the Innovation Funding Programme

Creative Skillset
Film Skills Fund
Innovation Funding Programme
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Research and development grants
Grants for project pilots
Awarding grants of up to £2,500 (R&D) and £10,000 (project pilots)
Total fund: £100,000
Rolling deadline until 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 – [email protected] /
07904 477 620.
Funding aims
This funding programme aims to supports the development and delivery of innovative new training
initiatives and ideas to support the UK film industry.
Two types of support are available:
1. Research and development grants
Maximum award of £2,500 per application
We invite applications to investigate, research and develop new models of training provision.
Applications may also undertake to update existing models of training provision.
Research and development projects must deliver a short research paper highlighting the key issues
explored and recommendations for future models of training delivery, marketing and recruitment.
Highlights will be widely disseminated to ensure that learning will have a greater impact. However,
specific outputs will be agreed on a case by case basis, recognising the potential commercial
sensitivities of some information.
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2. Grants to deliver a project pilot
Maximum award of £10,000 per application
We invite applications to deliver a pilot of innovative new training initiatives. We particularly
welcome applications for projects that will:
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Develop innovative approaches to encouraging diversity;
Embed principals of sustainability within delivery, and raise awareness within the sector;
Respond to the impact of industry convergence.
It should be noted that the two strands of this funding programme are not linked. Receiving a
research and development grant does not mean that you will definitely receive a grant to pilot the
activity. We will also support delivery of pilots where there has been no initial Creative Skillset
research and development grant awarded.
Research and developments projects can use findings to justify a pilot project application (if
applicable) in a separate, but related, application.
Examples of funded projects 2014-15:
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Market Place Live – Film London
Lighthouse Online Platforms Residency & Lab – Lighthouse, Brighton
Outreach Work for the Props Department – Talking Point
Foot in the Door - Ffilm Cymru Wales
We are likely to support ten research and development grants of up to £2,500 each and
approximately five project pilot grants of up to £10,000 each, from a £100,000 fund.
Application criteria
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Applications must be made by organisations (not individuals) that have experience of
delivering successful industry-led training or can demonstrate how they will secure this
expertise;
Training must address our funding aims as identified above;
Training must be delivered by 31 December 2016;
Training should not duplicate what is already available in the UK and must offer value for
money;
Trainers and speakers must have a good track record in providing industry training;
Training must be available UK wide (this can be facilitated by regionally based training
and/or travel and accommodation bursaries via the project budget).
We will prioritise applications from companies who have not previously been supported
through this fund.
Who cannot apply to this fund?
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Individuals cannot apply under this fund. Find out more about support for your own training
needs.
Projects where outcomes are solely geared to the practices and business interests of a
single organisation will not be funded.
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 targets which are specific to this fund. Please
see below.
The Creative Skillset Census 2012 and Creative Media Workforce Survey 2010 provided the
following workforce statistics in gender, diversity and disability for the total workforce for film
production, distribution and sales, and exhibition.
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Gender – female representation is 46%, compared to 36% in the wider Creative Industries.
However, of the 159 identified writers of UK films in 2011, 30 (19%) were women and of the
140 directors of UK films in 2011, 21 (15%) were women (BFI Statistical Yearbook 2012).
Women also face a 15% gender pay gap compared to 10% nationally.
Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic representation is 4.5%, compared to 5.4% in the wider
Creative Industries;
6% of the workforce in film was identified as disabled, compared to 9% in the wider Creative
Industries.
In order to make an impact on these figures we have set the following participant targets
which are specific to this fund:
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Female participants – 60%
Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic participants – 20%
Disabled participants – 10%
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 all participants, including those who apply to take
part but are not successful.
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.
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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 learning outcomes, or 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 [email protected] / 07904 477 620.
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.
How much should you ask for?
The maximum award per application is £2,500 for a research and development grant and up
to £10,000 for a project pilot grant.
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.
Please note: if you are registered for VAT, your figures should not include VAT that you can claim
back. If you are not registered for VAT, your costs should include VAT. Grants we make are
‘outside the scope’ of VAT (this means that they are not a business activity). They must be listed
in your accounts as a grant and not, for example, as a fee. You should seek financial advice from
your own accountant or the relevant tax office.
Partnership funding
For research and development grants, there is no minimum partnership funding contribution. We
will consider funding up to 100% of the costs.
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For project pilots, we will not normally meet more than 70% of a project’s delivery, and may invest
less. We therefore expect you to find a minimum of 30% of the money you need from sources other
than Creative Skillset, such as partnership funding.
A minimum of 25% of your partnership funding must be cash. For example, if your project costs
£100,000 and you’re applying for a total of £70,000, the remaining £30,000 is your partnership
funding. Of that £30,000, at least £7,500 must be cash. As this is training for existing professionals
we expect participants to contribute towards their training and some if not all your cash partnership
funding will come from fees.
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:
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Project and Budget Report template
The following should be attached as Microsoft Word documents:
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Detailed course outline and schedule;
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 email
confirmation. Please note that we cannot accept responsibility for any late or incomplete
applications and regret that these will be rejected.
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Key dates
Rolling Deadline
You can apply for 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 email 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 email 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: [email protected]
t: 020 7713 9832
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Holly Mackavoy
Fund Co-ordinator
e: [email protected]
t: 020 7713 9877