The inaugural BFI Places Fund for skills and training is investing nearly £500,000 to support organisations in Bristol, Cornwall and Swindon to enable them to develop longer-term strategic plans for the local area and skills and training pilots.
The BFI Places Fund, awarding National Lottery funding, is making targeted interventions in three parts of the country also on the UK government’s ‘priority places’ list. These are locations where there is an emerging concentration of production, with the fund aiming to bring together the necessary partners to create an offer that will benefit both the local community and local industry.
The recipients of the funding will also undertake mapping exercises to build up more comprehensive knowledge of local skills gaps and shortages, local industry needs and employment opportunities.
Swindon’s Create Studios, that works to engage and grow the next generation of Black and Global Majority creative professionals, receives £164,047 to launch Create Traction. The initiative will aim to retain the local workforce to provide skilled workers for the studios and surrounding industry. It will form partnerships with other education establishments to pilot a training programme that addresses local skills shortages across specific occupations.
Meanwhile Bristol City Council will receive £245,425 for All Set West. The programme provides those currently underrepresented in the region’s film and television industry with training, networks and work opportunities to support them into employment in scripted roles.
And Screen Cornwall will receive £126,969 for Production Ready Pathways, a scheme to training and support for entry and early-stage crew across Cornwall, with structured long-term placements. The scheme will also provide focused development for a smaller cohort transferring in from other sectors.
“Here we are providing modest but very targeted funding in select areas where we can see there is real potential for growth in addition to places where we already have BFI Skills Clusters,” said Sara Whybrew, director of skills and workforce development at the BFI.
“We believe they this funding can provide a vital building block in a region becoming a viable production centre. By supporting organisations to forge partnerships which reach across local government, education, industry, local communities and beyond, we hope they can create capacity for growth, and ultimately long term benefits for these local areas, not least the realisation of a screen workforce that is representative of the local population.”
The Places Fund was originally earmarked with up to £750,000 available under the BFI’s National Lottery Funding Plan 2023-2026. The underspend will be re-allocated into the National Lottery funding strategy for skills and workforce, most likely for the 2026-29 period.
The Places Fund grant awards are for activity that can run for up to 18 months, until no later than June 30 2026.
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