CEALEARNING DISABILITY AND AUTISMGROUP

12 December 2014 (11:00 – 12:00)

Venue: BBFC Boardroom, 3 Soho Square, London W1D3HD

Present

Phil Clapp / CEA
Grainne Peat / CEA
Ed Thompson / Cineworld
Tony Williams / Consultant
Sarah Clarke / Dimensions
Rick Williams / Freeney Williams
Cliff Thorpe / Freeney Williams
Heather Wildsmith / National Autistic Society
Paula Redshaw / Showcase
Cassandra Rich / Vue

1.Welcome and introductions

1.1Phil Clapp (PC)welcomed everyone and explained the origins of this subgroup.

2.Notes from last meeting (12 June 2014) and other matters arising

2.1PC noted that all actions from the last meeting had been completed. Tony Williams (TW) commented positively on the accuracy of the notes from the last meeting. There were no other comments.

3.Roundtable update on Autism Friendly Screenings

3.1PC asked colleagues for an update on progress/news since the last meeting. During the discussion, the following points were made:

-Marc Lomas (ML) informed colleagues that since September, Odeon had been trialing AFS for older audiences in ten sites on Monday evenings at 18.00. Odeon will review the progress, with a hope of extending the number of sites and screenings in January. ML reported that take-up had been initially slow, picking up in the second month before dropping off again. Odeon wondered whether it was due to the content - a range of films had been used, such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Interstellar with The Hobbit and Penguins of Madagascar scheduled for the New Year;

-Rick Williams (RW) asked how many people wereattendeach screening on average, and how Odeon promoted such screenings. ML noted that the initial focus had been on local promotion in the areas around the participating sites. Screenings averaged around 20-30 attendees. He also confirmed that AFS for older audiences were sold at standard ticket price;

-Heather Wildsmith (HW) suggested that Odeon might look at scheduling screenings during the day in that many adults with autism/Asperger’s did not work full time hours. HW also suggested that operators might reach out to local authorities to obtain a list of local service providers in order to help promote the screenings in their local areas;

-Sarah Clarke (SC) introduced herself to other colleagues and explained that she had recently taken over from Kayley at Dimensions. She informed colleagues that she was looking forward to working with operators on World Autism Awareness Day;

-TW told colleagues that local outreach was the best way to market these screenings as cinema mangers had local knowledge; this was their strength and they were often best-placed to make these connections with the local community;

-PC asked HW whether it was possible for the National Autistic Society to provide a list of local service providers, appreciating this might be a somewhat laborious task. HW said that because there were so many different providers in each area the easiest solution might be for operators to make contact with their local authority directly;

-Ed Thompson (ET)introduced himself to colleagues as a new member to the group. He had taken over Susie Higgs’s role at Cineworld whilst she was on maternity leave. The company now had 75 sites providing AFS, with 1,800 admissions for the last set of AFS - the film screened was Penguins of Madagascar. At present, AFS in Cineworld siteswere focused on families, but they were looking to expand the number of screenings and include content to target an older audience base;

-RW asked operators how cost-effective AFS were for cinemas. ML said that there were so few within the scope of overall programming that it did not make a significant impact either way;

-PC asked whether cinema operators informed distributors which films would feature in AFS when booking. ML confirmed that Odeon did for example do this;

-TW re-iterated that the suggestion of screening AFS for older audiences during the day was a very good idea;

-RW noted that there seemed to have beenan increase in activity around ‘relaxed screenings’ in theatres, which were achieving significant media coverage for both commercial theatres and theatres run by local authorities;

-HW explained to the group that her role, as the Culture and Development Manager at the National Autistic Society, was a new role that had been created to expand and promote the availability of cultural activities to people with autism. HW had worked with both commercial and subsidised theatres and felt cinemas in the UK werefar ahead in terms of what they provide. She had for example asked Paul Baxter from Empire Cinemas to present and share Empire’s experiences to colleagues in theatres. They now had some exciting projects in the pipelines, largely as they have more ownership over how to deliver to audiences with autism. This included delivering successful ‘relaxed screenings’ ofThe Lion King, War Horse and Matilda;

-Cassandra Rich (CR) introduced herself, having taken over from Kate Gardhouse at Vue. AFS at Vuesites had taken place at 81 locations, predominately having a family focus in terms of content. Admissions from September through to November have been 2,500, 3,500 and 2,000, respectively. Vue had such a great response to the last NT live performance as an AFS (The Curious Incident…..) that they had started advance bookings for an AFS of the NT live performance of Treasure Island for Tuesday 31 March, which will be in support of WAAD 2015. Tickets were being sold at £15 and Vue hoped that this would attract an older audience;

-HW noted that this was also her first time at an A&LD working group and she was interested in finding out more about training provision for staff and to hear about new projects. She was determined to help change the mindset and public perception about people with autism;

-PC informed HW that in 2012 the CEA had produceddisability and access training guidelines with a supporting DVD. RW added that since the DVD had been produced, a supplementary note on AFS had also been issued as guidance for cinema operators. PC offered to share this with HW. Paula Redshaw (PR) also requested a copy of the guidelines and training DVD;

-PR said that in comparison to the other circuits, attendance figures for Showcase were considerably lower. The companyheld AFS once a month in all their sites (20 across the UK). Their highest attendance to date had been300 admissions for an AFS of Disney’s Frozen. PR acknowledged that despite the low attendance, the screenings were important for the community. Showcase had recently appointed a new sales team and PR was keen to set some new benchmarks - hopefully this would have an impact and improve the attendance figures.

ACTION: CEA to circulate ‘welcoming disabled customers’ training DVD and AFS guidance note.

4.World Autism Awareness Day 2015

4.1Grainne Peat (GP) thanked everyone for their involvement in and support forWAAD. The campaign had received a very good response from exhibitors, with 633 screenings taking place over the week and 246 onWAAD itself. Many exhibitors had used this as an opportunity to put on their first AFS, and having had such a positive response, had now gone on to make this a regular feature in their monthly programming.

4.2 GP noted that despite best efforts, the campaign did not generate the national media coverage that was anticipated. Coverage at a local level, however, was much more receptive and successful. From the feedback session in the CEA’s Autism and Learning Disability working group, there was unanimous enthusiasm to run the campaign again in 2015. That said, next year, the campaign would focus on introducing a broader range of content, more focus on local outreach and building more awareness on the lead up to WAAD 2015.

4.3GP went through the outline of the proposal for 2015, noting that all members would once again be invited to support and celebrate World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD) by hosting national ‘Autism Friendly Screenings’ in UK cinemas, for one week running Thursday2April – Thursday 8 April. GP highlighted that these dates would fall over the Easter weekend and invited operators to consider the impact this would have, appreciating that for some it would cause difficulties in programming. All normal commercial practices would still apply, leaving the number of screenings, timetabling, ticket pricing and the film to be screened entirely in the hands of the exhibitor

4.4The CEA would invite and encourage all exhibitors to participate and host a minimum of one AFS per site in as many sites as they could, to increase local awareness and outreach in communities and to focus on obtaining one feature article in national press.

4.5The 2014 campaign had co-partnered with Disney and Twentieth Century Fox, who supported the campaign with their then new releases of Muppets Most Wanted and Rio 2 respectively. While the films were both hugely popular and greatly helped attract more families, there was a clear consensus that exhibitors were keen to start screenings for older audiences. GP hoped that this might feature within the 2015 campaign but appreciated that some exhibitors would be restricted on what they could do due to numbers of screens, Easter Holiday programming and other promotions.

4.6GP noted that the main success of the 2014 campaign had been the local press and community outreach that was generated. Exhibitors achieved great responses via social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Exhibitors in small towns reached out to local schools, small charities and other not-for-profit organisations to help promote their AFS. Again, this was really well-received, particularly the support and involvement from local schools. GP stressed that it was really valuable to work with as broad a range of organisations as possible to help communicate and promote the AFS in order to benefit the largest number of people.

4.7The hope for 2015 was vastly to improve national press coverage, the hope being to secure at least one or two features well in advance of the campaign. Creating a consistent and strong ‘drumbeat’ on the intended activity from this meeting until April was something the CEA wished to integrate into the 2015 campaign. This would potentially include arranging a series of MP visits in conjunction with Dimensions.

4.8 GP invited colleagues to comment on the proposal and the following comments were made:

-TW highlighted the fact that smaller operators would be limited in their participation due to the Easter holidays and availability of screen time so programming would be challenging for some. GP asked colleagues whether it would be worth considering extending the campaign, launching the week before WAAD 2015, Thursday 26 March and running it for two weeks, through to Thursday 8 April. It was agreed by colleagues that a twoweek period would give exhibitors more flexibility to participate and work around the Easter Holiday;

-RW enquired as to whether the impending elections in 2015 would have an impact on the MP visits. PC noted that this would be factored in to the approaches made. SC confirmed that the intended approaches wouldbe with MPs that Dimensions hadestablished relationships with due to their expressed interest in AFS and people with autism. SC informed the group that the visits would ultimately be determined by the availability of local families in the particular constituencies. SC requested the help of the CEA to identify appropriate cinemas once they had identified a suitable family;

-HW asked colleagues for supporting literature to be made available to the public over the course of the campaign. GP agreed this was something she wished to incorporate and noted that in a previous conversation with Dimensions, she had suggested producing a generic ‘holding screen’ to send to exhibitors to have on their screens before the film. This would not only highlight the campaign to the general public but also bring some consistency in terms on the information delivered;

-CR informed colleagues that Vue had something similar that was displayed on the screen for 5 minutes before the film started. PC asked that this might be shared this with the group.

ACTION:WAAD 2015 campaign to run from Thursday 26 March – Thursday 8 April. CEA to circulate amended and full proposal.

CR to send a CEA the holding image.

Autismcom

5.1HW was invited to tell colleagues more about their upcoming event – Autismcom. HW explained that the one day event had been organised by fundraisers with autism for people with autism. The autism friendlyday would consist of panel discussions, creative performances, games and fundraising stalls with ‘quiet time’ zones followed by an evening social.

5.2HW would forward on more details of the event; date, timings and location. PC and RW noted they were still willing to be part of the panel discussions relating to AFS in cinemas if needed. HW also told colleagues about another fundraising event taking place – a rock concert at KOKO in Camden. PC asked HW to share this information and the CEA would happily promote both events through their social media channels.

ACTION; HW to send CEA details of the two events to circulate.

CEA will follow up with NAS on Autsimcom to further discuss involvement.

6.Any other business

6.1SC had a request to put forward to operators and explained that Dimensions had recently been contacted by Orchids, a community network magazine, over the use of hand dryers in toilets during AFS. It has been reported that the sound levels of hand dryers brought discomfort to people with autism. SC asked whether cinemas would consider switching off hand dryers in the toilets when AFS were taking place and provide hand towels for customers.

6.2PC invited colleagues to put forward any suggestions of proposals that could help benefit the work that was being done. The CEA had ring-fenced some funding to help improve and continue the work that was done around disability and access.

7.Date of next meeting

7.1PC said in light of WAAD 2015, it would seem sensible to bring the date of the next meeting slightly forward. GP suggested late February and would circulate some potential dates.

END