This week we have back one of our favorite guests here on the CE Pro Podcast, UK-based Together For Cinema founder and industry do-gooder Ian Morrish.
This time around, Morrish updates us on Together For Cinema’s 2023 children’s hospice home theater projects, donations and sponsors, as well as the group’s new status as a Community Interest Company, and another big fundraiser event happening right now, in the latest podcast episode.
The organization, which Morrish established back in 2009, has been pulling off multiple children’s hospice home theater projects across the UK particularly ramping up in the past few years. This year is no different, as the first half of 2023 has been exceedingly busy for Together For Cinema.
Project plans for this year include another seven installations going on this year, with at least one already completed and others getting under way. Not only that, but 2024 plans have been going strong as well, with due diligence and plans in the works for another 7-8 projects, which as usual are aided by donations from custom integration industry suppliers and installation company partners.
Earlier this year, Morrish and Together For Cinema made a big announcement to help their cause. The organization filed for and gained Community Interest Company (CIC) status.
“We finally got to the point where it wasn’t really sustainable for Together For Cinema to be just me running it through my sole trader business, it had to be formalized. Engagement with the industry was comprehensive and it needed to be formalized,” Morrish recounts.
“So we looked at becoming a registered charity, and my gosh, that’s a hugely complex process. We ended up becoming something that the government set up in 2005, a Community Interest Company, and that’s what we are now and it’s very exciting. Sort of grows it up and gives it a bit more security,” he adds.
It took five months to go through the CIC process, Morrish says. The CIC designation is fitting for Together For Cinema, as the government introduced it in part for “social enterprises that want to use their profits and assets for the public good,” much like it has done for 30+ children’s hospices all across the UK now.
The group now has four directors: Morrish; Melanie Malcolm, a CEDIA Board member and co-founder of UK-based Bespoke Home Cinemas; Cadaema Consulting Services’ David Parrett; and Chris Pinder from HDANYWHERE and OneAV.
‘Ride2Austria’ Kicks Off to Raise Funds for Together For Cinema & Others
Speaking of Pinder, his incredible journey to complete the grueling Marathon des Sable in the Sahara Desert last year raised more than $50K for Together For Cinema, and Morrish noted there’s another exciting fundraiser for folks to donate to this summer.
He talks about Tom Dellicompagni is the managing director of the eponymous Dellicompagni “immersive interiors” integration business, a CEDIA member based in Staffordshire. Dellicompagni and Jim plan to cycle “Ride2Austria,” a 1,000-mile ride over nine days starting at the Red Bull F1 Factory in Milton Keynes, UK, and finishing at the Red Bull Ring motor racing track in Spielberg, Austria.
The ride kicks off today, June 23, and goes to July 1. The ‘Ride2 Austria’ team is actually fundraising for 17 total causes with their efforts, including Together For Cinema plus a some more children’s hospitals and hospices. For further info go to https://www.ride2.co.uk/austria/.
Download or listen to the podcast above to hear the full conversation with Ian Morrish, including plans for their seven projects this year, ways suppliers can donate and integrators can get involved, and more. Find past episodes of the CE Pro Podcast by subscribing to the CE Pro YouTube channel or our Apple and Spotify podcast feeds.