From watching film, creating and sharing content digitally, to playing video games, screen culture is now primary means of communication and creativity, and a powerful means of cultural expression, cohesion, information delivery and international soft power.
As a cultural organisation and lead body that specialises in the moving image — we have to be wide open to the many different ways in which people live and experience screen culture.
We’re using this strategy to reframe what screen culture means, to claim it as positive, universal, beneficial. By embracing and endorsing the positive effects of screen culture, we hope that over time its cultural, educational and social value — with the public and policy makers – will increase. So, we have proudly claimed it as the name of this new ten-year strategy that will steer us through to our centenary in 2033.
Screen Culture 2033 sets out how we will advance our knowledge, collections, programmes, National Lottery funding and leadership, to build a diverse UK screen culture that benefits all of society and contributes to a prosperous economy.
Our new BFI National Lottery Strategy 2023-2033 and BFI National Lottery Funding Plan 2023-2026 form an important part of Screen Culture 2033. The three pieces of work have been launched simultaneously on 23 September 2022.
BFI National Lottery Strategy 2023 to 2033
The BFI National Lottery Strategy 2023-2033 also responds to the changes that transforming the UK screen sectors, setting out what we want to achieve as a distributor of funding over this period.
As a successor to BFI2022 and in line with the BFI’s National Lottery policy directions for ‘good cause’ funding, the strategy provides an overarching framework of principles, objectives and outcomes that will govern and shape our funds and programmes over the 10-year period. The strategy is a living document. We will return to it throughout the strategy period to make sure it remains fit for purpose as the landscape continues to shift.
BFI National Lottery Funding Plan 2023-2026
The first BFI National Lottery Funding Plan will start in April 2023 and covers the first three years of the strategy, with subsequent funding plans allowing us to adapt funds and programmes as the three-year period from 2023 to 2026 and is available to read below.
Every investment we make over the next 10 years will have to demonstrate how it delivers against our new strategy. As we head into this period, our available BFI National Lottery funding will be approximately £45m a year, which for the first three years of the strategy is approximately 10% lower than during the final three years of BFI2022. As a result, it is even more important that every investment we make delivers the greatest possible impact to the public.
Working together, the strategy and the funding plans aim to ensure the continued vibrancy of the stories that we tell, experience and enjoy on screen, unlocking cultural, industrial, social and economic benefits UK-wide along the way.
How we developed the BFI National Lottery Strategy
To develop a long-term National Lottery strategy and funding plan that would deliver the greatest possible benefit to the public and the sector, we consulted extensively over a 13-month period with hundreds of screen sector stakeholders and more than 2,000 members of the public across the UK. We also evaluated a wide range of our current National Lottery-funded activity to make sure our strategy was based on solid evidence.
The first round of consultation took place from August to October 2021. We published findings as Next Up Pt. 1 on 17 January 2022 which can be read below. Key findings were also presented at a webinar hosted by BritainThinks.
We developed a draft strategic framework of principles, objectives and outcomes based on this evidence published in April 2022 as BFI Next Up Pt.2 also available to read below. We ran a second stage of consultation between 20 April and 18 May to gather thoughts from a broad spectrum of people working in every area of the UK screen sector, on the proposed strategic framework for BFI National Lottery funding, as well as seeking input relevant for local areas. We invited feedback via an online survey and also held 18 Talkabout events across the UK (25 April — 18 May)..
Opening new funds
All activity funded through BFI2022 which ends in March 2023, will be winding down over the coming months. This includes internally managed funds as well as projects, funds and programmes managed by our funded partners.
Tenders for new funds to be supported through the BFI National Lottery Strategy 2023-2026 and the BFI National Lottery Funding Plan 2023-2026 and invitations for applications, as well as the design of any internally managed funding programmes in advance of the beginning of the strategy period in April 2023 will be published.
We plan we have as many aspects as possible of the new BFI National Lottery Strategy and the BFI National Lottery Funding Plan 2023-2026 up and running for April 2023.
You can read our Screen Culture 2033, BFI National Lottery Strategy 2023-2033 and our BFI National Lottery Funding Plan 2023-2026 BFI National Lottery Funding Plan 2023-2026 at bfi.org.uk/screenculture2033
For enquiries relating to Screen Culture 2033 and our National Lottery Strategy please contact us at BFIScreenCulture2033@bfi.org.uk