Peter Knott Regional Director, East Midlands Arts Council England
May 12, 2015
Peter Knott Regional Director,East MidlandsArts Council England
Digital and the arts and culture sector
Bicycle Ballet, Brighton, 2006Photo: Matthew Andrews
Achieving great art for everyone
Achieving great art for everyone sets out our vision for the arts
Shaped by views of artists, arts organisations, the public
and our many stakeholders and partners, it focuses our
work for the next 10 years and provides the rationale for all
of our investments
Our evolving vision for digital
Thinking digitally
Who Wants to be a Hero Now, Blind Ditch Vanland young people's rural media project 2004 - 2006.
Thinking digitally
Adrienne Hart taking part in Dance SCAPES project, SwindonPhoto: Kevin Clifford
Thinking digitally
We want to support a transformative step change in the
way that artists and arts organisations engage with digital
media and technologies, thereby radically expanding the
scope, reach and impact of arts and culture.
We recognise that digital development can support the
development of artistic forms and practice as part of an
organisation’s mission; digital marketing and audience
development; new business and organisational models;
and digital media production and digital distribution
Thinking digitally
1. We want arts organisations to be more focused on creating imaginative digital content that can attract audiences, leading to a greater proportion of publicly funded arts and culture content and experiences being available to the public
2. We want to generate greater digital capacity within the arts sector, particularly in relation to digital marketing, organisational development and digital media production and distribution
Thinking digitally
3. We want to support the arts and cultural sector in attracting investment from technology and creative media industry partners to explore new audiences and markets for digital content, products and services
4. Through digital technologies, we want to encourage a larger more diverse audience to experience and benefit from the arts we fund; this includes people living in areas where arts participation is currently low, and children and young people
Putting policy into action
Jonah Bokaer's 'Three Cases of Amnesia‘, Bournemouth University. Photo credit: Roy Riley Skin, ACE Dance and Music
Photo: Brian Slater
Putting policy into action
Our vision for digital builds strong foundations:
• drawing out the research and evidence from the Digital Opportunities Programme (available soon)
• working closely with the BBC Academy on our Building Digital Capacity for the Arts programme
• investing in pilot projects such as this Digital R&D Fund
Putting policy into action
Putting policy into action
To achieve our vision, we will pursue a policy approach
across our total investment in the arts from 2012
We will use our investment intelligently across our national
portfolio, Grants for the arts and strategic funding streams,
addressing needs and opportunities and adding value to
what is happening already
• organisations in our national portfolio will be
crucial partners in realising this vision. We will
expect all organisations to consider how digital technology can enable them to deliver their missions better
• Grants for the arts, our open-access Lottery
funding programme for arts activities will continue to fund artists working with digital technology and digital projects
Putting policy into action
• later on this year, we will announce a digital innovation and development programme, focussing on gaps and opportunities for the sector, covering areas such as capacity building, skills, content development and R&D
• we will consolidate existing partnerships and develop new ones with partners across the technology, film, broadcast and creative media sectors
Putting policy into action
• we will play a leading role in advocacy and policy development, covering areas such as: • intellectual property • national government media and
communication reviews• cross cultural sector work on open data
Putting policy into action
Taken together, these
actions will support a
continuum of
development and
innovation activities
that will use digital
technologies to
radically expand the
scope, reach and
impact of arts and
culture
Band on the Wall, Manchester, refurbished with £2.5million in Arts Council capital funding. Image by Brian Slater Photography.
Andrew Motion poem in SheffieldPhoto: Jack Eames