creative media policy

Arts Council England’s Creative media policyJuly 2012

Contents

1 Our vision 3

What will success look like? 4

Creating the conditions for success 5

2 Context 6

3 Arts Council England’s policy approach 8

Other areas of digital development 13

4 How will we achieve this? 15

Funded organisations 15

Development activities – supporting creative media partnerships

and learning 15

Investment mechanisms to support creative media 16

Other Arts Council investment to support creative media 19

Other sources of creative media funding and support 21

Appendix 1 – Definitions 22

2 | Arts Council England’s Creative media policy

1 Our vision

In Achieving great art for everyone we 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.

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.

We can now connect with audiences in new ways, bringing them into a closer relationship

with the arts and creating new ways for them to take part. We have unprecedented

opportunities to encourage new forms of creativity and artistic expression, economic growth,

business model innovation and wider public access to arts and culture. We will do this by

supporting a new era of digital content and experiences that are created for, and adapted to,

this new digital space.

Digital technologies are transforming society, economy and culture. Global media networks

offer significant opportunities for the UK’s digital content industries including ‘cultural

institutions that foster, create and maintain digital content’1, enabling them to reach new

international audiences and markets. Opportunities to produce and distribute work, including

across multiple platforms, are increasing and we believe that there is rich potential for the arts

and cultural sectors to contribute to and benefit from this growth area of creative media,

accounting for ’70 per cent of the value and estimated potential growth of the creative

industries…in the UK.’2

Creative media as a term has been traditionally used to describe the industries producing

digital and creative content.3 This includes those companies working in film, television, radio,

interactive content, electronic publishing, software and computer games.

1 Sector Skills Assessment for the Creative Media Industries in the UK, Skillset, 2011, p142 Ibid, p83 Ibid, p8


http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication_archive/strategic-framework-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.

This covers all artforms including dance, literature, music, theatre, visual arts, and combined

arts. This includes emerging and innovative hybrid practices that work across boundaries and

disciplines and creative media produced by people within the arts, museum and libraries

sectors.

There are broadly three major areas of creative media content and experiences. Details of

these can be found in Appendix 1.

Our Creative media policy aims to:

support an increase in the quality, volume and reach of digital content and

experiences from the arts and cultural sector for artistic, economic and audience

development and growth.

We have a strong track record of supporting pioneering digital arts practice and innovations

and there are many brilliant artists, arts organisations and museums who are working in the

digital space. However, it remains true that as a proportion of our overall investment in the

arts, only a small fraction of the arts and culture we fund or have funded can be accessed and

enjoyed by the public through digital platforms. We understand some of the barriers and

challenges for artists and cultural organisations in producing and preserving creative media for

current and future audiences. But we know the rewards will be transformational.

What will success look like?

• more artists will choose to create new work for audiences using digital tools and

platforms

• more excellent creative media from the arts and cultural sector will become accessible

through digital platforms, catalogued, linked and archived for current and future

audiences

• there will be an increase in the numbers and range of people accessing publicly funded

creative media through digital devices and platforms


• the Arts Council’s National portfolio of funded organisations will have developed their

capacity in key areas identified within the policy

• more opportunities for artists, curators and cultural producers will be created to work

with higher education, researchers, technologists and creative media industry partners to

innovate and produce new creative media content, products and services

• new partnership approaches will generate new expertise, investment and sponsorship to

strengthen arts and cultural organisations’ creative media work and audience

engagement in arts and culture

• rigorous research and development, investment and knowledge transfer programmes will

generate new learning in relation to reaching new audiences, markets and developing

business models

Creating the conditions for success

We need to focus our efforts now on achieving this potential. We will invest in major skills

and capacity building initiatives that are flexible, responsive and address gaps identified in

feedback from the arts, museums and library sectors.

We will focus our advocacy, investment and development activities on helping connect artists,

performers, curators, producers and organisations to each other and to skills, expertise and

investments from the wider creative media and technology industries.

We want to bring the dynamic energies of our best contemporary artists, creatives and

curators together with our vast artistic and cultural heritage into this new exciting digital

space. This new connected vision of art and culture stretches across art forms, time and

geographic boundaries. The public has invested in all that we fund, and they have a growing

expectation to be able to access it via different media. And so this policy approach describes

how we will contribute to achieving great art and culture for everyone digitally.

Partnerships and collaboration will be essential to deliver the creative media policy and

address the major development opportunities and challenges. We look forward to

strengthening our existing partnerships, building new relationships with partners from the

wider creative industries and working closely with our funded organisations to develop more

detailed and imaginative proposals.


2 Context

The latest generation of digital technologies – from smartphones and tablets to internet TVs

– is leading to the emergence of ‘next-generation internet users’ who own multiple internet-

connected devices and access the internet from multiple locations, especially on the move.4

Take up of digital communications services reached landmark thresholds in 2011: nearly all

households (97 per cent) now have digital TV; household internet take-up has reached 78 per

cent; and over 30 per cent of mobile users now own a smartphone. Over 1 million internet-

connected TVs were sold in the UK in 20115.’

Recent research has confirmed that 53 per cent of the on-line population has used the

internet to engage with arts and culture in the past 12 months6 and we believe that the

potential for UK and international audiences to experience arts and culture through these

expanding digital platforms is enormous.

The Arts Council has been working strategically to support digital innovation and

development over the past five years. This is in addition to our policy responsibilities for digital

arts, artists’ film and video and arts broadcasting,7 and in funding a range of digital work

across art forms through our National portfolio and Grants for the arts funding programmes.

Digital opportunities was one of our four corporate priorities between 2008 and 2011. This

generated hundreds of diverse projects across England and new research into digital

engagement and the availability of great art on digital platforms. Through this programme,

we identified a paucity of digital content from the arts sector together with skills gaps in areas

such as media production and distribution, understanding audiences, business models,

technology, data and intellectual property. It was also clear that for many, ‘digital

development’ related substantially to marketing their venue/organisation using digital

platforms such as the web and social media but not to the creation of digital content and

experiences as part of their core artistic, cultural or educational mission.

4 William H. Dutton and Grant Blank, Next Generation Users: The Internet in Britain, OII, 20115 Communications Market Report, Ofcom, 20116 Digtal Audiences: engagement with arts and culture online, MTM London, 2012 7 These policies were agreed with DCMS and the former UK Film Council and relate to Appendix F, Film Council and the Arts Council of England Guidance note, Policy responsibilities for Film, Television and the Moving Image from 1 April 2000 in Film in England, UK Film Council, 2000


In our responses to Ofcom’s Public service broadcasting review and to Digital Britain, we

identified the significant potential for arts and cultural organisations to contribute to a more

vibrant and plural public service content ecology through becoming producers and

commissioners of media content and experiences and extending public value.

Our 10-year strategic framework for arts, museums and libraries outlined in Achieving great

art for everyone and Culture, knowledge and understanding: great museums and libraries for

everyone presents digital technologies as an overarching context for arts and culture. It also

sets out specific priorities: ‘strengthening the distribution of excellent art through touring and

digital platforms’ and developing ‘digital work to encompass museums and libraries and

encourage a greater sharing of collections and assets, extend reach and generate richer

experiences for audiences.’

Our framework also recognised that digital development and innovation related to all of its

five goals, with a need for artistic innovation, excellent content and experiences that could be

distributed and/or engage audiences directly, the building of sector skills, capacity and

resilience and the need to ensure a strong cultural offer for children and young people.

In 2011/12, to begin to address these issues, we launched three major digital programmes:

• The Space, a £5.5 million programme with the BBC and BFI that attracted 750

applications, and supported 53 commissions

• Building digital capacity for the arts – a £200,000 partnership between the Arts Council

and BBC Academy to create a programme of digital development and skills sharing

through workshops and seminars across England

• the Digital R&D fund for arts and culture, a £500,000 fund run through a partnership

between the Arts Council, Nesta and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)

which attracted 495 applications and supported eight action research projects.




http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/browse-advice-and-guidance/developing-great-museums-and-libraries


3 Arts Council England’s policy approachto creative media

’We are at the very beginning of a new era in arts development, with dramatic shifts

underway in how art is produced, distributed and consumed. While there are several

trailblazing organisations… issues of capacity, know-how, confidence and recalcitrance are

combining to block progression and in turn sti fle innovation and growth.’8

We believe a creative media policy is now needed for the arts, museums and libraries to

provide a structured approach to this vibrant, converged ecology.

The policy has the potential to support and strengthen the wider cultural infrastructure and

deliver greater public value and engagement.

The policy covers all artforms and the totality of our development and investment activities

including the work of our National portfolio organisations and Major partner museums,

strategic funding and Grants for the arts. The policy will support activities that engage

children and young people both as creators and audiences

We have a commitment to the widest distribution and accessibility of creative media. Our

policy aims to be as inclusive as possible and we will ensure that accessibility is central to our

approach.

This policy sets out nine development areas that will need to be addressed if we are going to

see a significant growth in the quality, volume and reach of creative media content and

experiences produced by arts and cultural organisations.

These development areas are:

1. Skills and training

Arts Council research and reports by UKOLN have identified a particular need for skills and

workforce development in relation to creative media production, commissioning and

distribution. This is in addition to areas of development within other parts of the creative

media policy approach such as rights, data and archives. We will develop partnerships that will

8 Tom Fleming Consultancy, Supporting growth in the arts economy, Arts Council England, 2011


contribute to creating a coherent approach to skills development. We will encourage local

networks and skills development programmes to respond to current gaps in provision.

2. Talent development

Artists’ practice is changing in response to new technologies and there is a shift in the types

of work being made across different artforms and a blurring of the boundaries between

artforms. In order to support these new types of work we will ensure that our approach to

talent development embraces creative media and supports a greater diversity of progression

routes for individuals and artists working in and across sectors. We want to support artists’

ambitions to work in film, broadcasting, games and with new technologies to develop and

create more work, crossing over into new areas of practice. We will work closely with the BFI

and other partners to achieve this objective.

3. Media production

People working in the arts and cultural sectors are beginning to incorporate creative media

practices into their work, and to re-imagine what an arts and cultural experience can be

digitally. We will invest in and support artists and organisations so that they can develop new

kinds of audio-visual content that can engage audiences in new, interactive and participatory

ways (see Appendix 1 for more detail).

Low-cost production technologies mean that arts and culture can be available more quickly,

cheaply, flexibly and at a higher quality than was previously possible. However, many

organisations lack the necessary skills and experience to re-conceive and adapt great art and

culture for a digital environment. In order to make the best use of available technology and

distribution platforms, the arts and culture sector need to form partnerships with

organisations with complementary expertise and resources that allow widespread and

effective production and distribution of content.

We will create and broker large-scale partnerships to open up new development opportunities

and platforms for arts and culture. In doing so, we will also seek to create opportunities for

knowledge transfer so that the participating organisations can learn how to develop and

create more work in the future.

4. Digital exhibition and distribution

New technology, from smart phone apps to online streaming, has opened up new possibilities

and challenges for artists and organisations. This could create the opportunity, in some cases,

for international revenues to be generated. We see potential partnership opportunities in


working with the British Council, UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) and others to support new

models of co-production and distribution and attract international interest and funding.

We will work to strengthen the physical and digital infrastructure for art and culture with

partners across England. We have a shared interest with the BFI in a wide range of media and

film venues and festivals and we know that more can be achieved through an integrated

cultural approach. We will support digital exhibition of creative media particularly in regions

where arts and cultural engagement and the producing infrastructure is low. The libraries

digital infrastructure also offers opportunities to reach new audiences and provide public

access to digital content and services.

Improving search, aggregation and curation are vital issues in the digital space to help attract

attention and improve the discoverability of creative media. The Arts Council’s partnership

with the BBC and BFI on The Space provides a good example of a bold public sector

intervention in creating a space for a wide diversity of new commissions and archived cultural

works for the public, forging relationships across genre, era and individual artists and/or

organisations.

5. Archives and collections

A huge amount of publicly-funded culture is contained in archives. Some has been digitised

already, but much remains inaccessible. This limits audience choice and therefore the ability to

maximise the delivery of public value through archived material.

Greater coordination across the arts, cultural, heritage and creative media sectors can help to

ensure that arts and cultural archives and collections are digitised, available, attractive, easy to

find and can be brought to life in new ways.

In partnership with the National Archives (which has the government mandate for archive

sector leadership) the BFI (which has a strategic responsibility for audio-visual archives) and

other partners including the BBC, we will address a range of archive issues, including shared

adoption of standards which will help to make this work more publically accessible. We will

encourage best practice in archives management, helping organisations to think about how

they may capture and archive the creative media they have produced for future long term use

and access.

We will support skills development in archiving, rights management, curation and

preservation as we recognise that these represent pressing needs.


We will help artists to explore the creative use and reuse, where appropriate, of arts and

cultural archive material. And we are committed to making the Arts Council’s own archives of

cultural material, including our film collection, digitally available.

6. Data and metadata

Arts and cultural organisations need to understand the value of cultural digital assets

including the data they hold about their work and their audiences and how this can be used

to maximise their public value. Data and its importance to online businesses is becoming

increasingly clear. Harnessing and analysing this data is an important step in the development

of strong public-facing applications and shared intelligence about audiences. It can also help

to inform strategic decisions that organisations may take as part of their business

development.

The gathering of data and use of metadata (information about digital assets) is a hugely

important area of work in relation to creative media. Rich metadata can enhance users’

experience and help organisations to better engage and understand their audiences. Metadata

co-operation across sectors is vital for improving discovery and access. We will explore with

partners how we can encourage the adoption of standard forms of metadata more widely.

This can help to create a digital public space by which publically funded art and culture works

are digitised, catalogued and archived, enabling them to be linked, found and enjoyed.

7. Rights and intellectual property

Rights and intellectual property are a challenge for all artists and organisations and a lack of

understanding about relevant legislation, models and professional practice as well as the

difficulty of negotiating new electronic distribution rights, especially in the performing arts,

hinders their ability to make work available through digital channels. Many artists and

organisations lack knowledge, confidence and experience in preparing material and clearing

rights for digital distribution or exhibition and need support to be better informed about the

types of rights agreements that are available and current best practice in negotiating rights for

digital distribution of work.

The Hargreaves report on intellectual property9 sets an overall policy direction that can benefit

the creative and cultural sectors (as well as the wider economy) but there is a need for

interventions and support aimed explicitly at the cultural sector. While there are already

sources of advice for the creative sector in relation to intellectual property and rights, more

9 Professor Ian Hargreaves, Digital Opportunity: A review of intellectual property and growth, Intellectual Property Office, 2011


detailed and specialist training and support is needed to help organisations grappling with the

challenges of making their work available digitally and where they want to derive an income

from their assets. We will actively encourage sharing of models of best practice and will work

with partners to support this complex landscape and identify the best mechanisms for

support.

8. Audience engagement and learning

This challenge relates predominantly to how we will engage audiences in conversations

around creative media and encourage new forms of participation and learning in areas that

may have been hitherto unavailable.

Digital media provides unprecedented opportunities for the public to engage with and learn

more about art and culture in new ways including: co-producing, re-working and participating

in creative media content, and building rich and personalised social media profiles around art

and culture that interests them. We will encourage our funded organisations to develop

creative media that can engage audiences of all ages, building knowledge and deepening

understanding.

As the technical barriers to accessing creative media are reduced, it is important that work

from the arts and cultural sector should be created with a view to reaching the widest

possible audience including new audiences and those who do not currently engage in the

arts.

More sophisticated analysis of current and potential markets for digital work is needed

together with a common approach to audience metrics and development. The Digital R&D

Fund for the Arts run by the Arts Council, Nesta and the Arts and Humanities Research

Council (AHRC) will play an important role in testing new approaches to deepening audience

engagement and extending reach through digital work and technologies. In addition, our

Audience focus fund will be supporting arts and cultural organisations to segment and

analyse their live and digital audiences.

9. Business models and organisational development

The development of creative media by arts and cultural organisations will have a significant

impact on their business models. Arts and cultural organisations want to understand how to

use new digital technologies to explore new business models that will allow them to raise

revenue, explore untapped markets and lower costs.


There is a need for research to provide tested models that organisations can use or adapt to

their own businesses. Our expanded Digital R&D fund for the Arts run in partnership with

Nesta and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) will provide this research and we

hope that it will lead to the development of new business models across the sector.

Alongside the goal of delivering public value, we want to support the arts and cultural sector

to generate revenue, by monetising content where appropriate, and to explore new income

streams from creative media through subscription, commercial sponsorship, mobile and social

media marketing and paid-for digital advertising. This could involve sector-wide or

collaborative approaches.

Other areas of digital development

This Creative media policy is not intended to cover the full range of digital innovation and

development. Some important aspects of digital development and information (such as the

digital marketing of live place based activities, digital marketing content about organisations,

venues, events listings, online box offices and ticketing systems for events) are not directly

referenced within the creative media policy but are an essential part of our public engagement

work.

Investment in IT infrastructure for organisational operations lies outside this policy although

some investment in technology is in its scope where it facilitates aspects of the policy

described above. Fundraising using digital technologies (eg crowd sourcing) is not in scope

except in relation to creative media work that is distributed digitally and for which an artist or

organisation is seeking support.

We also acknowledge that some digital activity particularly in relation to museums and

libraries may fall outside the policy although within the framework outlined in Culture,

knowledge and understanding. For example, much museum activity centres on managing

digital data in relation to collections and creating resources to support education, learning and

research. These are only in the scope of this policy where data and metadata relates to

creative media content and experiences. Much library activity is centred around managing and

making resources accessible not necessarily in the creation or distribution of work.

The Renaissance programme for museums will continue to support collections based work

primarily through our investment in two external organisations: Collections Trust and Culture




24. We will be working closely with museums, libraries and partners including the Heritage

Lottery Fund to ensure alignment and to explore the potential for the contribution of

museums and libraries to the policy.


4 How will we achieve this?

Funded organisations

We will maintain a strategic overview of creative media activity, in particular in relation to the

work of our funded organisations. Between 2012 and 2015 every National portfolio

organisation and Major partner museum has a mandatory key performance indicator (KPI) to

‘increase work made available digitally’, with each organisation identifying key areas of growth.

We will measure the quality, volume of creative media produced and audiences for this work

through audience and artistic peer assessment.

We will work with National portfolio organisations, Major partner museums and partners in

2012/13 to agree a new framework for measuring digital engagement with creative media

and in measuring digital engagement with arts and cultural organisations more broadly,

identifying more sophisticated measures of audience engagement and metrics.

We will support best practice in digital accessibility. Being mindful of the requirements of

individuals with impairments of various kinds, cultural organisations should be planning to

reach an acceptable standard of digital accessibility with websites meeting at least W3C

Single A accessibility standard. We expect organisations to consider digital accessibility from

the start of any new project or commission; scoping, scaling, development and delivery.

Development activities – supporting creative media partnerships and learning

We are committed to working with National portfolio organisations and Major partner

museums to facilitate knowledge sharing and dialogue, showcase best practice and to

improve learning.

We will play an active development role in forging and facilitating partnerships that support

the key strands of our approach. We will work with a wide range of partners including those

below, with whom we have a shared interest and/or investment.

• broadcasters including BBC, Channel 4 and Sky Arts

• film bodies including the BFI, Creative England, Film London and former screen agencies


• public sector bodies including Nesta, Heritage Lottery Fund, JISC, the Strategic Content

Alliance and The National Archives

• government bodies and agencies including the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

(DCMS); Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS); the Intellectual Property

Office (IPO); and UK Trade and Investment (UKTI)

• Creative Scotland, Arts Council Northern Ireland, Arts Council Wales and the British Council

• Arts Council England’s National portfolio organisations and Major partner museums

• national museums and libraries

• digital media companies and producers

• publishing and newspaper companies

• games and interactive media companies

• independent production companies

• technology bodies including Technology Strategy Board

• higher education institutions and research bodies including the Arts and Humanities

Research Council (AHRC)

• community media including Community Media Association and Media Trust

• skills and support agencies including Creative Skillset and CC Skills

• strategic audience and marketing bodies including AMA and Audiences England

We will work closely with the BFI to ensure that our respective funding mechanisms are clear

and complementary. A new partnership between the Arts Council and BFI will be announced

in autumn 2012. This will update the Film in England areas of policy responsibility, defined

within Appendix 1, and describe new areas of joint working including co-investment

mechanisms where appropriate.

The BBC and the Arts Council have confirmed that they are working on a new Public Value

Partnership to run between 2013 and 2016. The main focus of this partnership will be finding

ways to help the arts and cultural sector develop its digital capacity and to produce new

creative media. As part of this, both organisations are actively exploring the legacy of The

Space and we expect to have more details in the autumn.

Investment mechanisms to support creative media

Historically, we have funded a wide range of digital development and innovation. This will

continue through our open funding schemes for example, Grants for the arts.


We will ensure that our investment activities create an impact and contribute to a sustainable

creative media ecology across England. We will support people and organisations working in

hot spots of creative media activity to provide examples of best practice and opportunities for

sector-wide development, but also support areas across the country in which investment in

producers and infrastructure is less well developed and where there is evidence of need and

potential.

Digital innovation strategic funding A £20 million fund for ‘digital innovation’ was publicly announced in 2011. We can confirm

the following investment areas and allocations to support the creative media policy. This

supports three main areas of investment.

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

Creative media infrastructure programme (13-15) £2.5 million

Total Investment £20 million

The Space (November 2012 – March 2015)

The Space (thespace.org.uk) is a groundbreaking initiative developed by the Arts Council and

BBC that has resulted in a new experimental arts service that can distribute creative media

across all platforms and devices.

The Space was designed to address development challenges identified in this policy

particularly in relation to skills development, media production and attracting audiences to

creative media. A £3.5 million media commissioning fund was launched in November 2011.

£2 million came from the BBC to deliver the technology solution, and staff resources to

facilitate publishing work, curation, mentoring, training and editorial support. The BFI created

a film channel within The Space bringing significant curation, expertise and rare archive

material into the service.

We are learning a great deal from the experience of The Space pilot and will be conducting

evaluation into the services’ audiences and impact on participating organisations. Since the

launch of The Space in May 2012, audience feedback and numbers have been encouraging

and we believe the pilot has potential to extend and develop. Both the Arts Council and BBC

want to continue to develop the legacy of The Space further. The Arts Council is committing

17 | Arts Council England’s Creative media policy17 | Arts Council England’s Creative media policy

£8 million from digital strategic funding to support a further phase of The Space, including

support for media production funds to addressing many of the areas of creative media policy,

to run from November 2012 to March 2015. Further details will be announced in the autumn.

The Digital R&D Fund for the Arts (July 2012-March 2015)

This investment explicitly addresses development challenges 8 and 9 of the policy and also

2,3,4,5. Funding to support new creative media content and experiences are in scope in sofar

as they relate to audience engagement and business development.

The themes of the fund are:

• User generated content and social media

Harnessing the power of the internet and social media to reach audiences and to give

them a platform for discussion, participation and creativity.

• Digital distribution and exhibition

Using digital technologies to deliver artistic experiences and content in new ways in

online and place based environments, including exploring international distribution and

exhibition.

• Mobile, location and games

Developing a new generation of mobile and location-based experiences and services,

including games.

• Data and archives

Making archives, collections and other data more widely available to other arts

organisations and the general public.

• Resources

Using digital technologies to improve the way in which arts organisations are run

including business efficiency and income generation and the way in which they

collaborate with each other.

• Education and learning

Developing interactive education and learning resources for children, teachers, young

people, adult learners and arts sector professionals.


The fund will build on the pilot programme to achieve a step change in the innovative use of

digital technologies by the arts and cultural sector in England. It is unique in marrying cultural

organisations with researchers and technology companies to test innovation propositions and

support the dissemination of the learning.

Creative media infrastructure programme (2013- 2015)

During 2012/13, we will be working with key partners including the National Archives, BFI

and others to support a more coordinated approach to creative media infrastructure. We will

identify how best to deploy the remainder of our £2.5 million strategic funding to address:

• intellectual property and rights support

• archiving skills and support

• data, meta-data infrastructure support for arts content

This funding will not be available until autumn 2013.

Other Arts Council investment to support creative media

Grants for the arts

Grants 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

Strategic touring

The £45 million Strategic touring programme 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-programme


http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-for-funding/grants-for-the-arts

http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-for-funding/strategic-funding/grant-programmes/strategic-touring-programme

http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-for-funding/strategic-funding/grant-programmes/strategic-touring-programme

Creative people and places

The Creative people and places fund 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-fund

Audience focus

The fund, which launched in November 2011, aims to achieve the Arts Council’s goal of

encouraging more people to attend and participate in the arts by helping arts organisations

better understand, retain and expand their audiences including digital engagement. The

Understanding audiences strand of the fund has resulted in an award of £3,268,000 over

three years to Audiences Plus, a consortium of specialist audience development agencies led

by All About Audiences and Audiences London.

This new national consortium, based in Manchester and London, will provide 1:1 support to

organisations, as well as a number of innovative new tools and resources to help them better

understand their current and potential audiences. These will include a national database of

arts attendees, an online audience analytics system and a DIY audience focus toolkit. This

supports the creative media policy by giving organisations better digital tools to understand

and develop their audiences.

A further round of funding will be open in autumn 2012.

www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-for-funding/strategic-funding/commissioned-grants/

audience-focus

Capital 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.

www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-for-funding/strategic-funding/grant programmes/

capital


http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-for-funding/strategic-funding/commissioned-grants/creative-people-and-places-fund/

http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-for-funding/strategic-funding/commissioned-grants/creative-people-and-places-fund/

http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-for-funding/strategic-funding/commissioned-grants/audience-focus/



Renaissance

Renaissance 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

Other sources of creative media funding and support

Heritage Lottery Fund

From 1 July 2012, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has made changes to their policy on digital

projects and has introduced new requirements for digital outputs produced with HLF funding

as part of a project. This means that they now fund a stand-alone digital project provided it

meets the aims and criteria of the grant applied for. All projects must meet a strategic aim for

learning: ‘to help people learn about their own and other people’s heritage.’ They state that

‘we are using the term digital output to cover anything you create in your project in a digital

format which is designed to give access to heritage or to help people engage with heritage eg

a website, a set of digital images, an online exhibition or a smart phone app.’ 10

www.hlf.org.uk/digitalpolicyandrequirements

The National Archives

As archive sector leaders, The National Archives provides support for archives across the public

and private sectors: for local government, universities, libraries and museums, and other publicly-

funded organisations; for businesses, charities and other private or commercial institutions.

Advice and guidance is available on the collecting, management and preservation of archives

in all media and on all formats and on engaging with new and diverse audiences and

exploring potential for improving access to collections with case studies providing practical

examples of experiences from across the archive sector.

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives-sector

10 Thinking about… Using digital technology in heritage projects, Heritage Lottery Fund, 2011, p6


http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication_archive/developing-great-museums-and-libraries/

http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication_archive/developing-great-museums-and-libraries/

http://www.hlf.org.uk/digitalpolicyandrequirements

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archives-sector/

Appendix 1 – Definitions

Our Creative media policy aims to:

support an increase in the quality, volume and reach of digital content and

experiences from the arts and cultural sector to support artistic, economic and

audience development and growth.

Creative media as a term has been traditionally used to describe the creative media and digital

content industries producing creative content11 including those companies working in film,

television, radio, interactive content, electronic publishing, software and computer games.

The Arts Council’s use of the term ‘creative media’ refers to:

artistic and cultural works and content that are created for digital platforms and/or

distributed digitally to engage the public.

Creative media encompasses all artforms (including dance, literature, music, theatre, visual

arts, and combined arts) and emerging and innovative hybrid practices that work across

boundaries and disciplines. It also refers to creative media produced by people within the arts,

museums and library sectors.

There are broadly three creative media content areas:

1. ‘Born digital’ work native to and created for the digital space

Art 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

2. 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

11 Ibid, Skillset, p8


collection into new kinds of online, film, broadcast, video or interactive media content

and experiences that can be distributed digitally.

3. 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

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 broadcasting

Includes 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.

Please note that the BFI and the Arts Council will be reviewing and updating areas of

policy responsibility above. We will be announcing a new partnership with the BFI in

autumn 2012.


Arts Council England14 Great Peter Street

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ISBN: 978-0-7287-1523-3

© Arts Council England, July 2012

We are committed to being open and accessible. We welcome

all comments on our work. Please send these to Alison Cole,

Executive Director, Advocacy & Communications, at the Arts

Council England address above.

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