Since 1955, the CICAE has been working to promote cultural diversity in cinemas. In the 50's, non-commercial films (" avant-garde", "auteur cinema" "art cinema") were mainly screened in festivals and often only seen by the movie-going elite, or more infrequently shown in specialized theatres in Europe's major capital cities.

In 1955, the national Arthouse cinema associations of Germany, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland decided to gather and to found the CICAE in order to bring quality films out of the shadows by offering them to a larger audience and to develop an art market for the cinema industry where filmmakers could find the resources they needed to pursue their creative endeavours.

The collective and concerted action of these pioneers led to the emergence in each of their country of a real market for quality films, as well as national schemes aimed at supporting theatres that took a stand in favour of this «high-risk» cinematographic art form.

Today, the CICAE brings together 3,000 screens via 9 national structures, independent cinemas in approximately 24 countries, 15 or so festivals, as well as a number of Arthouse film distributors or organizations (Europa Cinemas).