Creative Skillset Film Skills Fund

Transcription

1 Creative Skillset Film Skills Fund Production Company Development Grants Awarding grants of up to 8,000 Total fund: 100,000 Rolling deadline until 31 March 2016 About the Creative Skillset Film Skills Fund Creative Skillset s Film Skills Fund is funded by the British Film Institute (BFI) with National Lottery funds and through the Skills Investment Funds, which comprise industry and Government coinvestment. The Film Skills Fund is part of the Film Skills Strategy, which addresses the vital skills and training needs of the film industry to deliver maximum economic and cultural return: to create jobs, strengthen skills, build skills for the future, and ensure world-class film education. Find out more about the Film Skills Strategy. Please read this Funding Programme in conjunction with the Creative Skillset Funding for Organisations Guidelines. Please then call and discuss your project with Film Partnership Manager Gavin Humphries before submitting your application gavinh@creativeskillset.org/ Funding aims This funding programme supports the BFI Film Forever strategic priority Supporting the future success of British film. It supports UK film companies to build scale, international ambition and reach and become more sustainable by providing them with the freedom to own their own training. We invite applications from feature film production companies which have contributed to the Film Production Levy from 1 April 2014 to apply to deliver creative and practical ways to boost skills and develop talent within their companies. Training should meet the needs of the individual staff members as well as the immediate skills needs of the company, enabling it to succeed in meeting its short to medium term business goals. The training can be delivered in a variety of methods including: attendance on specific courses or professional development programmes, mentoring, coaching, online learning and intensive training with external experts. Please note we cannot fund attendance on courses or programmes already funded by Creative Skillset. We are likely to support up to 13 feature film production companies from a 100,000 fund. 1

2 Application criteria Applications must be made by feature film production companies which have contributed to the Film Production Levy from 1 April 2014; Training must address our funding aims as identified above; Training must be delivered by 31 March 2016; We will prioritise applications from companies who have not previously been supported through this fund. Who cannot apply to this fund? Individuals cannot apply under this fund. Find out more about support for your own training needs. Your application Applications will be assessed against the funding aims and application criteria set out in this document and the Creative Skillset Funding for Organisations Guidelines. Your application should detail how you will include the following key elements in your delivery: Industry-led training The training programmes we fund must be led by industry, be innovative and provide value for money. We expect applications to demonstrate input from established industry professionals into the training programme development. Diversity Creative Skillset is committed to improving the diversity of the film industry s workforce to better reflect the UK s diverse population. We have set participant targets which are specific to this fund. Please see below. The Creative Skillset Census 2012 and Creative Media Workforce Survey 2010 provided workforce statistics in gender, diversity and disability for the workforce for film production companies: Production companies: 2 Female representation stands at 47%. The gender imbalance shows itself to be more prevalent with above-the-line talent; Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic representation is a low 5.3%; Disability representation is 1.5%. In order to make an impact on these figures we have set the following participant targets which are specific to this fund. Female participants 50% Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic participants 20%

3 Disabled participants 5% Given this fund is restricted to supporting current Film Production Levy-paying companies, targets are low based on the current available pool of talent within the workforce. However, a prerequisite of this funding will be working with Creative Skillset to ensure beneficiary companies have up-todate diversity policies. Applications must demonstrate a commitment to reaching these targets. This should include proactive policies, e.g. providing access provisions for disabled applicants, childcare subsidies, travel subsidies etc. Applicants will need to collect diversity data for those that take part in the project. Evaluation It is essential that Creative Skillset is able to demonstrate the impact of its investment to promote the depth, breadth and impact of training to the wider industry and to reinforce the benefit of continuing to invest in the skills of the UK Creative Industries. Evaluation of your training programme should be embedded throughout its delivery so that the training can be improved upon throughout its lifetime. You must also plan for a dedicated evaluation phase upon programme completion. You must detail how you intend to evaluate your training clearly within your application, including the measures of success you will look for. Impact and legacy We expect supported training programmes to plan their legacy in order to extend accessibility and impact. This could involve filming content to disseminate online, producing a report from the training highlighting the outcomes for your business, and encouraging participants to blog about their experiences so that others can share their learning. You must detail your impact and legacy proposals clearly within your application. Sustainability Creative Skillset is committed to supporting the environmental and economic sustainability of UK film and works with its funded partners to raise awareness and standards across the sector. All applicants for funding must evidence their own sustainability policy and demonstrate how they have considered environmental and economic sustainability in the development of the proposed training activity. How to apply All applications must be discussed with Film Partnership Manager Gavin Humphries before being submitted. Please contact Gavin on gavinh@creativeskillset.org / Please note there is a high demand for our grants and funding is limited. Your application will be assessed against the criteria set out in this Funding Programme. Creative Skillset reserves the right to apply a portfolio approach to ensure the fair distribution of funds across industry, subject to meeting the required quality threshold. 3

4 How much should you ask for? The maximum award per application is 8,000. The amount you request should be the amount you need to deliver your project efficiently and effectively. We pay close attention to value for money over all our programmes. Partnership funding We will not normally meet more than 80% of a project s delivery, and may invest less. We therefore expect the applicant to invest a minimum of 20% of the project costs. This 20% partnership funding must be cash. Risk assessment Successful applications will be asked to identify their project s financial and non-financial risks. Please bear this in mind when making your application. Whilst not all risks can be mitigated, we will ask you to provide details of how you will address any threats to the success of your project. Using the online application form Please apply using the online application form accessed by this link. Once you have completed the online form you will be asked to attach the following completed documents: Project and Budget Report template The following should be attached as Microsoft Word documents: Detailed project outline; Trainer/tutor CVs; Company financial information. If you have submitted an application to Creative Skillset in the last 12 months or would like clarification, please contact a member of the Fund Team at the details below as we may not require further financial information. When you have successfully submitted your application you will receive an automated confirmation. Please note that we cannot accept responsibility for any late or incomplete applications and regret that these will be rejected. 4

5 Key dates Rolling Deadline You can apply for a Production Company Development Grant at any time but your application will not be assessed until the monthly deadline has passed. The monthly deadline is 12 noon on the first Thursday of every month. This is a year-long programme with a rolling deadline. Please note: if you apply a day after the monthly deadline (for instance, on the first Friday of the month onwards) your application will not be assessed until the next monthly deadline has passed. For worked examples, please see the Creative Skillset Funding for Organisations Guidelines. There is no monthly deadline in December or March. Applicants must submit for the November or January or February deadline respectively. This is to allow time for processing applications around year end. You will receive an acknowledging your application within a week of the monthly deadline, if not already received. If your application is ineligible for any reason, or incomplete, we will also advise you at this time that we have had to reject it. The will give you a unique reference number. We will use it on all further correspondence to you, and ask you to do the same in any contact with us. Contact us For more information on the application process or any queries, please contact: Emma Pickering Fund Co-ordinator e: emmapi@creativeskillset.org t: Holly Mackavoy Fund Co-ordinator e: hollym@creativeskillset.org t: