Cinema Re-opening: A Statement from the Memo

In line with Welsh Government easing of restrictions, we are thrilled to able to welcome you back to the Memo Arts Centre for cinema soon. We have missed our audiences; our team have been working hard to put in place all the relevant measures so that we can safely welcome you through the doors again.

Not many people know that we are an independent registered charity, the last 14 months have been extremely challenging for us. In normal times we only receive 35% of our income through grants. The remaining 65% has to be earned through our Box Office, café, bars and hires programme. Every penny goes back into the venue, to maintain and improve our facilities, invest in our services and programme.

As we ease out of restrictions, we are now operating with a reduced team of staff, supported by our volunteers. With this in mind, we would like to advise you of the following changes and policies:

• Reduced Capacity and Programme In line with social distance restrictions, the venue will be operating at reduced audience capacity, with socially distanced bubble seating. Due to our reduced operations, there will be a limited cinema programme with constraints imposed by film distributors.

• Box Office / Ticketing Our Box Office will be operating reduced office hours. All tickets must be pre-booked, there will be no door sales. You will need to select either auditorium or balcony seats for a maximum of 6 per bubble, and we will allocate seat numbers to you once we receive your order. Tickets will be sent as e-tickets, which will be scanned on arrival. If you are unable to have an e-ticket sent to you, please call our Box Office to book tickets and you be checked in manually by a member of our team on arrival. Please arrive earlier than normal as there may be a queue to enter the building. Our doors will open 30 minutes before the film start time.

• Food and Drink / Café Bar The Memo is fully licensed, you can take drinks into the auditorium stalls and balcony to enjoy during live shows and films. The Trust’s policy is to charge reasonable prices and to source as much food and drink as possible from local suppliers. The retailing of alcohol and confectionery is an important part of the Memo’s business plan and for that reason, we ask audiences only to consume food and drink that is sold on the premises. You will not be able to queue at the café bar. Refreshments can be pre-booked along with your cinema tickets for collection on arrival, or you can purchase through our Yoello app when you arrive and these can be collected from the designated collection point before the film starts.

• Covid Safety We have implemented strict procedures for visiting the Memo, including the wearing of face coverings, following social distancing markers and instructions. Visit our Covid safety pages here: https://memoartscentre.co.uk/covid-safety-at-the-memo/

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We know some visitors will remain cautious about returning to a public building. We will continue to listen to our audiences and adapt our activities to ensure everyone feels safe and secure at the Memo. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our Box Office team by email boxoffice@memoartscentre.co.uk

Whilst the world slowly returns to a new normal, we look forward to the Memo being the place where we can all meet, relax, indulge, get creative, be entertained and, most importantly, recover, together.

Thank you and we look forward to welcoming you to the Memo in the near future.

The Memo Arts Centre Team