Document: A Good Time for Action! Our new Vision for the British Film Institute
January 2004
Film and Television have the power to inspire us and influence our lives. They allow us to take on new identities, to hear new voices and to see the world through other people's eyes. They increase our understanding of our own lives and the increasingly global society in which we now live. The universal ability of film to excite and enthral us, to make us think and help us to empathise, the way it can move us to tears and laughter makes it a uniquely important art form.
Such powerful art forms should be both celebrated and understood - that is why the bfi exists. We want to work with you to bring this celebration and understanding to the widest possible audience across the UK. An essential part of our vision is a commitment to partnership. We wish to stand shoulder to shoulder with organisations that are working to foster a diverse film culture and to collaborate in ways that add value to all our work.
This document reflects this commitment. We want to hear and fully understand your views on how we can work meaningfully together to turn this vision into reality. We can't be all things to all people but we can seek to forge relationships based on mutual respect, shared ambitions and a love of film in all its richness and diversity.
Please read on and tell us what you think. We look forward to hearing from you.
A good time for action
In July 2003 we launched a Review of the bfi to evaluate our activities, create a vision for the future and develop a strategy on how to achieve our objectives. This consultation document outlines where we are now and where we want to go from here.
After six months of discussion and investigation we have the ideas that we believe could take us forward with confidence, passion and focus. This 'first look' document provides the outline of our new vision.
We are depending on your feedback. At the end of this paper you will find a set of questions that we hope will provide a starting point for this.
Our ambition - a different perspective
Inspired by enthusiasm for the moving image and a spirit of adventure, we will seek to inspire others.
We will celebrate creativity and encourage innovation and excellence.
We will contribute cutting-edge critical perspectives and champion wide-ranging debate.
Engaging people all across the UK, we will extend the beneficial reach of film and television, especially among children, young people and socially and culturally diverse audiences. We will seek new ways to improve media literacy and enrich appreciation and understanding of our past, present and future heritage, while fostering lifelong learning and enjoyment.
We want to be amongst the UK's leading cultural advocates as well as an influential friend of film-makers and audiences around the world.
What is our strategy?
The following principles will underpin our future ways of working. We expect to:
- Make a better impact across the UK
- Engage with wider audiences
- Operate more efficiently
- Develop our internationally authoritative voice for film and television culture
Objective 1: To develop meaningful opportunities for all UK citizens to engage with their film and TV heritage and culture
Signalling a major shift in the way we relate to audiences across the country the bfi will create a new UK-wide approach to our work. We will focus on the needs of diverse audiences and collaborate with local, regional and national agencies to promote a better understanding of film and television. This approach will encourage engagement with the archival, education and exhibition sectors, promote digital initiatives and pioneer projects, youth initiatives and conduits for cultural exchange between the UK and the world.
Objective 2: To maximize our cultural objectives and to achieve best value to the taxpayer by pursuing and harnessing all appropriate commercial opportunities
The bfi has vital trading functions which enable ready access to our cultural materials and which generate essential funds for our activities. These functions will be grouped in a Trading Division that will be charged with prudent expansion, especially in DVD and print publishing, licensing and merchandising. A thriving trading division under the bfi brand, presented with style and sophistication, will extend our reach, impact and effectiveness.
Objective 3: To influence the international agenda by providing a focus for the diversity of UK Film and TV culture
We want to create a flagship for film culture in Britain, a physical celebration of a unique art form that speaks fluently across cultural, social and economic boundaries. This will use the full range of our resources to pursue an invigorating, agenda-setting programme for the nation. It will pioneer new thinking, nurture new talent and cultivate new audiences as well as celebrate the past achievements of the moving image media. We will create a new purpose-built, landmark building that will become the acknowledged cultural and spiritual home of UK film and television culture.
In the interim, we will concentrate some of these proposed activities on the existing bfi site on London's South Bank, incorporating the National Film Theatre. This revitalised site will provide an enhanced environment for bfi-run film festivals, unprecedented access to the Archival collections, curated programmes, archive and experimental films, film art installations and broadcast events. It will be a unique forum for debate and discovery.
National Archive
At the heart of the future bfi will be a re-engineered National Archive. The archive is and will remain integral to all bfi activities. It will be concerned not only with the past, but also with the present and the future. It will be both the starting point for cultural activities and the custodian of new materials arising from those activities. The archive will set world standards for best conservation practice with a new emphasis on research and scholarship in partnership with other academic institutions. The redefined acquisition policy of the archive will set cultural parameters for the organisation as a whole. There will be particular emphasis on exploiting for exhibition and distribution the wealth of material of which the bfi is guardian and to furthering our understanding of issues of identity, representation, culture and creativity.
How will we get there?
Fit for purpose
To achieve these objectives, the bfi must be nimble, more efficient and more focussed on priority areas in which it can make a real difference. There will be a far higher degree of internal communication and greater co-ordination of delivery. Through a sustained programme of organisational development, we will celebrate our staff whilst creating an ethos that makes best use of our skills for the benefit of the customer. We will constantly benchmark the efficiency and effectiveness of all our operations against past performance and comparable initiatives. Our aim is to ensure that the bfi assumes its rightful place alongside the nation's leading arts organisations, as an admired and respected cultural institution of the first rank.
Your feedback...
To ensure we are as united as possible in our vision for the bfi, we needed feedback and guidance from current and future partners across the UK. People were invited to consider the following questions, where possible providing reasons for their answers, then send their responses to the bfi.
Objective 1: To develop meaningful opportunities for all UK citizens to engage with their film and TV heritage and culture
The bfi will work in partnership with other organisations and in many cases others will lead initiatives while being significantly supported by the bfi. Our focus will be on audience development, particularly socially and culturally diverse audiences, children, and young people. With an emphasis on access to the Archive, we could deliver:
- Initiatives which bring together the national exhibition, education and archive sectors;
- Education activity and services, scholarship and research;
- Exhibition and distribution projects, for example in non-traditional venues
- Digital initiatives;
- Multi-partner projects similar to ImagineAsia and Black World;
- Advisory services e.g. on audience research
- New partnerships.
- A dedicated office for children and young people
Resources will be made available to deliver this ambitious new approach.
- 1. What would you like to see the bfi achieve through the work of its UK-wide Initiative?
- 2. How would you want to contribute to or influence the development of this Initiative?
- 3. We are considering establishing a small strategic national curatorial group; would this be of value? What would you like to see within its remit?
- 4. Are there currently gaps in UK-wide provision that you believe the bfi should be or could be filling?
- 5. We have emphasised our commitment to children and young people. Do you have any comments to make about this priority? Would you wish to collaborate with us in future on this?
Objective 2: To maximize our cultural objectives and to achieve best value to the taxpayer by pursuing and harnessing all appropriate commercial opportunities
- 6. Do you believe there are ways in which your organisation could benefit from the establishment of a bfi cultural trading division? If so what are these?
- 7. Fulfilment of this objective is likely to lead to the establishment of a trading division. Do you have a view as to the remit of this division?
- 8. What do you see as the opportunities for bfi trading?
Objective 3: To influence the international agenda by providing a focus for the diversity of UK Film and TV culture
- 9. What work do you believe should be delivered in fulfilment of this objective?
- 10. It is intended that this objective will be addressed through the development of an international centre in London. How do you believe such a building could engage with the nations and regions of the UK?
- 11. What are your criteria for the success of such an initiative?
The National Film & Television Archive
- 12. What would you most like to see achieved by a re-engineered National Film & Television Archive? How could you best contribute and benefit?
- 13. How do you view the emphasis on exploiting for exhibition and distribution, the wealth of material of which the bfi is guardian, and what form do you believe this exploitation should take? Would there be opportunities for the bfi to work on this with you or your organisation?
- 14. What are the chief obstacles to achieving greater exploitation of such material?
How will we get there?
- 15. What do you believe is the most important change the bfi needs to make in order to achieve its objectives?
Next steps
Later this year we will be issuing our long-term strategic plan. This will provide more detail on what the new bfi will look like. This is the beginning of what we expect to be a new era of collaboration; our door will be open to ideas and partnerships and we hope you will maintain a close interest in the bfi's development as we move into the implementation stage of our review.
