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Background


From its inception as a film and video unit in the 1980s, Lighthouse went through a significant period of expansion in the 1990s, becoming widely regarded as one of the key training and development agencies for contemporary filmmaking and digital media arts in the UK.

Our building at 9-12 Middle Street houses 23 new media companies, many of whom relocated here after its refurbishment in 1996. In May 1999 Lighthouse purchased the freehold of 9-12 Middle Street with a Lottery grant and SRB funding. This purchase and its associated model was widely championed in both the arts and regeneration fields as an innovative development that created office space for SMEs in the emergent creative new media sector as well as providing rental income to fund Lighthouse’s core activity base.

In 2000, Lighthouse was awarded the prestigious Arts Council Breakthrough Award in recognition of our innovative project work and in particular the Chailey Heritage Digital Arts Project which enabled severely disabled young adults to create digital arts work using assistive technologies.

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