The Together For Cinema program provides the AV industry with a special opportunity to elevate beyond just catering to high-end luxury clients. The program’s main focus is to work with the AV industry to design and install home cinema rooms in children’s hospices and other deserving family care locations across the UK. These rooms not only benefit the children and young adults, but also their families, staff and volunteers.
Ian Morrish, Founder and Managing Director of Together For Cinema, joined the D-Tools “What’s the Buzz” podcast to discuss the organization’s origins and achievements, and how suppliers and integrators can get involved.
It all started in 2009 while Morrish was still working for the Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) trade show team. He heard about a holiday home in Blackpool, England for terminally ill children and reached out to them.
“I made a few phone calls. Everything was donated. My time was donated. Fourteen months later, our first cinema room opened,” he recalls. “That was the start of the Together for Cinema journey.”
“Our Together For Cinema rooms get churn… they are used almost every day. There are a bunch of kids and families in there every day. These rooms are used, and they are making a huge difference."-- Ian Morrish, Together For Cinema
After that first success, he set and reached a goal to complete 25 donated cinema rooms in the UK primarily in children’s hospices over the next 12 years. In 2020, the program became his full-time focus, and it has never looked back. In addition to Morrish, the program has two other directors: Melanie Malcolm of Bespoke Home Cinemas, and Chris Pinder of HDA + uControl.
To date Together For Cinema has installed 51 cinema rooms in the UK at a value of £1.35 million, or $1.9 million. All the products and services are donated.
“I think it has been taken to people’s hearts because there is nothing else like this in the UK in our industry. We have a good team that people trust, which I think is very important,” he adds.
“There is no question we are making a difference. We are cradling a family’s journey at a really difficult time,” says Morrish. He says he receives an immense amount of appreciation from the manufacturers and integrators themselves for the opportunity to participate in the program. They tell him that they are used to installing home theaters for mostly wealthy clients, who don’t use their private cinema rooms frequently.
“Our Together For Cinema rooms get churn… they are used almost every day. There are a bunch of kids and families in there every day. These rooms are used, and they are making a huge difference," adds Morrish.
There are several ways both integrators and suppliers can get involved with the program. They can simply make a financial donation, donate equipment or installation services, and get involved in some of the organization’s various charity events, such as the London to Brighton bicycle ride planned for September. Finally, the program is always looking for potential locations for its next installations, so Morrish invites anyone in the industry to pass along that information. The easiest way to reach out is via the website at togetherforcinema.co.uk.
Coming in the fall, Together For Cinema will have yet another way for the AV industry to get involved, while at the same time potentially solving a need for their businesses. Many integrators have older equipment they may have removed from clients’ homes sitting in their warehouse collecting dust. They also might have extra inventory from newer equipment sitting around on shelves. A new website is planned to launch (givingback.tech) that will create an avenue by which dealers can post that extra inventory, with the proceeds going to the Together For Cinema program.