Phoenix Blog

What is the role and impact of culture in society? How does the creative sector contribute to the economy? And should we always place a monetary value on the arts in order to validate them? Our co-CEO, Sarah Vallance, shares her thoughts on these questions, and Phoenix's vital place in Leicester's creative landscape.

Following our recent announcement about proposed changes to our opening hours, we can now confirm that from Monday 7 April we will be open 5 days a week, and will be closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

We are delighted to announce that Phoenix, Leicester’s independent cinema and arts centre, has been recognised at the prestigious ProCon Leicestershire awards, winning the award for Medium to Large Non-Residential Scheme of the Year at the county’s largest celebration of the built environment.

We are delighted to announce that Phoenix, Leicester’s independent cinema and arts centre, has been shortlisted for this year’s ProCon Leicestershire awards, the county’s largest celebration of the built environment.

Phoenix's digital art manager Irina Tsokova gives us an overview of our current exhibition, Object Memory.

Our new extension is now open, giving us two additional cinema screens, a larger and more prominent gallery, and a superb Café Bar.

With flexible programming now operating across all four of our screens, we have returned to unallocated seating for our regular film screenings.

Film writers and critics Pamela Hutchinson and Christina Newland present some of Hollywood’s most risqué films (all new restorations care of Park Circus and Warner Bros) made before the 1930's Hays code was enforced.

Leicester’s Phoenix Cinema and Art Centre has been awarded £246k funding over the next 3 years by Arts Council England (ACE).

We're pleased to share our new digital arts podcast. In this first episode we discuss the the art programme at Phoenix, giving an overview of things we've done in the past and a preview of what to expect as we prepare to open our new gallery space.

Carol Leeming MBE delves into the importance of black women's stories in film, in specific relation to the release of dramedy Queen of Glory.

Curator Anoushka Goodwin reflects on our online commissions exploring the theme of digital idleness: 'Downtime' by Sian Fan and 'Are / You / Actually' by Compiler

Our New British Cinema season kicked off with a trio of films directed by Ben Wheatley. We caught up with Ben (via a video call, of course) to see how he’s coping with life in lockdown.

A new art installation premieres at Phoenix from 10 Jan – 23 Feb, featuring Thanatos - a perfume that evokes the scent of a decomposing body discovered in a woodland.

Amit Gupta, BAFTA-nominated writer and director for film, theatre and television, becomes Phoenix's first honorary Patron. Photo credit: Mark Lord

Phoenix is encouraging its customers to put their names on its expanded cinema and art centre as part of a new charitable fundraising programme 2020 | BE PART OF IT.

£250,000 has been pledged by The Garfield Weston Foundation and £100,000 from The Foyle Foundation.

We're delighted to have received confirmation that Arts Council England will invest £4 million of National Lottery money towards Phoenix 2020.

Phoenix Leicester's plans to become a four screen independent cinema by 2020 have been granted planning permission by the local planning authority.

Over half term, Phoenix is giving families the chance to put on virtual reality headsets, jump on a playground swing, and be transported into a thrilling virtual adventure.

We're giving away tickets to a charity screening of It’s a Wonderful Life on Fri 7th Dec in return for donations to Action Homeless’ Winter Appeal.

Phoenix is to become one of the first UK cinemas to screen Virtual Reality (VR) films as part of it regular cinema programme.

We reveal the architectural plans for our two storey 1,200 square metre extension - with green roof terrace + room for 2 new cinemas, an art gallery and more!

Phoenix delighted to receive news Leicester city council has committed £1 million towards Phoenix 2020 expansion project.

We talked to artist Beth Kettel whose experimental music video ‘A Bang, A Bomb, A Lie And A Band That Stands for Something Else' premieres at Phoenix.

Help us raise the £2,000 we need to buy 26 new amplified headsets – to help more people with sight and hearing loss enjoy films at Phoenix.

Phoenix has announced ambitious plans to expand its current venue and become a four screen independent cinema by the year 2020.

Videoclub curator Moritz Cheung writes about how he chose the works in Ritual - a programme of artists' film and video from South East Asia showing at Phoenix in December

Phoenix has been awarded £321,856 funding over four years from Arts Council, maintaining its position as one of their National Portfolio Organisations.

We talk to Leicester artist Danni Spooner whose work appears in our exhibition Playback - a nationally-touring exhibition showcasing award-winning short films from across the country.

Friday 25 November is national Carers' Rights Day - here's some details on what the Phoenix Access Cinema programme has to offer.

'Outside', screening on Thu 25 Aug as part of The Short Cinema, is one example of how the boundaries between filmmakers and artists are being blurred.

Artist Anoushka Goodwin previews our upcoming artists' film screening 'Outside', showing on Thu 25 Aug, 7pm, as part of The Short Cinema

We spoke to artist Luci Eldridge about her practice and research trip to NASA which forms the basis of her joint exhibition at Phoenix from 10 June - 31 July.

A Q&A with Teresa Dillon, artist behind Canary Songs in which a choir recreates the sounds of a WW1 munitions factory in the Phoenix cinema

Phoenix’s latest exhibition ‘The Canvas of Resonance’ by artist Kenny Wong Chi-Chuen, is a cinematic sound and visual installation that draws its influences from the Foley artists of the live radio age.