A story or two from my trip to Mansfield...but not on the big screen - 31/05/10

Brooke Tully writes:

Today was yet another Schools First adventure, this time to Mansfield with The Age Education Reporter Jewel Topsfield, photographer Pat, self-confessed IT nerd Tim (representing Yarraville Sun Theatre) and me.

The adventure started when we got bogged...in a plane! Luckily for us a local farmer was passing and thought we might have been in a bit of a jam, so he and the pilot stayed behind to tow the plane while the rest of us piled into teacher Bruce McInnes' car and headed off to the local Armchair Cinema. And what a story – no wonder this is home to yet another 2009 Schools First $50,000 Local Impact Award winner, Mansfield Secondary College.

Once upon a time, this town enjoyed a stately cinema in the heart of the main street. Several years ago, the cinema closed and with it, a slice of local entertainment culture.

Recognising a real void in the community, local businessman James Wilson rallied locals and inspired them to invest in a new, not-for-profit cinema. Clearly the man has vision – he earmarked the local vacant squash courts as the home for the town’s new venture but his foresight didn’t stop with the squash courts… James got talking to Mansfield Secondary College as he was convinced a cinema run by students would be a successful formula. It was not long before many locals started to share in his passion, and his vision. But again, this story takes another pioneering turn.

Why open a cinema reliant on traditional 35mm films? This would be a new cinema, run by a new generation of locals. Why not digitalise right from the very start? The thought might not mean much to the rest of us, but for the film industry this was indeed radical thinking. So much so that Mansfield Armchair Cinema is the country’s first solely fully digitalised cinema centre – the big boys are following in its trail!

Last month Armchair celebrated its first anniversary. What an achievement. Managed by Wendy Hunt, the cinema is staffed predominantly by students from Mansfield Secondary College, whose time on-site goes towards a Certificate 3 in Media or Business, so this is effectively a school-based apprenticeship in action. From cleaning and marketing to selling tickets, confectionery and trouble-shooting equipment valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, these students do the lot and it is impressive to watch them in their element.

Tim from Sun Theatre has been instrumental in imparting his IT knowledge so that these students can handle anything the odd $300,000 piece of equipment might choose to throw at them. And don’t for a minute think this is some hick set-up; it’s a two-theatre cinema seating some 90 or so people (although the fabulous big beanbags probably make for even more) and running up to 77 showings per week during holiday season. Forget about delayed showings – this cinema is so cutting-edge they premiere the latest films right on cue, just like the big city chains.

Coming from regional Victoria I can immediately appreciate the immediate and long-term benefits this school-community partnership delivers to the students, as well as the region. According to the adults with whom we spoke, total transformations have taken place among several of the students involved. They have to deal with workplace pressures and unexpected occurrences, they have a level of responsibility many of us probably didn’t acquire until post tertiary, and they have to work as a team.

The students we met were clued-on, polite and confident. Imagine how this concept then impacts a community. Not only are the students actively engaged in a not-for-profit business, but they are providing an entertainment outlet for their peers and everyone interested in film. They are giving Mansfield the opportunity to dream, escape and feel in a way cinema does so beautifully. Who knows how this might positively affect the rural brain drain… Why rush out of town to the big smoke when the stimuli are there? And what a tremendous feather in the locals’ cap! Not only have they rallied to create this cultural hub, but they’ve shown the youth of the area that they believe in them and know they can achieve.

This town has a thriving cinema to enjoy, and a group of hyper skilled students who are pioneers. One can only imagine what pioneers achieve when they grow up…By the way, they got the plane out of the bog, too!