Light House, the Black Country’s only independent cinema, is a charity and arts venue which aims to increase the enjoyment and understanding of technologically – based media, in particular film, video, photography and creative media and to emphasise their importance to the cultural, social and economic life of Wolverhampton, the West Midlands and further afield.
2016 marked 25 years of Light House in The Chubb Buildings and 30 years since it started as a joint Council and Polytechnic initiative.
In 1987, Light House Media Centre was named and formally opened, with films, exhibitions and educational events established at Wolverhampton Art Gallery.
It moved to The Arena Theatre in 1989, then to the newly refurbished and extended Chubb Buildings in 1991.
The café and studio cinema followed in 1992, and in 1994, Light House was established as a separate company with continued support from the University and Council. Its training and media production facilities were developed and upgraded with the help of external funding and the cinema received a refurbishment in 2001.
Light House became a registered charity in 2012 and in a large shake up due to funding, reduced to a small core staff, concentrating on cinema and event activities, with the galleries gradually being opened up for rental to local artists as Arts Council funding diminished. Audiences and supporters helped with raising funding to go digital in 2012. In 2016/7, supporters raised the money through a Crowdfunder campaign for new lit signage, due to ‘light up Light House’ in spring 2017.
