Peter Knott Regional Director,East MidlandsArts Council England

Digital and the arts and culture sector

Bicycle Ballet, Brighton, 2006Photo: Matthew Andrews

Achieving great art for everyone

Achieving great art for everyone sets out our vision for the arts

Shaped by views of artists, arts organisations, the public

and our many stakeholders and partners, it focuses our

work for the next 10 years and provides the rationale for all

of our investments

Our evolving vision for digital

Thinking digitally

Who Wants to be a Hero Now, Blind Ditch Vanland young people's rural media project 2004 - 2006. 

Thinking digitally

Adrienne Hart taking part in Dance SCAPES project, SwindonPhoto: Kevin Clifford

Thinking digitally

We want to support a transformative step change in the

way that artists and arts organisations engage with digital

media and technologies, thereby radically expanding the

scope, reach and impact of arts and culture.

We recognise that digital development can support the

development of artistic forms and practice as part of an

organisation’s mission; digital marketing and audience

development; new business and organisational models;

and digital media production and digital distribution

Thinking digitally

1. We want arts organisations to be more focused on creating imaginative digital content that can attract audiences, leading to a greater proportion of publicly funded arts and culture content and experiences being available to the public

2. We want to generate greater digital capacity within the arts sector, particularly in relation to digital marketing, organisational development and digital media production and distribution

Thinking digitally

3. We want to support the arts and cultural sector in attracting investment from technology and creative media industry partners to explore new audiences and markets for digital content, products and services

4. Through digital technologies, we want to encourage a larger more diverse audience to experience and benefit from the arts we fund; this includes people living in areas where arts participation is currently low, and children and young people

Putting policy into action

Jonah Bokaer's 'Three Cases of Amnesia‘, Bournemouth University. Photo credit: Roy Riley   Skin, ACE Dance and Music

Photo: Brian Slater

Putting policy into action

Our vision for digital builds strong foundations:

• drawing out the research and evidence from the Digital Opportunities Programme (available soon)

• working closely with the BBC Academy on our Building Digital Capacity for the Arts programme

• investing in pilot projects such as this Digital R&D Fund

Putting policy into action

Putting policy into action

To achieve our vision, we will pursue a policy approach

across our total investment in the arts from 2012

We will use our investment intelligently across our national

portfolio, Grants for the arts and strategic funding streams,

addressing needs and opportunities and adding value to

what is happening already

• organisations in our national portfolio will be

crucial partners in realising this vision. We will

expect all organisations to consider how digital technology can enable them to deliver their missions better

• Grants for the arts, our open-access Lottery

funding programme for arts activities will continue to fund artists working with digital technology and digital projects

Putting policy into action

• later on this year, we will announce a digital innovation and development programme, focussing on gaps and opportunities for the sector, covering areas such as capacity building, skills, content development and R&D

• we will consolidate existing partnerships and develop new ones with partners across the technology, film, broadcast and creative media sectors

Putting policy into action

• we will play a leading role in advocacy and policy development, covering areas such as: • intellectual property • national government media and

communication reviews• cross cultural sector work on open data

Putting policy into action

Taken together, these

actions will support a

continuum of

development and

innovation activities

that will use digital

technologies to

radically expand the

scope, reach and

impact of arts and

culture

Band on the Wall, Manchester, refurbished with £2.5million in Arts Council capital funding. Image by Brian Slater Photography. 

Andrew Motion poem in SheffieldPhoto: Jack Eames