Watershed Media Centre
Encyclopedia
Watershed opened in June 1982 as the United Kingdom's first dedicated media centre. Based in former warehouse
s on the harbourside
at Bristol, it hosts three cinemas
, a café
/bar
, events/conferencing spaces, and office spaces for administrative and creative staff. It occupies the former V and W sheds on Canon's Road at Saint Augustine's Reach, and underwent a major refurbishment in 2005. The building also hosts UWE eMedia Business Enterprises, Most of Watershed's facilities are situated on the second floor of two of the transit sheds. The conference spaces and cinemas are used by many public and private sector organisations and charities. Watershed employs the equivalent of over seventy full-time staff and has an annual turnover of approximately £
3.8 million. As well as its own commercial income (through Watershed Trading), Watershed Arts Trust is funded by national and regional arts funders. It is run by Managing Director Dick Penny
who first joined in 1991.
A 2010 report for the International Futures Forum describes the Watershed as "a creative ecosystem, operating in many different and overlapping economies," which is "pushing the creative boundary" by fostering both the invention and consolidation of new work.
.
programme, Watershed has played host to (and helped organise and run) many film festivals, including RESFest
2002, Depict!, Brief Encounters (now Encounters Film Festival), the Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, Black Pyramid, Latin America Week, VisionSign (celebrating deaf moving image culture), and Slapstick Film Festival, amongst others. Wildscreen, a festival of wildlife documentaries and related films, began at the Watershed.
Regular activities include evening classes, special film events, a film discussion group - Cinephiles, and educational screenings with introductions and documentation. British Film Institute
touring programmes are regularly screened. The Keeping it Reel Series aimed at 12 - 15 year olds has, since 1997, offered young people the chance to discover what happens behind the scenes in the film industry. It was launched in 1997 by Paul McGann
and featured lectures & seminars by local actor Christopher Morris, Shawn Sobers of HTV, filmmaker Fergus Colville, Casualty
make up artist, Chrissie Powell and Eastenders
executive producer Matthew Robinson.
In 2000, the Independent on Sundays list of "five of the best indie cinemas" put the Watershed at the top, citing its wide-ranging, international programme. A 2002 poll for The Guardian rated the Watershed as Britain's fifth most popular independent cinema.
For the first twenty years of its existence, the Watershed concentrated on film and photography. In the 21st Century it has increasingly taken up online media and multimedia
, to the point that it has more visitors online than in person.
In the digital domain, Watershed's dShed.net website displays digital art from international artists alongside work by local community groups. It hosts the annual online short-film festival Depict.org, selecting "micro films" (no more than ninety seconds long) from around the world, giving a cash prize to the winner. In 2006 eShed.net began development as a showcase for digital art made by young people in and around Bristol. Staff at Watershed were also involved with creating and running electricpavilion.org, electricdecember.org and bristolstories.org.
Dshed.net provides a platform for artists, communities and producers to explore various forms of new media experimentation an collaboration. DShed.net hosts online video of some of the talks at Watershed, project resources and short original digital productions. ElectricDecember.org is an annual online advent calendar which has run since 1999.
Watershed subsidiary iShed was established in 2007 to produce creative collaborations, support new ideas, explore emerging technologies and develop talent. iShed‘s portfolio includes commissioning schemes, events, research and consultancy produced through local, national and international partnerships with industry, artists and universities. Its main activities are the Sandbox funding schemes Media Sandbox and Theatre Sandbox. iShed also runs The Pervasive Media Studio, a partnership between Watershed, HP Labs and UWE set up to support interdiscplinary research and development. The Pervasive Media Studio is currently located in the Leadworks building in Anchor Square Bristol.
Warehouse
A warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial areas of cities and towns. They usually have loading docks to load and unload...
s on the harbourside
Bristol Harbour
Bristol Harbour is the harbour in the city of Bristol, England. The harbour covers an area of . It has existed since the 13th century but was developed into its current form in the early 19th century by installing lock gates on a tidal stretch of the River Avon in the centre of the city and...
at Bristol, it hosts three cinemas
Movie theater
A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....
, a café
Café
A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...
/bar
Bar (establishment)
A bar is a business establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises.Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go...
, events/conferencing spaces, and office spaces for administrative and creative staff. It occupies the former V and W sheds on Canon's Road at Saint Augustine's Reach, and underwent a major refurbishment in 2005. The building also hosts UWE eMedia Business Enterprises, Most of Watershed's facilities are situated on the second floor of two of the transit sheds. The conference spaces and cinemas are used by many public and private sector organisations and charities. Watershed employs the equivalent of over seventy full-time staff and has an annual turnover of approximately £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
3.8 million. As well as its own commercial income (through Watershed Trading), Watershed Arts Trust is funded by national and regional arts funders. It is run by Managing Director Dick Penny
Dick Penny
Dick Penny MBE is an arts administrator, consultant and producer, based in Bristol, England. Before his involvement in the arts, he worked in manufacturing industry, computer programming and the building trade.-Biography:...
who first joined in 1991.
A 2010 report for the International Futures Forum describes the Watershed as "a creative ecosystem, operating in many different and overlapping economies," which is "pushing the creative boundary" by fostering both the invention and consolidation of new work.
History
The centre opened in 1982 in an area of the city that, at that time, was mainly derelict. The transit sheds, dating from 1894, had fallen into disrepair but had Grade II listed building status. By 2004, it was attracting more than half a million visitors per year. A major refurbishment in 2004/5 cost £2 million, creating a third cinema, extending the cafe/bar and making the building more accessible. Patrons could sponsor seats in the new cinema, and the first to take advantage of this was the film and television actor Pete PostlethwaitePete Postlethwaite
Peter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE, was an English stage, film and television actor.After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer, Mr...
.
Film
In addition to its world/arts filmFilm
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
programme, Watershed has played host to (and helped organise and run) many film festivals, including RESFest
RESFest
RESFEST was by the 2000s the most prominent digital film festival in North America. It was a leading global showcase of new digital filmmakers alongside England's Onedotzero festival. The festival toured the world and in 2005 travelled to 35 cities in the USA, Canada, UK, Japan, Australia,...
2002, Depict!, Brief Encounters (now Encounters Film Festival), the Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, Black Pyramid, Latin America Week, VisionSign (celebrating deaf moving image culture), and Slapstick Film Festival, amongst others. Wildscreen, a festival of wildlife documentaries and related films, began at the Watershed.
Regular activities include evening classes, special film events, a film discussion group - Cinephiles, and educational screenings with introductions and documentation. British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
touring programmes are regularly screened. The Keeping it Reel Series aimed at 12 - 15 year olds has, since 1997, offered young people the chance to discover what happens behind the scenes in the film industry. It was launched in 1997 by Paul McGann
Paul McGann
Paul McGann is an English actor who made his name on the BBC serial The Monocled Mutineer, in which he played the lead role...
and featured lectures & seminars by local actor Christopher Morris, Shawn Sobers of HTV, filmmaker Fergus Colville, Casualty
Casualty (TV series)
Casualty, stylised as Casual+y, is a British weekly television show broadcast on BBC One, and the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast on 6 September 1986, and transmitted in the UK on BBC One. The...
make up artist, Chrissie Powell and Eastenders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
executive producer Matthew Robinson.
In 2000, the Independent on Sundays list of "five of the best indie cinemas" put the Watershed at the top, citing its wide-ranging, international programme. A 2002 poll for The Guardian rated the Watershed as Britain's fifth most popular independent cinema.
Digital media
Watershed is more than just an arts cinema. It is at once a cultural centre, a business broker, a social networker, a research and innovation facility, a café/bar, and a cultural tourist attraction.
For the first twenty years of its existence, the Watershed concentrated on film and photography. In the 21st Century it has increasingly taken up online media and multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
, to the point that it has more visitors online than in person.
In the digital domain, Watershed's dShed.net website displays digital art from international artists alongside work by local community groups. It hosts the annual online short-film festival Depict.org, selecting "micro films" (no more than ninety seconds long) from around the world, giving a cash prize to the winner. In 2006 eShed.net began development as a showcase for digital art made by young people in and around Bristol. Staff at Watershed were also involved with creating and running electricpavilion.org, electricdecember.org and bristolstories.org.
Dshed.net provides a platform for artists, communities and producers to explore various forms of new media experimentation an collaboration. DShed.net hosts online video of some of the talks at Watershed, project resources and short original digital productions. ElectricDecember.org is an annual online advent calendar which has run since 1999.
Watershed subsidiary iShed was established in 2007 to produce creative collaborations, support new ideas, explore emerging technologies and develop talent. iShed‘s portfolio includes commissioning schemes, events, research and consultancy produced through local, national and international partnerships with industry, artists and universities. Its main activities are the Sandbox funding schemes Media Sandbox and Theatre Sandbox. iShed also runs The Pervasive Media Studio, a partnership between Watershed, HP Labs and UWE set up to support interdiscplinary research and development. The Pervasive Media Studio is currently located in the Leadworks building in Anchor Square Bristol.