The British Film Institute’s (BFI) Global Screen Fund will receive a £7 million ($8.5 million) cash injection as part of a new arts and culture investment package announced today by the UK government.
Financed by the UK government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport but administered by the BFI, the Global Screen Fund has been earmarked for cash alongside the UK Games Fund and the Supporting Grassroots Music Fund.
Overall, the UK government will hand £40 million ($48 million) to cultural bodies like the Screen Fund over the next financial year. The Department of Department for Culture, Media and Sport has also picked four cultural projects that will receive £16.2 million from the government’s Cultural Development Fund. Those projects are the Centre for Writing, a new creative centre for the written word; Glassworks, a new facility for glass making in Sunderland; Harmony Works, a music education centre in Sheffield; and The Tropicana, a cultural venue in North Somerset. 127 creative businesses in 12 regions across England will also receive a share of £3.6 million through the Create Growth Programme.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, who will hold a creative arts summit today in North East England, said the funding had been set to aid the UK’s creative industries, which “play a critical role in helping us deliver on this Government’s mission to drive economic growth in all parts of the UK.”
“Our £60 million funding boost will support creative and cultural organisations across the UK to turbocharge growth by transforming local venues, creating jobs, supporting businesses and spreading opportunity across the country,” she said.
“But this is by no means the limit of our ambitions, which is why the creative industries are at the heart of the forthcoming Industrial Strategy and will continue to play a key part in this Government’s Plan for Change.”
During today’s summit, Nandy and Foreign Secretary David Lammy will also launch a new “Soft Power Council.” The government said the council will focus on harnessing the UK’s influence abroad through its cultural exports to attract investment and growth. Global influence obtained through so-called soft power is something the UK government ministers have often discussed— just last year Chancellor Rachel Reeves signed off on the BBC World Service receiving a funding boost to “protect” the service and bolster the “UK’s global presence and soft power.” Members of the council will include former rower and chair of UK Sport Katherine Grainger, former athlete and television presenter Baroness Grey-Thompson, and V&A director Tristram Hunt.
“Soft power is fundamental to the UK’s impact and reputation around the world,” Lammy said. “I am often struck by the enormous love and respect which our music, sport and educational institutions generate on every continent. But we have not taken a sufficiently strategic approach to these huge assets as a country. Harnessing soft power effectively can help to build relationships, deepen trust, enhance our security and drive economic growth.”
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