This award will go to the person, team or organisation whose work has made an outstanding contribution over the last 12 months to any aspect of the industry.
WINNER:
TYNESIDE CINEMA
The Judges said:
The Centre Award this year is awarded to a team. A team that has — over the past twelve months — proved itself as not just as a production powerhouse, but also a talent development hub for aspiring film and TV creatives.
Oh yes, and it’s also a Cinema!
The Tyneside has been the lead organisation in the North of England delivering Channel 4 and Arts Council-funded Random Acts — an innovative education, training and production programme. Random Acts builds on the Tyneside’s experience as a development and training centre for young programme-makers, through projects including Northern Stars and The Factory. Last year they recruited, developed and produced 24 new pieces of work from a diverse range of young artists and filmmakers for the Channel 4 strand — enabling 16 to 24 year olds to make original work supported by professionals for a national broadcaster. This programme is led out of Tyneside Cinema by Ian Fenton, with support from executive producer Patrick Collerton, and delivered by a small but highly-skilled and dedicated team working with production company True North.
Outreach and recruitment workshops for Random Acts in the past twelve months have engaged more than 500 young people from a range of backgrounds, encouraging many of them to think for the first time about television as something with which they could get involved — regardless of their personal, social or economic circumstances. In addition to developing and producing work as part of the national Random Acts production initiative, Tyneside Cinema has also established a Documentary Academy, introducing young film-makers to factual production. The programme is supported by a range of established industry professionals — including directors of photography Kyle Heslop and James McAleer, and sound recordist Andy Ludbrook.
Tyneside Cinema has made a significant and lasting impact on the television, film and creative industries in the North East and Borders over the last twelve months — creating unique opportunities for young people of all backgrounds and establishing a new generation of talent.