Audience Engagement and Development at a Town and Gown Cinema

This paper presents the initial findings of a research project investigating the audience engagement and development strategies of UK ‘town and gown’ cinemas. These are independent cinemas located on a university campus or strongly affiliated with a local university that cater to both the academic community and the general population. While there is growing scholarship on audience formation and regional cinema culture in the UK, there is little understanding of the particular challenges such cinemas face as they seek to offer a wide range of films while simultaneously serving a wide range of audiences.

The paper takes as a case study the Gulbenkian cinema, situated on the University of Kent’s Canterbury campus. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data about the cinema, as well as interviews with its programming and marketing team, it examines the Gulbenkian’s current programming strategies, the relative success of different types of film screened in 2019-20 and the different types of audience that attend the cinema. It then outlines strategies that have been developed to tap into the various demographics that the cinema serves, including a number of student-focussed initiatives. In doing so, the paper offers an overview of some of the negotiations that must be made by a cinema that seeks to appeal to diverse and distinct audiences.