Build a community-specific route into screen culture
ACMI in Naarm/Melbourne offers free Blak Membership to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including cinema and exhibition access and community events, with defined limits on free tickets.
Published 19 October 2026
The idea
Design access with a specific community, defining a welcome as well as a price offer.
Evidence
ACMI offers free Blak Membership to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for twelve months. Benefits include cinema and exhibition access and community events. Members can redeem one free ticket per ACMI event; the membership is non-transferable and subject to capacity, and standard member prices apply when the free allocation is used.
Operator takeaway
Observed standing offer. No participation, repeat-visit or retention figures are published.
Try this
Develop any comparable offer with the relevant community, including programme and membership design, rather than relabelling a generic discount.
Measure
Participation and repeat visits alongside community feedback and programme relevance, using proportionate, consent-based information.
Watch out for
It is not unlimited free tickets for any screening, and it is specific to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Operator, market and timing
ACMI, Naarm/Melbourne, Australia. A standing membership offer. Sources reviewed 19 October 2026.
What the membership includes
Blak Membership is free for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and lasts twelve months. It includes access to ACMI cinema and exhibitions and community events. Members can redeem one free ticket per ACMI event; tickets are non-transferable and subject to capacity, and standard member prices apply once the free allocation is used.
The transferable lesson (CIA interpretation)
The useful idea is not the discount alone but the deliberate design of a welcome for a particular community, with programming and events that make the membership relevant. Adapting it requires the community’s participation in the design.
A proportionate approach (CIA suggestion)
Work with community organisations from the start on what would be valued, how eligibility is handled respectfully and what programme accompanies the offer. Collect only the information needed.
What is and is not known
ACMI publishes no participation, repeat-visit or retention figures for Blak Membership.
Sources
Primary sources
- ACMI membership — ACMI (opens in a new tab)
Reviewed by CIA 19 October 2026
- Blak Membership — ACMI (opens in a new tab)
Reviewed by CIA 19 October 2026
Explore related topics
- Challenge: Accessibility
- Challenge: Community engagement
- Challenge: Grow membership
- Audience: Local communities
- Audience: Members
- Theme: Accessibility and inclusion
- Theme: Community
- Theme: Membership & loyalty
Related ideas
- Shared question: Reaching audiences beyond existing attendersTake cinema to the communities a fixed venue does not reach
- Shared question: Designing what a membership actually includesGive membership benefits a time and a place
- Shared topic: Community engagementMake the member film club a monthly social appointment
- Shared topic: Community engagementMake membership part of the cinema's case for community support
Stay updated
Get new Cinemas in Action briefings by email.
Occasional operator briefings and new case studies — no marketing, no third parties.