'Fistful of euros' for UK Skillset Screen Academies to collaborate with European partners
12 December 2007
UK universities - including four Skillset Screen Academies - are the big winners this week with the European Union announcing more than EUR1.2 million euro (£863,300) funding to encourage collaboration between European film schools.
The EUR1.2 million euro (£863,300) funding is from the EU's MEDIA Programme - an investment programme running until 2013 that will provide more than EUR755 million euro (£539m) to strengthen the competitiveness of the European film, TV and new media industries.
European universities formed groups to apply for the funding from MEDIA 2007. Three of the 10 successful bids were led by UK Higher Education institutions - The London Film School, Napier University (part of Skillset Screen Academy Scotland), and the National Film and TV School. These institutions are all part of the Skillset Screen Academy Network.
Two further UK film schools were also successful as partners in bids supported by other consortia - Skillset Bournemouth Screen Academy and Norwich School of Art and Design.
The MEDIA 2007 funding will be used to support a range of projects that enhance education, networking, and the mobility of students and trainers in Europe. The projects will also focus on subjects such as business skills, marketing, film project development and the use of new technologies.
Janine Marmot, Director of Film at Skillset, said: "The Skillset Screen Academy Network represents the best that the UK has to offer in film training and education. It is very rewarding to see the network now extend those links to Europe and with similarly positioned centres of excellence."
Kate O'Connor, Executive Director of Policy and Development at Skillset, said the MEDIA 2007 funding panel's decision reflected the high esteem held for an education model where a Sector Skills Council - Skillset - can work with Higher Education Institutions to create networks of centres of excellence in education, creativity and thought innovation.
Kate O'Connor said: "The Skillset Screen Academy Network was established in 2005. The network represents a new kind of Higher Education infrastructure - a seamless and equal partnership where HEIs and Skillset, as a Sector Skills Council, are able to produce a system that combines industry expertise with the UK's leading creative thinkers and institutions of learning. It's a system that leads to cutting-edge research and development, education, creativity and business innovation."
Agnieszka Moody, Director of UK MEDIA Desk (the UK-based information arm of the MEDIA 2007 Programme), said: "We are extremely pleased with the outcome of this call for proposals. The response from UK Screen Academies demonstrated both great enthusiasm to work with their counterparts in Europe and that what they have to offer was highly valued by both the EU Commission and the partners they brought on board."
Stewart Till, Chairman of the UK Film Council and Deputy Chair of Skillset, said: "The UK has done exceptionally well with this latest round of MEDIA funding. We are certainly delighted and feel incredibly privileged to play such an important and leading role with the Skillset Screen Academies in creating a new landscape of international collaboration of European film schools."
The UK wide network of Screen Academies is a key part of A Bigger Future - the UK Film Skills Strategy. The strategy is funded by National Lottery money from the UK Film Council and from industry contributions via the Skills Investment Fund, a film production levy collected by Skillset. The UK Film Council and Skillset are strategic partners in implementing the strategy.
Notes to editors:
1. Skillset is the Sector Skills Council for the Audio Visual Industries covering Broadcast, Film, Video, Interactive Media and Photo Imaging. Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) are licensed by the UK Government and by Ministers in the devolved administrations to tackle the skills and productivity challenge by sector. SSCs are independent, UK wide organisations developed by groups of influential employers in industry or business sectors of economic or strategic significance. SSCs are employer-led and actively involve trade unions, professional bodies, Higher Education Institutions and other stakeholders in the sector. See www.skillset.org for more information.
2. The Skillset Screen Academy Network is a UK-wide group of 'Centres of Excellence' in film education and training. The Network is made up of six Skillset Screen Academies and the Skillset Film Business Academy at Cass Business School. See www.skillset.org/film/training_and_events/screen_academies/ for more information.
3. The MEDIA Programme is an initiative of the European Union and has three main aims - to strengthen the competitiveness of the European film, TV and new media industries; to increase international circulation of European audiovisual product; and to preserve and enhance European cultural diversity.
To achieve these aims MEDIA support is targeted at five priority areas: training, development, distribution, promotion and digital technologies.
The UK MEDIA Desk is an information and promotion office of the MEDIA Programme in the UK. It provides information, advice and services about the MEDIA Programme. See EU's MEDIA Programme website website for more information. MEDIA 2007, the fourth round of the MEDIA Programme, began in January 2007 and will run up to December 2013. It has a budget of EUR755m (around £500m). 31 countries participate in the MEDIA Programme.
4. A Bigger Future is a strategic plan for delivering industry relevant skills in the UK film industry. The result of 12 months research and consultation with the industry - from those involved in script development to those working in exhibition - it is a £50m, five-year plan. It is funded by the National Lottery through the UK Film Council, and from contributions made to the Skills Investment Fund (SIF) from feature films, and additionally-levered sources of finance.
5. The UK Film Council is the Government-backed strategic agency for film in the UK. It aims to stimulate a successful, vibrant film industry and to promote the widest possible enjoyment and understanding of cinema throughout the UK. The UKFC invests Government grant-in-aid and Lottery money in developing new filmmakers, in funding exciting new British films and in getting a wider choice of films to audiences throughout the UK. The UKFC also invests in training, promoting Britain as an international filmmaking location and in raising the profile of British films abroad. We aim to deliver lasting benefits to the industry and the public through:
- creativity - encouraging the development of new talent, skills, and creative and technological innovation in UK film and assisting new and established filmmakers to produce successful and distinctive British films;
- enterprise - supporting the creation and growth of sustainable businesses in the film sector, providing access to finance and helping the UK film industry compete s uccessfully in the domestic and global marketplace;
- imagination - promoting education and an appreciation and enjoyment of cinema by giving UK audiences access to the widest range of UK and international cinema, and by supporting film culture and heritage.