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AR
LÈIRSINN
THE BROADWAY
BELONGS TO YOU.
THA TAIGH-DHEALBH AIR AIS.
Tha Roadshow Taigh-dhealbh Nochd a-Steach An Broadway air an t-ainm Broadway a thoirt air ais gu Phreastabhaig! Le fiosan mòra ùra a’ nochdadh gach mìos aig an ionad sealach sgoinneil againn, Acadamaidh Phreastabhaig! Bidh sinn cuideachd a’ toirt chun an Roadshow tachartasan film sònraichte, taisbeanaidhean ruigsinneach agus fèisean film san àm ri teachd!
47 bliadhna às deidh don Broadway am film mu dheireadh aige a nochdadh, tha taigh-dhealbh air tilleadh gu Phreastabhaig!
The Broadway's future is taking shape.
With your insight, feedback, and engagement, we will work together with our chosen architects to bring your vision of the Broadway Cinema of the future to life. Below you can view an initial teaser video for a feature-length documentary on our project, produced by our official photographer and filmmaker, Gemma of Esther Morgan Photography. You can also view 'Broadway's Return', a short documentary by filmmaking students of the University of the West of Scotland, led by lecturer and producer Alex Frenguelli.
Stay tuned right here for more news on the Broadway's upcoming restoration. You can also read Chapter Five of Our History below, to outline our hopes and dreams for the future of our beloved cinema. Now in community ownership for the very first time, the Broadway truly is coming back. For all of us!
The cinema with a charm all its own.
Caibideil 5
Ri teachd le Friends of the Broadway Prestwick
When Buzzworks purchased the building in 2003, they had plans to redevelop the Broadway again as a boutique hotel, however these plans never came to fruition. Therefore, for the last 20 years the Broadway has stood silent. Until now, with the introduction of Friends of the Broadway Prestwick. Our group was founded in 2012 by local couple and lifetime friends of the project Colin and Leica Malkin, with the aim of purchasing the building and reopening the Broadway Cinema once again.
It has been a long journey since then! The project has seen multiple different iterations take shape over time. From a town charrette in 2016, to a first feasibility study published in 2017, to then an expanded board of directors in 2018 and the introduction of pop-up cinema and Prestwick Film Festival in 2019. The early years of the project's history saw multiple stumbling blocks reached and hurdles to overcome. Nevertheless, the passion for the Broadway and the energy and support from the community meant that Friends of the Broadway Prestwick continued on, until in 2020 the global pandemic caused the project to inevitably stall, as all of the Broadway's potential funding streams were redistributed to COVID relief efforts.
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This period in time also saw several directors and trustees step down from the board for personal reasons. This, combined with updated feedback from community members and new expert advice on the project's original feasibility study, prompted a new era of change, and a relaunch of the project and our goals.
We took the project back to the brickwork and re-evaluated the direction in which our community wished us to travel, what we could preserve from the Broadway in its current condition, and what change was needed to make that progress a reality.
First, we needed to establish a critical piece of information, and we got the news we were hoping for. Contrary to previous advice, we confirmed that the Broadway's original auditorium structure could be saved! This set the ball rolling for an all-new project outlook with heritage preservation at the forefront of everything we hope to accomplish. With Buzzworks' support, we got keys to the building and were able to document just how incredible a survivor the Broadway is, and the wonderful original features and atmosphere that you can still see and feel to this day. We were then able to implement temporary measures to slow the rate of deterioration in the building, and safeguard the future of the interior until the time comes that we are ready to begin the restoration process.
Secondly, we needed a new board. A new super-team of volunteers with a wide variety of experience in key areas yet with a unified vision for the future of the Broadway. We believe we have achieved that! You can now read our new Meet the Team section by clicking here and getting to know the people behind the project.
It was then time to shift into top gear and start laying the foundations for future success, with some major announcements made in the first half of 2023! In April we signed an official licence agreement with Buzzworks, becoming legal occupants of the Broadway Cinema for the first time! This represented a huge leap forward for the project, enabling us to step up our initial preservation work in the building and begin preparing for a major funding application now that the project met the necessary criteria.
Soon after in May, the second major announcement followed, in funding received from the Coastal Communities Fund for a new architectural firm to develop an all-new feasibility study and vision for the Broadway, based on the principles established in the project's relaunch. We were then delighted to officially partner with the nation's leading architects in heritage cinema and theatre restoration, Burrell Foley Fischer. Our lead architect is Faye Davies, supported by Callum Rae and Haodong Wu, and we are already hard at work together developing our initial concepts for how the Broadway Cinema of the future could look!
The heritage aspect of our project is crucial and ever expanding and evolving. In the restoration of the Broadway we will capture the soul of the Art Deco golden age cinema experience, breathing life back into the precious cinema-going memories of our past generations. We aim to preserve not only the Broadway's history but the history of all cinemas across the country, in our nation's first ever Museum of Scottish Cinemas. Cinema has played such a massive role in the cultural and built heritage of our country's towns and cities, with Scotland once having the highest rate of cinema attendance per capita in Europe! Memories of intermission and usherettes, ice cream and high tea, and the art of showmanship from projectionists of the past will all be immortalised within the Broadway's walls, to pass those memories on to our future generations. We have brought onto the project Mandie Thrippleton, as an Executive Advisor of Museum Curation. Mandie has experience as lead curator for multiple museums across the country and her expertise and vision will ensure that the Museum of Scottish Cinemas is developed to the highest standard of nationwide accreditation. We will also be partnering with The Projected Picture Trust to develop many of the museum exhibits. The PPT exist to preserve the art of projection, saving and restoring original projectors and passing on the knowledge of projectionists of the past to ensure the skills required to operate the machines will live on for many generations to come.
The Broadway will become a very special place to watch all types of film. We were delighted to discover that our original Gaumont-Kalee Type 20 projectors are fully restorable to working condition! This coupled with equipment received as heritage donations and our ongoing partnership with the Projected Picture Trust will ensure that the Broadway will open in a highly exclusive group of cinemas fully equipped for 35mm film shows, with aspirations to even include 70mm capability. These plans are incredibly exciting, as the world's cinema landscape is beginning to evolve to once again place a higher emphasis on the importance of analog film. Combining this capability with state-of-the-art digital projection, we will be able to carve a niche as one of the nation's premier film-viewing destinations. You can view our rapidly expanding heritage collection here and see some of the projectors that the Broadway can help bring back to life!
Another important aspect of the Broadway's future is in the preservation of Scottish Gaelic. We plan to develop a voluntary Gaelic Language Plan, with the aim of becoming a leading Gaelic hub for Ayrshire, playing a significant role in the preservation of the language in Southern Scotland. We can create a venue for Gaelic language groups to interact and host events, with multiple collaborations and partnerships with leading Gaelic organisations on the horizon. You can view our entire website in Gaelic by clicking here!
The latest major leap forward for the project has been the creation of The Broadway Pop-up Cinema Roadshow, and partnership with Indy Cinema Group. With Indy supporting our programming, we have been able to bring the latest blockbuster releases back to Prestwick for the first time since the Broadway showed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest for the last time 47 years ago!
We have settled at an excellent temporary venue, Prestwick Academy! With a 300+ seated auditorium, fully accessible foyer, and full stage and lighting facilities, we are able to create a wonderfully authentic cinema environment at our home away from home. Opening with the iconic Back to the Future trilogy, we have since brought Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Barbie, and Oppenheimer to Prestwick, in a major milestone for the project! Our plans for the Roadshow are massive, as we aim to maintain a regular schedule of new releases supported by a wide variety of vintage screenings, film festivals, and unique special events!
Click here to the latest
programmes and book tickets now for all Roadshow events! We look forward to welcoming you.
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It is an incredibly exciting time to follow the project and we would love for you to join us! You can become a member of the Broadway for just £10 a year and gain access to a wide range of exclusive benefits including discounted Roadshow tickets, a subscription to our monthly newsletter The Broadway Bugle, online members-only bonus exhibits, and more! Full membership is available to all within the KA9 postcode area, with Associate Membership available to everyone else nationwide. We can't wait to continue our journey with you and look forward to welcoming you through the Broadway's doors for the first time upon grand re-opening in the future.
Thank you for your support!
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