The BFI announced today the first projects to be supported by its Lottery Transition Fund for Audience Development. A total of 37 projects from across the UK dedicated to delivering a wide range of audience development activities for specialised and British film will receive funding totalling £888,547. And we are pleased to announce we were one of the lucky ones.
The Transition Fund for Audience Development was set up swiftly by the BFI in order to support audience development projects facing budget cuts in funding as a result of the changes in the national and regional film funding landscape which have taken place before a new film strategy and funding priorities come into effect from April 2012.
The first round of projects to be funded, all of which demonstrated that their funding for core activities has been significantly reduced or withdrawn for the financial year 2011-12, represents a diverse range of activities and a wide geographical spread. These include FILMCLUB, which provides after school cinema clubs; YourLocalCinema.com, an online resource for subtitled and audio described cinema Flicks In The Sticks, which takes film to rural Shropshire and Herefordshire; Glasgow Cinema City; the Queens Film Theatre in Belfast; the Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle, and the National Media Museum in Bradford.
Other beneficiaries of the fund include the British Federation of Film Societies, the British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) and the Encounters International Film Festival in Bristol. Both the Edinburgh International Film Festival and the Sheffield International Documentary Festival were awarded funding through the fast track assessment process as both festivals took place last month.
Peter Buckingham, Head of Distribution and Exhibition, BFI, said, “We have moved as swiftly as possible to ensure that film organisations are able to survive in this period of transition, and that audiences can continue to benefit from the important work that they do. Collectively these organisations contribute hugely to the access and promotion of film in the UK. They are incredibly valuable which is why it has been important for the BFI to help them.”
You can view the projects which have received funding in this first slate of awards here.