BFI commits funds to audience development for 2026-2029
Published:
11 Mar 2026
The BFI has pledged £33.5m to support the UK’s film exhibition and distribution sector, enabling us and other regional and national Hubs to continue delivering audience-facing work.
All 10 strategic partners managing BFI Film Audience Network activity UK-wide have been renewed – for Film Hub North, Showroom in Sheffield and HOME in Manchester – and will collectively receive £10.8m over the next three years to deliver audience-facing work, representing a 9% increase on the previous three-year period from 2023-2026.
Over that period, FAN has funded over 1,000 audience facing projects in over 1,500 locations across the UK. Activity has included local and specialist film festivals, rural touring schemes, and a diverse range of projects delivered in communities across the UK, including the Cine North initiative which provides access to screen culture in 35 villages across Northern England, the Abertoir Horror Festival in Aberystwyth and the Rainbow Film Festival, which screens films by and for the Bangladeshi communities of East London.
Each BFI FAN Hub will continue to deliver the SPOTLIGHT programme in newly identified areas across the UK, boosting audience choice and improving access to independent film where there is currently very limited public access to film screenings. Our SPOTLIGHT areas for 2026-2029 are Hull (in partnership with Hull Independent Cinema), plus Blackburn with Darwen, Rochdale and Oldham. This hyper-local approach to audience development creates new opportunities for communities to enjoy access to screen culture where previously there was little or none. The programme has facilitated the development of several new community cinemas, supported the launch of new festivals, with the intention to provide a future legacy for audiences.
In addition to delivering SPOTLIGHT, FAN will continue to invest in local exhibitors and deliver professional development opportunities to its members. Over £3.3m of National Lottery funding has been ring-fenced over three years for Hubs to support a wide range of audience facing exhibition activity across the UK: our Film Exhibition Fund and Pitch Pots are currently open for proposals.
"With the 20% increase in investment in audiences for 2026-2029, we are committed to building cinema audiences and securing a sustainable, vibrant future for the sector... As always, this funding is delivered in partnership with organisations committed to audience development across the UK, and we’re continually grateful to them for their continued energy and engagement." – Ben Luxford, Director of UK Audiences at the BFI
FAN will also offer courses on marketing, audience development, programming, and technical skills to support skills development across the FAN membership. The second edition of the UK-wide exhibitor conference, BFI FAN CON, will take place at Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle from 7-9 September, aimed to connect the full spectrum of film exhibitors - from small community cinemas and touring collectives to large multi-screen independent cinemas and landmark film festivals.
The BFI will also invest £3m in the Open Cinemas fund for ESCAPES, delivered by entertainment specialists elevenfiftyfive. The programme has successfully attracted new audiences to independent cinemas across the UK through free regular and accessible screenings at over 120 independent cinemas since launching in February 2024. A further £19.7m is allocated to the BFI National Lottery Audience Projects Fund to support a broad range of activity from distributors, exhibitors and festivals working across independent film and immersive. The BFI National Lottery Audience Projects Fund is currently open for applications.
The BFI FAN Hubs will continue to provide a talent development offer for early career filmmaking talent in the English regions as part of BFI NETWORK, with details published in the coming months.
Continuing to support this UK-wide structure responds to a consistent message heard throughout the extensive consultation with public and industry undertaken to develop the strategy: that every part of the country has a different set of needs, opportunities and challenges around screen culture, and local organisations are best placed to respond to these. Further UK-wide partners will be announced in the coming weeks, as recipients of National Lottery funding to support skills and education activity, which will complement this work.
Thanks to the BFI and good cause National Lottery funding for their continued investment to increase cinema audiences for UK independent and international film.
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