Acton Arts CIC
Acton Arts Project is a Community Interest Company made up local residents. Our shared objective was to stop the Old Library building on Acton High Street, which has Asset of Community Value status, being sold to developers. Our aim was always to restore its appearance and to return it to community use. We have been working together with this goal for over four years.
We decided in the early days that a cinema would be the ideal way to re-purpose the ground floor of the building. Supported by research and visits into other independent cinemas and advice from the Independent Cinema Office we have partnered with Oliver Meek (Rio, Dalston) as our cinema operator.
Due to the social restrictions imposed by the pandemic and its impact on the film industry, we are creating a pop-up cinema. This is a single screen, simply constructed with a bar and cafe run by local traders. There is also a large gallery space that will be available for exhibitions and a variety of other functions and a beautiful room for additional space.
In addition to the Spacehive/ crowdfunding campaigns, we have secured a Film Exhibition Fund award from Film Hub London to support our opening programming. We are also working with the Architectural Heritage Fund with advice and funding applications for the restoration of this beautiful, Grade II, listed building.