Written evidence submitted by South West
Screen (arts 174)
I am writing in response to the recent call
for evidence regarding the enquiry into "Funding of the Arts
and Heritage". My submission makes particular reference to
"the impact of recent changes to DCMS arm's-length bodies—in
particular the abolition of the UK Film Council".
1. It is clear that the landscape of public
funding for the creative industries is changing. The announcement
of the proposed abolition of the UK Film Council (UKFC) comes
alongside the replacement of Regional Development Agencies (RDAs)
with Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), the details of which
are yet to be determined. Together these changes will have direct
impact on the structure of support for the creative industries
across the UK.
2. The importance of these creative industries
cannot be underestimated. Widely recognised as a significant growth
area for the UK economy moving into the digital age, together
they contribute £60 billion a year, and represent 7.3% of
the UK economy, comparable to the Financial Services sector. Here
in the South West the creative industries sector is strong and
growing fast, with around 8,000 businesses and practitioners,
and direct employment of approx 36,000 people. The South West
is home to major businesses such as award-winning animation company
Aardman and Twofour, one of the UK's largest and most successful
independent communications companies, as well as a host of small
and medium size firms—many of whom have the potential also
grow to national and international success.
3. Recognised as a creative industries national
exemplar, the creative economy in the South West employs 144,000
people and contributes £5.4 billion GVA[145].
Globally renowned for strength in animation and natural history
television production, substantial revenue is also generated from
incoming film and television production which in 2009-10 brought
£62 million to the region—much of it in rural and coastal
areas of the South West.[146]
CC Skills reports a 19% rise in South West employment since 2006
in the subsectors which make up its footprint (including design
and advertising). Whilst the broader Television and Publishing
sectors represent the major economic drivers, the Digital Communications
and Design sectors are also growing in scale and profile. The
media sector in the region employs over 36,000 people and research
by the relevant sector skills councils identifies high levels
of micro-enterprises and freelancers in the region's creative
industries.[147]
However, spread across a large geographical area and operating
on varying levels of scale, many creative companies here in the
South West find it hard to access the guidance, skills and support
that help them to grow, innovate and compete, thereby hampering
their true potential.
4. The UK Film Council set up the nine independent
Screen Agencies in 2002 under the network of Screen England, to
help it distribute its funds and nurture talent across the country.
Since then these agencies have grown and diversified to work across
the full range of creative industries, encompassing talent development,
production, audience development, skills and supporting businesses
across film, television, games and new media. As the DCMS has
noted, the network of agencies have, for a relatively small investment,
encouraged investment of over £50 million in the audio-visual
creative industries across all regions.
5. South West Screen (SWS), the screen agency
for the development of creative industries in the South West,
now promotes and supports businesses working across not only film
and television, but also non-screen areas such as games, design,
new media and digital remits. The agency plays a key role in developing
the sector, providing cohesion, delivering key initiatives, boosting
talent, training and skills and keeping companies connected across
a wide geographical area. Its work is consistent and effective,
and its benefits have been felt across the South West. It actively
sources investment from other sources to benefit the sector, such
as the recently secured £3.2 million Creative Industries
Innovation Network (iNet) funding programme which will unlock
opportunities to leverage further support for innovation, export
and knowledge-sharing within the creative industries over the
next three years.
6. SWS has historically been reliant on
the UK Film Council and South West RDA to resource its programmes
of training and business, audience and talent development. As
the footprint of creative media has broadened to include digital
and pervasive media technologies, so SWS has diversified its funding
streams and now has programmes and partnerships with Skillset,
UK Trade & Investment, the European Regional Development Fund,
BBC Films and NESTA, amongst other partners, whilst simultaneously
developing its own income-generating projects. Its services respond
to constant change in the needs of the local area's businesses,
the pace and complexity of which is especially great in the newer
areas of the creative digital economy.
7. Under the Screen England network, the
Screen Agencies are currently re-structuring around a more cost
effective model of developing businesses and commercialising projects,
and it is important to ensure that the financial support is not
halted altogether for this sort of valuable activity. There is
a danger that the loss of the leadership and funding that was
provided by the UKFC will create a real vacuum out of which it
will be difficult to ensure a proper strategic model for creative
industry development and growth outside London.
8. Since they were set up, the Screen Agencies
have used the RIFE Lottery funds allocated to them from the UKFC
to leverage another £50 million of investment into creative
industry development for England. The loss of UKFC funding altogether
would create a very big hole in the creative industries. Research
by BIS and DCMS illustrates that creative SMEs face numerous problems
acquiring finance. Resource from UKFC and RDAs has often been
used by the Screen Agencies as seed corn funding, which enables
creative businesses to go on to leverage further revenue and move
to the next level. Removing access to this seed corn funding would
be damaging to the growth of the creative business on a local
level, impacting on the creative industries as a whole.
9. With the UKFC no longer in existence,
and the structure of LEPs not yet determined, it is imperative
that any future restructuring of funding should incorporate a
strong recognition of the creative industries, so that this vital
sector can continue to grow, to protect jobs and revenue, and
to play its part in helping the UK out of recession. In my particular
area of the South West, I believe that South West Screen, with
its roots in the creative media industries and its contacts across
the sector, is best placed to continue to deliver this support
as we move into an increasingly digital future.
10. However, this is also a time to grasp
the opportunity to re-balance the relationship between production
and culture in Lottery funding, an area which SWS has argued the
case to the UKFC about for a number of years. Yes, there needs
to be an emphasis on the use of film subsidy to achieve economic
benefits, but there also needs to be a focus on using funds to
achieve broader cultural benefits, and this is something that
we feel has not been maximised.
11. South West Screen absorbed much of the
latest reduction in its annual grant from the UKFC through cuts
to staffing and overheads. However, there was an unavoidable impact
on our activity to support Festivals and Exhibition Venues. As
local authority budgets continue to be pressured, this area of
cultural investment—arguably the area most deserving of
public support towards film—will struggle to find additional
resources. The UKFC had the wrong balance between exhibition and
industrial film. We would argue that public money needs to be
for public benefit, and there needs to be an infrastructure for
cultural impact that can generates commercial benefits whilst
also providing social or community value. For example South West
Screen is delivering a Lottery funded Rural Cinema Pilot Scheme
in Wiltshire and the Test Valley over the next three years, which
will take digital projection equipment out to hard to reach areas
to enhance access to culture, whilst strengthening social interaction
and reinvigorating community participation at the same time. Also,
talent development needs to have a higher priority, and we need
to be able to invest in the next generation of talent at a grass
roots level across the country, outside of London. This is a new
opportunity expand on talent development and address the fragility
of local film festivals, screening venues and mixed arts venues.
12. Faced with the abolition of the UKFC,
we recognise the need for a cultural change. Operating at a local
level allows us to be more flexible and responsive/reactive to
the needs of all sectors of both media and film communities, as
the following letters of support illustrate. It is vital, therefore,
that the change in funding does not lead to a loss of locally
nuanced decision making and delivery.
13. In discussing these points with key
businesses and partners in the South West, a number of concerns
have been raised about the impact of the abolition of the UKFC,
and in particular the threat it poses to the activities of SWS.
The following examples have been included to provide a cross section
of opinion across growing businesses of a range of sizes across
a range of creative industry sectors.[148]
I would urge Government to read these points and ensure that they
are considered.
September 2010
145 SWRDA, June 2007 Back
146
SWS figures Back
147
CC Skills, the Sector Skills Council for the Creative and Cultural
Industries, identifies 88% of companies within its footprint as
having fewer than five employees and 47% in self employment. Skillset,
the sector skills council for the creative media industries, identifies
33% of those working within the media industries in the region
as freelancers. Back
148
Ev. not printed. Back
|
