Chapter receives three-year funding from BFI National Lottery Audience Projects Fund
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Chapter is pleased to announce that it has received a substantial, three-year grant from the BFI Audience Projects Fund awarding National Lottery funding to support the “exhibition and distribution of ambitious, audience-facing film and immersive projects of national scale”.
This funding will support a new phase of audience development activity, deepening relationships with communities who face the greatest barriers to accessing film, including Global Majority young people, D/deaf audiences, LGBTQIA+ people and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
Chapter's work builds on a track record that includes offsite community projects at Grange Pavilion and Caerau Ely Hub, film festivals with partners, including Watch Africa, Kotatsu Japanese Animation Festival, Safar Film Festival and Cardiff Animation Festival, a collaboration with June Givanni PanAfrican Cinema Archive, and a previous BFI Audience Projects Fund award for 2023-26.
“Film contains such pleasures as an art form, it’s exciting to know that we can continue our work with audiences who’ve been excluded and invite them to shape our programme with us. The world of cinema should be for everyone and it’s thrilling to know we’re laying the foundations for film culture to thrive in Cardiff.”
Reel Futures, Chapter's Global Majority film collective, will be supported through a three-year pathway developing young local participants into cultural leaders. Over the course of the programme, an alumni member will take on a part-time Audience Engagement Assistant role before the group deliver a public Global Majority cinema takeover, a festival of films chosen and co-curated by them.
“This work starts with belonging. Reel Futures gives young people the space to build confidence, take ownership and shape culture in ways that reflect their lived experience. Support like this from the BFI helps make that possible.”
Running alongside this, Deaf Film Club will continue to develop as a monthly screening programme with BSL discussion. Building on three years of audience-led work, the next phase will expand to include more films by D/deaf filmmakers and actively encourage crossover between D/deaf and hearing audiences — moving toward a fully integrated cinema experience.
The funding represents a continued commitment from Chapter to work with Cardiff's most underrepresented communities to co-create its cinema programme.
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Reel Futures: From learning to leadership
Kofi Acheampong shares why this programme is about more than film: it's about building the trust, confidence and pathways that let young Global Majority people shape culture on their own terms.