The Cube

The Cube is a Microplex: A cinema, arts venue, adult creche and progressive social wellbeing enterprise in Central Bristol, England. It was formed in 1998 by 4 artists who had no idea what they were getting into. Idealists, amateurs, fools, material positivists, stilt walkers, film directors, screen writers, occultists. But not even running illegal cinema speakeasy events in Bristol (Club Rombus) could prepare them for the monster they gave birth to one cold and rainy October evening in 1998. The building until that point in time had been a glass recylcle depo, an am-dram theatre, a gay avant garde 70's art centre, an extension of the Chinese Overseas Association, a girls school, a deaf and dumb institute, a second run family cinema, a secret gig venue, an illegal gambling den. All these ghosts hang on in there.

The am-dram group who once occupied the space hand-built the wooden staging, racked seats and wood panelled walls of the auditorium and this DIY ethic is still the life-blood of the Cube. Every job needed to run this venue seven days a week is carried out by devoted volunteers who give up their time for the love of it. We are amateurs, but we resist the negative connotations of that word. The organisation runs as a not-for-profit worker's co-operative.

The Cube has evolved over time. Older guests will remember entering via King Square past the kitchen of a Chinese restaurant. When that kitchen burnt down in 2001, we were closed down for a year, but reopened with a new entrance and a new garden, a small urban oasis where cigarette papers get swapped for a smile and a story. Volunteers have come and gone too. Some have fallen in love and had children, who now come to Babycinema screenings and Nanoplex kids workshops.

Our volunteers work hard at presenting cinema, music, cabaret, discussions, amateur film-makers nights, children's events, performance art, comedy and other events that can't easily be categorised. The money we make from these events funds the organisation. We get no external funding. We are truly independent.

We aim to offer alternatives and make a difference - in our programming and in the way we trade. We don't sell Coca Cola - we make our own recipe cola. We don't serve Nescafe - we ship feral trade coffee from Central America. We have sent volunteers to Haiti to screen films for earthquake survivors. We provide an internet server for Kingsdown. We are the cheapest cinema in town and always will be and if you're an asylum seeker you can come in for free.

Come and visit soon us soon. You can buy a lifetime membership card - it's the best £1 you'll ever spend.

This is about volunteering

People volunteer at The Cube for many reasons. Some because they are self motivated individuals who love the notion of running (as a member of a cooperative) a cinema-come-live-music-come-art space. Others are attracted by the social opportunities. For many of us, The Cube was our first port of call when we arrived in Bristol and we've been hanging around ever since. Some volunteers are professional artists with their own practice, which adds to the Cube's uniqueness, and to their practice.

Volunteers can get free films, cheap beer, and as many opportunities as they want. There are so many roles within The Cube and more than 100 volunteers doing them, so it's impossible to describe everything. Here are a few: Usher, membership assistant, bar staff, front of house manager, cleaner, projectionist, computer programmer, technical helper, film programmer, music programmer, website co-ordinator, curator, etc.

We mostly have events in the evenings, so this is when we need most of our volunteers to be available. People are around in the daytime too though, and we do have a few daytime events so don't be put off if you work unusual hours. We prefer people to try and work regularly, ideally once a week, as this helps you get more out of the cube and helps us with staffing events. Committing to work regular shifts is particularly useful (e.g. every monday evening), but by no means compulsory.

We always start new volunteers off doing ushering or assisting the front of house manager with memberships. These two roles are a good introduction to working here and give you an understanding of how the place works. They are both responsible yet don't need quite as much specific training as some of the other jobs. They get you working here and interacting with other volunteers, and through this you'll get to see what the other jobs are, what they entail and find out who to contact if you're interested in doing them or being trained to do them.

We run regular induction sessions for new volunteers to allow us to give a bit more information about working here, and allow you to have a look around and ask us any questions you might have.)