About us

Arts Alliance HistoryArts Alliance was conceived in the spring of 1996, but formalised in 1997. The first investments included Firefly (bought by Microsoft) and Planet All (bought by Amazon), both of which were hands-on endeavours with a focus on the user experience. Navigating the meeting point between technology, creativity and business quickly became the competitive edge in a market dominated by technologists and business people, rather than artists or the interdisciplinary.

As Arts Alliance grew within the international art and tech sphere, it swiftly became a leader in innovation, always at the head of the curve of the changing media and technology landscape, sometimes even too far ahead. Arts Alliance has a combination of building and backing companies, having been involved in more than 60 start-ups and ventures that have become household names, including lastminute.com, Ocado, Shazam.
For a more complete list of companies see artsalliance.co.uk

‍Arts Alliance founded Arts Alliance Media in 2003, which was central to the transformation of the exhibition industry from analog to digital, converting the first 250 UK screens to digital projection for the UK Film Council’s 2005 Digital Screen Network and rolling out the first-ever VPF (Virtual Print Fee) in Europe in 2008. In all, Arts Alliance Media facilitated the conversion of several tens of thousands screens across the world, managing all aspects of running the cinema industry with their proprietary software. From its large footprint across cinemas in the UK and Europe, Arts Alliance Media became a world-wide innovator in event cinema distribution and digital screening solutions and was sold to Luxin-Rio in 2017. The company continues to thrive under its new ownership and to develop world class software for the cinema industry. For more information visit artsalliancemedia.com

Arts Alliance bought DVDs On Tap and relaunched it as LoveFilm in 2003. The re-imagined proposition became an early leader in online film rentals and streaming and sold the first-ever digital film online in 2006, scaling the business to become Europe’s leading direct-to consumer streaming site before being acquired by Amazon in 2011.

Arts Alliance took a majority interest in Picturehouse Cinemas in 2002 and almost tripled its size to the 25 cinemas it operates today. Picturehouse was the first major cinema chain to convert 100% of its screens to digital projection and was acquired by Cineworld in 2012.

Throughout its 25 year history, Arts Alliance and Arts Alliance Productions have created unforgettable filmed live events bringing music, opera, ballet, art exhibitions, theatre and cinema to audiences around the world. Pioneering at the intersection of art and digital technology, Arts Alliance Productions produced and distributed such titles as Disney’s Newsies: The Broadway Musical! (2017), One Direction: Where We Are – The Concert Film (2014), Revolution: New Art for a New World (2016), Springsteen and I (2013), Royal Opera House Live and many more.

For all of our successes, we have plenty of failures – or rather, learning experiences – that have shaped us into who we are today. Equally proud of the human effort behind all of our past and present activities, we see our investment in the people at the core of our companies and in far-reaching relationships across sectors as a key to our growth.

Arts Alliance now operates Park Circus, an international classic film sales and distribution company; MetFilm, a leading film school as well as attached production and distribution companies; and Garden Studios, a 15,000m2 new creative hub in London. Arts Alliance Productions continues to produce documentary films, most recently Sundance Film Festival’s Misha and the Wolves (2021), and supports both Met Film and Park Circus’ ongoing film production efforts.