Fundraising venture helps improve future prospects of independent cinema.
Wolverhampton’s Light House Cinema and Café Bar has smashed its Crowdfunding target – raising over £10,000 to support the future reopening of the iconic venue. As well as meeting their online target of £10,000, an additional £1400 has been raised by cheque and in-person donations since the beginning of September.
The campaign was launched four weeks ago with the aim of covering the additional costs that would be incurred in making the facilities COVID compliant. The registered charity, based in the Chubb Buildings, has a café, a gallery and two cinema screens which require specialist cleaning solutions. Light House is being assisted in the COVID safety process by local company Enpro Group.
Light House CEO Kelly Jeffs says: “We’ve had over 350 supporters contributing to our Help Us Switch The Lights Back On campaign and we’d like to thank every single one of them, both those that donated through Crowdfunder online and those that sent us donations through the post. We’ve been deeply moved by the wonderful comments we’ve received about Light House – it really confirmed to us that we’re at the heart of the community and so much more than a cinema.
“We can’t wait to welcome our audiences back as safely as possible and will be working over the next few weeks to implement our reopening strategy. We’re waiting to hear the outcome of two National Lottery funding applications through the BFI, so we’ll keep everyone updated with our progress with those, but the success of the Crowdfunder has been a fantastic boost.”
