Screen Yorkshire, Film London, Screen Scotland and Northern Ireland Screen are among the six partner organisations to receive National Lottery funding under the British Film Institute (BFI) renewed skills funding strategy.
The BFI has named Sara Whybrew as head of National Lottery Skills programmes, to oversee and align funded activity. Whybrew joins from ScreenSkills, where she worked as apprenticeships and policy consultant. She has previously held key posts at Creative & Cultural Skills and Arts Council England.
National body ScreenSkills was the partner for the delivery of skills funding under the BFI’s previous National Lottery strategy.
As laid out in the BFI’s new 10-year funding cycle, the BFI is now teaming up with localised bodies to administer skills funding. The BFI has awarded £9.6m across there years to bolster screen production workforce development and training across the UK. From a total of £14.7m funding for skills, the initial roll out sees £8.1m for six partners across the UK, and £1.5m to ScreenSkills to provide bursary support for skills development.
The investment has been informed by the BFI Skills Review, and will work to complement the industry-led Skills Task Force for the UK screen sectors, as laid out last month and chaired by former Amazon exec Georgia Brown. It responds to two priorities revealed through pubic and industry consultation – to make the sector more accessible and representative and build a skilled workforce across the UK.
Skills clusters
Six BFI Skills Clusters have been awarded a total of £8.1m over three years and will enable lead organisations to work collaboratively with local industry, education and training providers. The clusters will be led by organisations covering the following areas:
- Screen Yorkshire (North of England): £2.3m
- Film London (London, Hertfordshire, Surrey, and Buckinghamshire): £2.2m
- Screen Scotland (Scotland): £1.1m
- Create Central (West Midlands): £1m
- Northern Ireland Screen (Northern Ireland): £0.9m
- Resource Productions (Berkshire): £0.6m
Organisations already committed to support BFI Skills Clusters include the National Film and Television School, working closely with Film London (alongside the Association of Colleges (AoC) and London Higher, the Capital City College Group (CCCG) and Middlesex University); the Liverpool Film Office, North East Screen, and Screen Manchester partnering with Screen Yorkshire; and the University of Reading and Shinfield Studios working with Resource Productions. Across the three years, the programme expects to pull over £6m direct match funding into skills and training activity across the UK, including from commercial partnerships and local public funding.
Approximately two-thirds of funding has been allocated across the north of England, Scotland, the West Midlands and Northern Ireland. The remaining third is allocated in London and the south east where the majority of production activity is currently based; over the last five years, 58% of film productions have used locations in London and the south east, and these films accounted for 70% of the film production spend in the UK.
The BFI expects to make further announcements on Skills Clusters funding in Wales, and expects to fund further Skills Clusters in emerging production hubs in the UK over the course of its 10-year National Lottery strategy, running to 2033.
Whybrew said: “I am delighted to be joining the BFI as the new Head of National Lottery Skills Programmes; there is no better time to be supporting the progression of diverse talent into and through this world-leading sector. Screen culture should be accessible to all, which means screen workplaces must be too. I look forward to working in collaboration with myriad partners and stakeholders to make this is a reality.”
Harriet Finney, deputy CEO of the BFI, added: “We seek to effect positive change across the screen sector through our National Lottery funding, but also by evidence-led policy – such as the BFI Skills Review – and working closely with industry and government. Evidence gathered and analysis conducted through the review concluded that radical change is needed to address current skills shortages and to retain and train those already working in the sector. It identified the need for industry investment, and we welcome the industry’s response in committing to the Skills Task Force.
“However, we believe BFI National Lottery good cause funding also has a vital role to play, particularly in redressing inequality of access to training, work place opportunities, and career-long support.”
As previously announced £14m National Lottery funding to deliver education programmes and £5.5m for BFI Film Academy.
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