Light House Media Centre, often simply referred to as Light House, is a cinema, gallery and media hub for

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...

and the surrounding area. Light House is located within the historic former Chubb Locks Factory in the city centre. They describe themselves as: :: "a beacon for the creative industries; source of illumination on all aspects of media; guide and educator to all ages in pursuit of creative media and film knowledge; home to diverse array of film, animation and photography"Light House
/ref> Light House is a non-profit making organisation and so is largely funded and supported by both regional and national external media orientated sources. The main supporters of Light House are Arts Council West Midlands, Wolverhampton City Council,

UK Film Council The UK Film Council (UKFC) was a non-departmental public body set up in 2000 to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It was constituted as a private company limited by guarantee, owned by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and ...

, Screen West Midlands,

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Advantage West Midlands Advantage West Midlands was established in 1999 as one of nine regional development agencies (RDAs) in England. RDAs were created by the UK Government to drive sustainable economic development and social and physical regeneration through a bus ...

University of Wolverhampton The University of Wolverhampton is a public university located on four campuses across the West Midlands, Shropshire and Staffordshire in England. The roots of the university lie in the Wolverhampton Tradesmen's and Mechanics' Institute founde ...

and Europa Cinemas Network. Light House has been supported to develop its media education activity as an Education Hub through Screen WM's Investment Fund with funds from The National Lottery through the

History

The formal opening of Light House took place on 16 March 1987 by the Mayor of Wolverhampton, Councillor Bishan Dass, although activities had already taken place since the August 1986, when it was officially founded.Light House History
/ref> Light House was then housed in the same building as Wolverhampton's Central Art Gallery, there were only three members of staff and it was a joint project of Wolverhampton Council and Wolverhampton Polytechnic (now the University of Wolverhampton). The programme guide for that period included, amongst other activities, courses in video production, seasons of science fiction films, an exhibition on India and Independence, marking the 40th anniversary of India's freedom from British rule and a conference about Black filmmaking. Today, Light House inhabits larger, partly purpose-built accommodation, is an independent company and employs 10 full-time staff and a small team of part-time staff and volunteers.Light House Staff
/ref> According to their website, they still run production courses, new exhibitions, films, educational activities, conferences and events. In addition, there are two major annual festivals and a number of activities that develop and support the growing creative industries in the city and surrounding area.

Cinema and gallery

Cinema

Light House houses two screens with a programme of contemporary and retrospective releases, archive films and new independent shorts and features. They also show a number of mainstream feature films, although far fewer, and for much shorter runs than major cinemas. They also host a range of film festivals (the most notable of which is

Flip Animation Festival FLIP is an animation festival primarily hosted by the Light House Media Centre in Wolverhampton, UK. It is one of two festivals hosted by Light House, the other of which is Deaffest. Official literature for the festival says that FLIP occurs ann ...

) and film education events.Light House Wolverhampton
/ref> They also hire their screens out for private, educational, charity or fundraising events.

Gallery

Light House has two main galleries: the main gallery is primarily dedicated to showing and supporting critically engaged documentary photography whereas the balcony gallery tends to showcase work from emerging photographers.Beyond
/ref>Beyond LH
/ref>

Media hub

Because of the courses and workshops they offer, Light House refers to itself as a 'media hub' for Wolverhampton and the West Midlands area. These courses and workshops cover subjects such as video production, animation and other forms of multimedia.Light House Training
/ref> They also pass on media knowledge through practical workshops, tailored advice, accredited training and bespoke specialist courses, all of which are open to professionals, students or interested members of the public. Light House also has a commercial production company which has been producing films since 1988.Light House Production
/ref> Their portfolio includes short films, documentaries and animated films. They also work with schools to produce films and have recently had a film shown at London Short Film Festival called ‘'Shadow Play'’ which was co-created with Redhill School,

Stourbridge Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The ...

.Light House Shadow Play
/ref>

Lock Works

Lock Works café bar is aimed as "a family friendly environment away from the hustle and bustle of the city centre". It also holds small informal exhibitions and has cases available for artists to display work in. Lock Works also acts as a third, smaller gallery largely used to house smaller or specialist photography exhibitions.Lock Works
/ref>

FLIP animation festival

FLIP is an animation festival that is primarily hosted by Light House. It has attracted a host of high-profile supporters and contributors, including BAFTA;

;

Toon Boom Toon Boom Animation Inc. is a Canadian software company that specializes in animation production and storyboarding software. Founded in 1994 and based in Montreal, Quebec, Toon Boom develops animation and storyboarding software for film, tele ...

; Digital Arts Magazine;

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

; West Midlands Animation Forum, BBC Big Screen and

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Deaffest film festival

Deaffest is the UK's only deaf-led film and television festival, which celebrates the talents of deaf filmmakers and media artists from all over the world.

External links

Light House Media Centre's websiteFlip Festival’s websiteDeaffest’s websiteDeaffest’s photos

Notes

{{reflist, 30em Wolverhampton Mass media in Wolverhampton Companies based in Wolverhampton Tourist attractions in Wolverhampton