you’re not an artist You know what I mean And I think that’s People sometimes just need to permiss shit They need to be in an environment whereby They can just pipe up and say Well actually I do do a bit of this Can I show you something And it’s safe And it’s open And sometimes they’ll turn up with something that’s Okay You’re quite a beginner at this But that’s an opportunity Let’s grow you Or sometimes someone turns up with something amazing And you’re just like Wow, how can we get this out in front of the public And I think We almost think about it like a pipeline But I think Taking the more holistic view as you’re saying If we can get someone in to come and just help out a bit With some carpentry on the theatre They may be young and end up doing that as a career That’s what it’s for, right? Absolutely And don’t get me wrong The crew’s very ambitious So we like to do things well You mentioned the theatre element of the crew The crew drama And we’ve invested a lot of money In making it really really good And that includes a lot of technology And technology is obviously very exciting There’s so much to do Video, audio, lighting, control And absolutely there are future careers to be discovered By getting involved And being supported And that is very important And when I say future careers It’s not just for kids Or youngsters I mean that could be any time in your life Where suddenly you get exposed to something And you think This is great This is something I really enjoy This is actually making me smile when I get out of bed Because I need to go and do this And I really enjoy it And I mean I don’t know Me personally I’ve never been to like a stand-up as such But obviously we now through crew words Launched standalone Which is like an open mic night Every last Wednesday of the month And I remember sitting in on the first one So people go up They get five minutes of fame So you book a slot And you can recite poetry You can recite the story You can tell jokes You can sing a song It doesn’t really matter Some people would do all of that Yeah And I was totally blown away Because I’d never been in that environment And the variety was just insane It was like Just some people was How they felt that day Other people had like An angle on something from Their work Or their family Or a holiday And they were reflecting on these things And I was actually blown away And I haven’t been brave enough myself To go up in front of the mic For five minutes yet But I’m actually considering Like what should I do Because I want to go up there And say my thing, you know And I remember people sitting in the audience Who were not on the list So they had come to the event They were not on the list to do something But they got so inspired They went up in the break and said Do you know what? I’ve got something on my phone that I’ve written Can I go and perform it as well? So it has this real kind of energy And synergy about it And I bet you When people walk back from events like this You are creatively stimulated You can’t wait to do something Well, and it raises an interesting point That we haven’t really covered yet Which is, for one of the better terms, the audience And so obviously we’re putting on You’re putting on arts-based stuff But it wouldn’t be much of a theatre show If no one turned up to see it It wouldn’t be much of an art exhibition If no one came in And so obviously The art exhibition’s been going on for quite a long, longer We’ve had many, many hundreds of people Through the door for over ten local art exhibitions With local artists And obviously the people who turned up for your cinema nights The people who came to the theatre The people who turned up for stands alone And as you say, some of them turned up for entertainment And that’s all they want But others, the spectres of cinema Was such an incredible, ambitious production And so many people saw it from the local community And this is what’s good advertising, right? Well, I mean, the spectres of the cinema So it was really apt because they actually told the story of the cinema So it was the story of the manager It was the story of the pianist It was the story of the orchards It was the story of the people that actually went to the cinema We had the architect there We had the entrepreneur, Birakria We had the doorman We had the ticketing office You know, we had all the people that had been in the cinema back in the day And we told their story And yeah, it was very ambitious We had a lot of people coming through It was a production in a dilapidated building So everything that we put in for the production was essentially a pop-up But incredible quality I’m sure everybody will agree And the fact that we had to put more tickets on after the first week We realised we could fit a wee bit few or more people in And so after the first night, there were six shows over three nights So two shows a night So we had the first two shows, realised we could put a few more in And they just sold out straight away Which is, again, the word of mouth And the fact that, oh, actually, there’s something good, you know And this is the other thing When people invest time, they can be to go along And nib in for 15 minutes to watch some pictures in an art exhibition Or to say, I’ll go along And watch a drama production for an hour, an hour and a half Or come in and watch a film at our cinema weekends It’s all about making sure when people leave That they think, that was really worth it I’m really glad that I spent that amount of time on this That was spent better this way than most other things I could have done with my time And that’s what it’s really about It’s about making sure that people have really good experiences And that we exceed expectations And I think what we have seen so far is We do exceed expectations Because actually, there is an incredible amount of talent And if you make an effort to showcase it, to facilitate it, to house it Then, honestly, it is a real treat So several of the actors in the specs of the cinema Are members of the drama group These guys are retirees who never acted before And never considered being part of a drama They’re not old thespians, as it were And so that, for me, is the concept in motion In that hundreds of people came to see a show And some of those people were only acting In that show because of the existence of crew Yeah And some of the young ones as well Absolutely But what’s really amazing is there’s a real momentum now A real excitement The drama group is now looking at a two year plan Trying to see how much they can fit in without overdoing it And I know, for instance, one of the young actors Is now writing a play So that’s another thing One of the, it’s an amateur actor But he’s so inspired about what is possible When you actually get the support to put on a real production That he said, well, I actually want to go and write my own play now It was a new discipline for him But he’s got the right people around him They’ll support him And I’ve heard some feedback and it’s coming along fantastic So there we go Somebody who has never thought of writing themselves Suddenly finds the confidence to do it When we first met When you were looking for people to do anything really Under the crew banner and I said Well, I’ve done some art exhibitions When I lived down south in Windsor So maybe we could try doing that and I’ve got some artworks I didn’t know any artists locally I’d only lived here for a couple of years And I didn’t really know how I was going to do it I just was part of a group down south And so I had very low expectations of what we were going to do But I was like, well, I’ve got to do something I’ve got all these artworks I want to show them There must be other artists around here But I didn’t know anything And so we started talking about this And in my mind we were going to have two or three artists And hope that some people would turn up And the art group down south Sometimes we’d do art exhibitions And three people would come in And so there were more artists than there were punters Well, that was in February that year By May that year we put on the first exhibition We had ten artists These gargantuan display boards With their own lighting And we got five or six hundred people in And I was just stood there in the corner At this place with my artworks up on my panels Going, what the hell just happened? Because if it had just been what I said That would have been cool I would have been happy with that That’s what I had in mind What we delivered And then we delivered another three, four times Was a professional exhibition And I never dreamed I would be doing that I just didn’t dream I’d be doing that I’ve got a lot of confidence in my ability as an artist But not in my ability to deliver art exhibitions Hell no, I’m like practically phobic of organization So we talked That was the first sort of big project that we did That you put on And I think it really goes to show It’s like don’t do things by half Make it high quality Do it properly And everyone is elevated And now there’s a big community of artists 25 plus artists have all contributed Right? And displayed many thousands of pounds Have been made by art being displayed Some of that money’s gone back into the crew And it’s a sort of virtuous cycle And then obviously we put on the open studios Where we opened the whole of the cinema With 30 artists last year, last autumn With many hundred people through the door With our artworks all in the auditorium And having our artwork shown in that space Was absolutely incredible And then about a month later You transform the place for spaces of cinema So if anyone listening to this is under any illusions There’s no ambition I think you should think again Yeah, there is a lot of ambition It’s funny how words have got certain connotations Ambition could be a frightening word for some human And that’s the thing that the crew is all about Is trying to have ambition at the same time as You know, being absolutely down to earth Open-minded, accessible and inclusive Because this is not about showing off This is about putting the best foot forward It’s about making an impression It’s about when you ask people to spend time Volunteering, coming along as a punter If people invest time You almost have a duty to try your best And that’s what this is about And that’s a good lesson in life as well To actually put your best foot forward Make it the best it can be You don’t need to measure against others And this is the thing Actually be happy in your own skin Have small goals Be pleased with what you achieve There’s another story Because we also hosted two book festivals One in 2023 And then again in November 2024 And again, the story is a wee bit the same As you described, Alex I remember speaking to Kathleen and Kirsty Who leads the kind of crew books And they were talking about doing this Book festival in conjunction with a coffee morning And so on It just grew and grew and grew And the confidence about the project And so on grew And we ended up having an amazing event With again, more than 20 authors were there We had 12 different workshops We had storytelling, creative writing, crime writing, poetry writing It was just like such a variety again So many things for so many different people And we had the kids in doing arts and crafts And there was a real buzz about it And you’ll remember that we did our art exhibition And I remember maybe a few kids, one for their parents To get through all the paintings And get out of the building as soon as Because they were a bit bored And then we learned how to motivate the kids And get the kids involved And actually, two or three art exhibitions later It was the parents not trying to drag their kids back out After an hour Because the kids were still in the zone Doing their art, enjoying being there So, you know, it’s just fantastic And on the book side and the author side And so on, we also really come a long way Because last year in March, in 2024 March We opened the Creative Hub in the actual cinema Which is a more permanent kind of space and environment Where crew books have created like a secondhand bookshop Which is really, really nice It’s just so cozy now Open two days a week And we obviously sell books We take donations of books and so on But the amount of activities that are here, surprises And a lot of people come in and just reflect on life Have a cuppa, talk about literature Clearly, the crew books is very closely linked to crew words So poetry, literature, storytelling It’s all interlinked, you know So we’ve got this really nice space Which is also used for lots of workshops Either by the artist Or for the creative writing class Which is taking place here also So that’s again a great new place But yeah, it’s all going from strengths to… Yeah, I mean it’s interesting When you started talking about the picture house Back in its heyday was the community hub As much as it was a place to come and see movies And almost we’ve come back full circle now And it’s a little bit more modest at the moment Until the development’s done But there is this hub where people can come And it doesn’t have to be about the books You can just come and hang out and chat And exchange ideas and stuff We’ve talked about crew arts quite a lot You’ve got anything to add to that? Well, crew art was the first group that formed under By Through Yourself, Alex, you know And it kind of… I guess we learned a lot from that How to go on this journey together And I know you… And thanks for saying you’re overwhelmed With the first exhibition, you know You’ve made it better along And we realized there’s different ways to do things And different audiences and so on So that’s gone from strengths to strengths I mean, interestingly, one of my learnings about that Because, you know, I’ve had a bit of a choppy couple of years And my mental health has been extremely variable And I think one of my learnings about it all was A, yes, I can do it almost regardless of what state I’m in And B, my ambition is only really limited by me And so I’ve had to dial it back a bit to catch my breath Because we did so much up to autumn last year And I just needed to stop And just mend myself But it’s that sense that when I can come back to this When I can really get my head back into it I’m only limited by my ambition If we can do anything like we did at the end of last year Then, you know, I don’t even know I’ve done how you taught that, right? So, yeah, I mean, I think it’s really, really exciting The art group has also done some amazing other things So we collaborate with other groups within the community And to mention a few, we’ve collaborated with the Rotary Young competition, so young artist, young photographer, young writer And they run also young musician And young sports person of the year And you’ll remember when we did the exhibition last year We took all the entries from the young artist And young photographer competitions And we framed all their work and we actually put it on display So that was a really nice way of giving a bit to that competition And seeing the youngsters coming in with their parents To see their art on the wall And we also collaborated with the local community school And we’ve actually helped them do arts classes within the school And within the curriculum I think expressive arts is not funded particularly well nowadays And actually it’s quite sad to hear how the schools are struggling With resources, struggling with teachers and classrooms And so on So the fact that we can assist them in making the whole faculty better And give kids a chance to actually get inspiration from creative arts And expressive arts is really important So we’re doing great there And also to exhibit with or meet several professional artists And see that this is a viable path for them So we’re bringing this to a close Outside of the redevelopment of the cinema What’s the ambitions for the crew specifically? Maybe the next 12 months or so So we are a very young charity We’ve only been a registered charity for the last year We’re building our foundation for everything we do We do have our vision And it’s a difficult vision But the vision is that we would want to spend as little money as possible ever on administration So when we look at charities across the country Some are amazing and they spend 100% of their income fundraising on the charitable purpose Others are spending half of what they make on making more administration ready And we really want to become a charity that spends 100% of our profits 100% of our fundraising on our charitable outcomes Why is that hard? It’s hard because obviously if you don’t have employees If you don’t have like a back office that is like professional and paid for doing what they do It is a wee bit harder to drive things Keep to deadlines and so on And that’s the kind of challenge that we are working through But our vision is that 100% of our money should go to the charitable purposes And our volunteers are helping us do that That’s why our volunteering is so amazing But clearly there are some administrative things in the background and so on And we are working through that and trying to make sure that we can actually deliver these ambitious plans Without suddenly getting bogged down in paying for too much administration But the vision is to keep going Keep collaborating across our groups Keep getting more and more people involved Making sure people are supported, excited, inspired And then God knows where it will take us I think we have a really good thing going here And we will obviously push that as far as we can in our local community But it’s like anything If you do something well, if something works Other people can copy it and then potentially do it So if we find that something has worked really well Then we want to share our knowledge with others We might even share some of our infrastructure with others To make sure that this charitable purpose is as far reaching as we can make it But obviously right now it’s all about just getting our group together Get our leaders supported Getting our events and activities and leaders supported in what they do And making sure our volunteers enjoy being part of this And we’re always welcoming more volunteers if people want to come along It’s a great group to be part of And yeah, we’ll just go from strength to strength In terms of plans, I probably was only really asking ironically Since we started 2024 with some pretty well-defined plans And didn’t do any of them But we did some of them But what we delivered was arguably big and more ambitious And some of the stuff that was delivered at the end of the year Simply didn’t exist in our brains at the beginning of the year And so there’s not just ambition, there’s speed And it’s dynamic and it’s ever-changing And new stuff’s being brought in all the time So yeah, I’m sure it’s going to be another exciting year If people want to get involved, what should they do? So anybody can get involved As I say, we have four categories of ways to get involved One is if you know about a discipline, know about an activity You think that would be a great thing to do You have some know-how, you can maybe take the lead on it Then we would love you to get in touch and say I would like to do X, Y and Z This is what I think is involved Will you support us? And I can’t always say the answer will always be yes But if it is about supporting people’s creative journeys Removing barriers and be completely inclusive The answer is probably yes So if you have a dream of bringing something to others Then we will support you If you are interested in any of the groups we already have But don’t quite want to be the leader But actually can participate as an event leader, activities leader Then come along, step forward, help us deliver our programmes Make sure you showcase your talent, pass it on to others That would be amazing So we have our programme leaders and then our events and activities leaders within each group But then we have this massive group of volunteers who makes everything happen It is a great group to be part of You can choose to be involved as much as you want Some people are just occasionally part of the team Others are there all the time It is entirely up to you There is such a variety of things to do It can be anything from opening the door, welcoming people Shifting out, building exhibition walls It can be catering, teas and coffees It can be clearing up It can be anything really that we need to do So volunteering And then you can participate You don’t actually need to be a volunteer or a leader You can just participate Keep in touch, look what we are doing Make sure you support the activities So if you do an architect exhibition Come, speak to the artist, encourage the youngsters You know, that is part of the wellbeing of everybody as well That actually the audience has come And they are excited and they participate and they engage And so, brilliant, thank you for that There is, so there is currently a holding Patreon website But it has contact details on it So if you go to aphcrew.co.uk You will find various email addresses Some of the groups have direct email addresses There is a central mailbox Info.opthradapicturehouse.co.uk So you can contact us if you have got any questions Or if you want to get involved Or anything like that You just want to put your hand up for potential future volunteering There will be a proper website at some point soon When I finish building it But I think that is about it for the moment, isn’t it? Any other things you need to mention before we clock off? We do have a website for the Picturehouse Which is octorarapictures.co.uk So if you want to subscribe to our newsletter You will get our newsletter from time to time We try not to spam people with too much But it allows you to keep in touch And just see what is going on The other thing is you can follow us on Instagram Or Twitter Or TikTok So if you search for octorarapicturehouse.co.uk Or just octorarapicturehouse I am sure you will find us And you will see there is lots of posts on there As and when we do stuff Brilliant Well thanks for your time It has been very entertaining and informative And hopefully more people will come and join the fun Thanks Alex No worries, thank you Somebody give me some more tea That’s reason why I try both Just follow those eyes And see a thousand times a day Ask against mental illness