Cube Microplex
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The Cube Microplex is cinema and event venue in
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, England. It operates as a
non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
and is entirely staffed by volunteers. Since opening in 1998 it has hosted international and local artistic and cultural events including films and music performances as well as providing a focal point for Bristol's artistic community. The building includes a roughly 108 seat auditorium as well as a bar serving local and ethical products.


History

The wooden theatre at the heart of the Cube was adapted from a workshop by volunteers for an amateur dramatics group in 1964. The building itself has a long history as a community arts venue, built in 1916 as workshops for the Bristol Deaf Centre; and converted by a team of amateur theatre enthusiasts in 1964 into a theatre with auditorium and fly tower. A projection room and cinema screen were added in the 1970s. The Cube opened its doors in its present form in October 1998. In July 2001 a serious fire originating in the New Mayflower kitchen destroyed most of the internal storeys and timber of 4 and 5 King Square. The Cube itself only sustained minor damage, but as its public entrance was accessed via a corridor between the fire damaged restaurant and kitchen, the Microplex was cut off from use by the general public. After extensive rebuilding work, the Cube reopened in August 2002 with a new entrance on Dove Street South. In December 2013, a fund-raising project to buy the
freehold Freehold may refer to: In real estate *Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple *Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England *Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice p ...
of the Cube's building was successful in reaching its £185,000 target. On 1 April 2014 the Cube official became owned by Microplex Holdings Ltd, a non-profit Industrial and Provident Society and Community Land Trust (CLT) set up by Cube volunteers whose charter is to secure and maintain the freehold of the Cube Cinema as a community arts space in perpetuity.


Programme

The Cube's public programme averages over 350 events per year, with a monthly average attendance of 1500. Along with its cinema, music, performance and education programmes, the Cube hosts a wide range of local and international artists and community-initiated events. The film screenings include general and limited release mainstream films, art-house,
cult films A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage in ...
and work by local film makers. It offers special film screenings for mothers and babies. Regular nights have included stand-up comedy, screenings of classic or cult comedy films, and a
movieoke Movieoke (Japanese: ムービーオケ {{IPA-ja, mɯːbiːoke}) is a form of entertainment in which an amateur actor or actors perform along with a muted DVD in order to give voice to the character in the film. The film is projected onto a screen ...
evening, in which audience members act out their chosen film scenes on stage as they are played on the big screen. Weekends often feature live music and performances. The building is also periodically hired to third parties to put on their own events. The Cube has played hosts to seasons and festivals, including the Venn Festival,
Ladyfest Ladyfest is a community-based, not-for-profit global music and arts festival for feminist and women artists. Individual Ladyfests differ, but usually feature a combination of bands, musical groups, performance artists, authors, spoken word an ...
Bristol, Bristol Radical History Group, Ausform Platform of Performance and Independent Heroine festivals. Its anti-corporate ethos led to projects such as
Kate Rich Kate Rich is an Australian-born artist and trader, currently living in Bristol, United Kingdom. Her practice includes sound art, video art, social practice, hospitality, and sport art. Work In the 1990s Rich co-founded the Bureau of Invers ...
and Kayle Brandon's Cube-Cola, based on an
open source cola Open-source cola is any cola soft drink produced according to a published and shareable recipe. Unlike the secretive Coca-Cola formula, the recipes are openly published and their re-use is encouraged. The texts of OpenCola and Cube-Cola recipes ...
recipe, and Feral Trade which supplies various products to its bar using only personal social networks, including
fair trade coffee Fair trade coffee is coffee that is certified as having been produced to fair trade standards by fair trade organizations, which create trading partnerships that are based on dialogue, transparency and respect, with the goal of achieving greate ...
from a farming cooperative in
El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...
. It has its own in-house improvising orchestra, the Orchestra Cube. The Cube has a history of setting up temporary cinemas in exotic locations, including a tin mine in Cornwall. In March 2010, a group travelled to the aftermath of the
Haiti earthquake Some of the earthquakes in Haiti have been very destructive to the country. The widespread damage and high-number of casualties of events in 2010 and 2021 can be partially blamed on the fact that most of the population in Haiti resides in struct ...
to stage an open-air cinema showing mainstream and specially-created films to children, and in 2015 to Nepal following the
April 2015 Nepal earthquake The April 2015 Nepal earthquake (also known as the Gorkha earthquake) killed 8,964 people and injured 21,952 more. It occurred at on Saturday, 25 April 2015, with a magnitude of 7.8 Mw or 8.1 Ms and a maximum Mercalli Intensity of X (''Extreme ...
.


The Cube Cinema Ltd

The Cube Cinema was incorporated in 1998 as a company limited by guarantee, constituted as a democratically run worker's co-operative. Its volunteer workforce has ranged in age from 8 to 65.


References


Further reading

* Saul Albert (2003
"Who Will Be Transformed? Community Art and Excellence"
* * *


External links


Cube Microplex site

Cube Microplex web log
{{Culture in Bristol Theatres in Bristol Cinemas in Bristol Music venues in Bristol