2. Creative Media Policy - basics
In Achieving great art for everyone we talk of ‘the dizzying
potential of digital technology in transforming the way we
make, distribute, receive and exchange art.’
We want to unlock this largely untapped potential to
create, share and link artistic and cultural works in ways
made uniquely possible through digital media.
The public should be able to access publicly funded culture
through digital media technologies, complementing and
enhancing the live, place-based experiences that continue
to form the backbone of the arts.
3. Creative Media Policy – three key areas
• ‘Born digital’ work native to and created for the
digital space
• Mediation of existing art and cultural works
• Arts and cultural reflection – supporting learning
and critical context
4. Creative Media policy - Key headings
• Skills and training
• Talent development
• Media production
• Digital exhibition and distribution
• Archives and collections
• Data and metadata
• Rights and intellectual property
• Audience engagement and learning
• Business models and organisational development
5. Direct funding opportunities for Creative Media
Digital Innovation Strategic Funding:
The Space (current pilot) (11/12) £3.5 million
(already allocated)
The Space (set aside for future phase) (12-15) £8
million
Digital R&D Fund for the Arts (12-15) £6 million
Total Investment 2012-15 £17.5
million
6. Digital Research and Development Fund
Partnership between ACE, AHRC and NESTA
Supports collaboration between organisations with art
projects, tech providers and researchers
Enhancing audience reach and developing new business
models
Fund open until December 2013 for expressions of
interest, then full applications after that.
Accessibility is particularly highlighted
7. Digital R & D fund- what kind of projects?
UGC and Social media
Distribution and exhibition
Mobile, location and games
Data and archives
Resources
Education and learning projects
8. Other relevant funding streams
• Grants for the Arts
• Strategic Touring Fund
• Creative People and Places
• Capital Funding
• Renaissance
9. What are we funding?
• Streaming Out – three networking seminars about new
kinds of real-time digital culture
• Ideas Camps – Blast Theory leading three in-depth idea
generation and mentoring groups across SE area
• Culture Kent Pathfinder project – a Culture/Tourism
open data multi-platform project
• Digital Accessibility Culture Hack – all about bringing
together deaf and disabled artists and technical
facilitators to generate supremely accessible digital
culture
10. Ambition? Raising the bar
• Achieving great art and culture for everyone
• Digital - situating publicly-funded culture in society
• Reaching people already ahead of us as digital
consumers and audiences
• Looking inwards within culture spaces
• Is our first outreach audience ourselves?
11. Participatory culture – a new challenge
• Understanding chances to make new connections
• Not negative or regressive in terms of skills or authority
• A further step on from traditional art & curatorial values
• Establishing trust, scholarship and educational values
• Broad connections making new meanings from familiar
objects and ideas
12. Skills for the future
• Not developing, coding, understanding digital systems or
having your teeth pulled out
• Culture, learning and relationships are key
• Our world is becoming a giant database
• Everything is connected
• Understanding the new connections is key
• But it’s not about technology
If you’ve been keeping an eye on recent new policy launches by ACE, you’ll know we’re moving in different directions, since the launch of Achieving Great Art or all, our five year plan launched in 2010. Our Creative Media policy, launched earlier this year, re-enforces this point.
In Achieving great art for everyonewe identify ‘the dizzying potential of digital technology in transforming the way we make, distribute, receive and exchange art.’ We want to unlock this vast and largely untapped potential – to create, share and link artistic and cultural works in ways made uniquely possible through digital media. You’ll here more about that when I explore The Space, and it’s more advanced successor, the Digital Public Space. We believe the public should be able to access the best of publicly funded culture through digital media and technologies, complementing and enhancing the essential live, place-based experiences that will continue to form the backbone of the arts. Within this wider ecology and economy, the Arts Council is applying creative media as a term to refer to artistic and cultural works and content that are created for digital platforms and/or distributed digitally to engage the public.
Within this wider ecology and economy, the Arts Council is applying creative media as a term to refer to artistic and cultural works and content that are created for digital platforms and/or distributed digitally to engage the public. There are broadly three creative media content areas:‘Born digital’ work native to and created for the digital spaceArt and cultural works and arts practice in which digital technologies and media are an integral part of the creation of the artwork/experience - eg artists film and video, digital arts, participatory and interactive media, augmented reality games, pervasive and transmedia storytelling Mediation of existing art and cultural works‘Made digital’ activity that can include the digitisation, adaptation, re-staging or extension of a primary/existing, usually place-based art or cultural work such as play or art collection into new kinds of online, film, broadcast, video or interactive media content and experiences that can be distributed digitally. Arts and cultural reflection – supporting learning and critical context‘Made digital’ activity that can include critical commentary, cultural journalism, and learning content that may contextualise or reflect on aspects of arts and culture. This can include coverage of events and discussions with artists, specialists and curators about their work. It can involve creative approaches to production and publishing including arts documentaries and podcasts which incorporate art works and collections within a broader editorial context
New Funding Directions Across the arts, supporting the new Creative Media policy, with particular relevance to photography, ACE has a number of direct funding opportunities. These include the Digital R & D fund; the Creative People and Places programme; our Grants for the Arts lottery funding scheme; the Touring Strategic Fund. Digital Innovation Strategic Funding: The Space (current pilot) (11/12) £3.5 million (already allocated) The Space (set aside for future phase) (12-15) £8 million Digital R&D Fund for the Arts (12-15) £6 million Total Investment 2012-15 £17.5 million
Grants for the artsGrants for the arts is our open-access, year-round lottery funding scheme. Through the scheme we fund a range of activities that support the creative media policy including: skills and talent development, media production, distribution, exhibition, clearance of intellectual property rights costs within the production of a work, audience development and marketing activity, and archive projects which can demonstrate public access and benefit. www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-for-funding/grants-for-the-arts Our traditional Grants for the Arts route for individual artists, smaller organisations and the like continues to be a useful and relatively simple route for people to access project funding. We are being pro-active in this region with opening out these funding routes in accessible ways - before Brighton Digital Festival we rolled out a Grants for the Arts ‘surgery’ where all big and small issues and wrinkles about applications were teased out. After the surgery a number of applications came in and a reasonable proportion was successful, adding to other funds already committed to #BDF earlier in 2012. A number of GfTA applications came in for Photofringe and BPB projects and some were successful, though we have noticed that many came in at the very last minute, leaving no time for re-applications if the initial submission doesn’t go through, so that’s something to think about in future. In this region we may offer to assist, subject to RM workload, people who want to re-submit by reading drafts of subsequent applications. A careful and thoughtful approach to re-submission is always a good idea. Grants for the Arts staff at our specialist funding assessment centre in Manchester [phone the enquiries team on 0845 300 6200] are usually happy to email detailed feedback about the assessment, and grant decision panel notes, to help re-drafting. Read more about Grants for the Arts hereStrategic touring The £45 million Strategic touring programme, which also uses lottery funds, was launched in 2011 and is designed to encourage collaboration between organisations, so that more people across England experience and are inspired by the arts, particularly in places which rely on touring for much of their arts provision. The Strategic touring fund will accept applications for place-based digital exhibition that support the aim of engaging audiences in areas with limited arts provision. www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-for-funding/strategic-funding/grant-programmes/strategic-touring-programmeCreative People and PlacesThe Creative People and Places fund [which is also lottery money] will focus our investment in parts of the country where people’s involvement in the arts is significantly below the national average, with the aim of increasing the likelihood of participation. This may include creative media activity from arts and cultural organisations to engage local communities in new and different approaches to participation. www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-for-funding/strategic-funding/commissioned-grants/creative-people-and-places-fundCapital funding Our £214.6 million capital investment programme including our small scale capital fund will support organisations to develop resilience by giving them the right buildings, equipment and technology infrastructure to deliver their work. Some businesses are looking at expanding digital resources within their buildings and funding can also support capital equipment to produce and distribute creative media. These funds are mostly targeted towards National Portfolio organisations. www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-for-funding/strategic-funding/grant programmes/capitalRenaissanceRenaissance is the Arts Council's £43 million investment in the development of regional museums between 2012 and 2015. The Renaissance strategic support fund is a programme strand of Renaissance to be developed and aims to address the priorities set out in Culture, knowledge and understanding and complement our Major partner museum and Museum development investment. It will focus on any gaps (geographical or otherwise) or development opportunities across the sector recognising that excellence and the potential for excellence can be found in museums of all sizes. This can include digital development and support for the creation and distribution of creative media.www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-for-funding/renaissance Creative media encompasses the Arts Council’s policy responsibilities for artists’ film and video, arts broadcasting and digital arts that were agreed with the DCMS and the UK Film Council in 2000. Key definitions for these terms outlined in Film in England (UK Film Council, 2000) are: Arts broadcastingIncludes measures to encourage innovation in television, and covers broadband, web-casting and other new distribution and transmission technologies; collaborative partnerships between different artforms and broadcast organisations, advocacy and arts journalism and television schemes designed to showcase other art forms and radio. Artists’ film and video Includes moving-image based work that relates to fine art practice, including gallery-based work, experimental film and animation, artists’ video and work with new technologies. It should cover related broadcast and narrowcast schemes, production and resources to support it, such as workshops, managed workspaces, production facilities, distribution and associated activities such as education and training. Digital arts Includes support of production, distribution of moving and still images by artists across the spectrum of new media including on-line broadcasting and other new distribution and transmission technologies and multi-media developments.