The BFI Gallery was the British Film Institute 's contemporary art gallery dedicated to artists' moving image housed within BFI Southbank , the BFI's flagship venue in London, previously known as the National Film Theatre.
28-654: The space was funded by the BFI with Arts Council England support and opened on 14 March 2007, to coincide with the reopening of the site. Its programme of new commissions, events and associated artists' film screenings was curated by Elisabetta Fabrizi, BFI Head of Exhibitions. The programme included exhibitions by Michael Snow , John Akomfrah , Apichatpong Weerasethakul , Pierre Bismuth , Jane & Louise Wilson, Peter Campus , Patrick Keiller , Phil Collins, Matt Collishaw, Yvonne Rainer , Julian Rosensfeld, Michel Gondry , Deimantas Narkevicious, Mark Lewis. Film programmes linked to
56-443: A country in which the creativity of each of us is valued and given the chance to flourish, and where every one of us has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences." The Strategy is structured around three outcomes: Arts Council England has also set out 4 'investment principles': Arts Council England has a national council of 15 members, including the chair. The national council meets ten times
84-497: A further restructuring in which the Arts Council of England would be merged with the ten regional arts boards to form a single organisation: Arts Council England. In 2020, Arts Council England published 'Let's Create', a new 10-year Strategy for the sectors within its remit. 'Let's Create' includes a new vision statement, designed to inform Arts Council England's work and priorities to 2030: "By 2030, we want England to be
112-543: A limited number of museums as Major Partnership Museums: 16 single museums or consortia were supported 2012–2015, and a further five were added for 2015–2018, bringing the total to 21. Arts Council England also supports other museums via "Strategic Funds." The council also runs the Designation Scheme for collections in libraries or museums of national or international importance, and is the English partner in
140-695: A seat or a vote. After the Arts Council of Great Britain was abolished in 1994, the RABs were transferred to a new single body: Arts Council England . In 2001 it was announced that the RABS would be abolished in an effort to streamline the administration of Arts Council England. The Boards closed in April 2002 and smaller regional offices were maintained in the regions, except the South East Board which became part of southern region, to bring them into line with
168-532: A year and is made up of representatives of the arts community with five of the members also representing the area councils. Each area council has a board of 15 members made up of representatives of their arts community and local government. There are five area councils: The chief executive of the Arts Council England is appointed by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. Alan Davey
196-770: Is an open access programme for arts, libraries and museums projects. The fund supports thousands of individual practitioners, community and cultural organisations, distributing funds from the National Lottery. Grants awarded vary can be from £1,000 to £100,000. Project Grants is always open for new submissions. Funding to support individuals who are cultural and creative practitioners and want to take time to focus on their creative development. Grants are awarded in rounds. Several hundred National Portfolio Organisations (NPO) and Investment Principles Support Organisations (IPSO) are allocated funding in multi-year tranches to support their on-going programmes. In 2020 it administered
224-590: The Arts Council of Wales , each with their own new Royal Charter; the Arts Council of Northern Ireland already existed as a distinct body. At the same time, the National Lottery was established and the Arts Council of England became one of the distribution bodies. This increased responsibility saw the Arts Council of England grow back in size to the point where it was larger than before the 1987 restructuring. In 2001 Chairman Gerry Robinson announced
252-799: The Culture Recovery Fund to arts venues and organisations in England affected by the COVID-19 pandemic From 1994 it oversaw a national capital fund with grants for new buildings, public art and the renovation of existing arts buildings. The story of the Capital programme is told by Prue Skene who chaired the Lottery Panel, in Capital Gains: how the national lottery transformed England's arts . Arts Council England supports
280-534: The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council was subsumed into the Arts Council in England and they assumed the responsibilities of the council. The Arts Council of Great Britain was created in 1946 by Royal Charter on the initiative of John Maynard Keynes . It received a revised charter in 1967. On 1 April 1994, it was divided to form the Arts Council of England, the Scottish Arts Council , and
308-556: The regional arts boards were subsumed into Arts Council England and became regional offices of the national organisation. Arts Council England is a government-funded body dedicated to promoting the performing, visual and literary arts in England . Since 1994, Arts Council England has been responsible for distributing lottery funding. This investment has helped to transform the building stock of arts organisations and to create many additional high-quality arts activities. On 1 October 2011
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#1732764814040336-419: The 1950s, regional offices in England were restructured as regional art associations (RAAs). The new RAAs were intermediate organisations acting as a link between the Arts Council and the regions set up by local authorities or consortiums of local arts associations. By 1971 there were twelve associations providing funding and advice for arts organisations. From the early 1970s they became the responsibility of
364-444: The Arts Council had broken its own procedures. In 2005 it was announced that the Arts Council England's budget was capped resulting in an effective £30m reduction in its budget. In March 2006, the Arts Council announced a review of its National Office that would "enhance efficiency and delivery while continuing to provide respected and focused arts leadership and drive", while proposing to lose 42 posts, mainly arts specialists, so that
392-569: The Council's Regional Development Department. When that Department was disbanded in 1976, the RAAs came under the then Deputy Secretary General, Angus Stirling, until 1980 when a Regional Department was formed. The Wilding report of 1989 recommended the RAAs should be replaced as there was significant differences in distribution of funding between different regions. They were replaced by 10 Regional Arts Boards (RABs) in 1990. The new Boards received
420-561: The Hamas troops were killed by Israeli snipers, before the remaining forces surrendered. The English Touring Opera attributed its firing of white musicians in 2021 to "firm guidance" from the Arts Council. Regional arts board The regional arts boards (formerly regional arts associations ) were English regional subdivisions of the Arts Council of Great Britain As the Arts Council began to move away from organising art activities in
448-669: The Parliamentary select committee responsible for its oversight for supporting a lottery-funded programme to subsidise UK film production that resulted in a series of films that failed to find distribution. There was also a series of costly capital projects such as the Royal Opera House and the Lowry Centre that required additional funding. In the case of the Royal Opera House the select committee found
476-661: The UK Museum Accreditation Scheme . In 2023, a gender critical woman, Denise Fahmy, won a harassment claim against the Council at an employment tribunal , which ruled that hostile comments about her beliefs at an internal meeting (which followed the Arts Council funded organisation London Community Foundation granting and then suspending a grant to LGB Alliance ), and other activity afterward, constituted "an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment" for employees with such protected beliefs. The Council attracted criticism from
504-540: The West Midlands, weaving archival footage from 1960 to 1981 with contemporary portraits of Birmingham. The film is an innovative mix of documentary and poetic essay and was described by Ken Russell, and experienced by visitors, as ‘mind blowing’. Julian Rosefeldt ’s 'American Night'; a complex, five-channel film installation by the Berlin-based artist that confirmed his reputation for lavishly produced work in
532-507: The balance between the political and the private in everyday life. 'The Yvonne Rainer Project' (2010) featured three of Rainer's works accompanied by cinema screenings of her seven feature films and an engaging video programme by contemporary artists exploring choreography for the camera. The final BFI Gallery exhibition was a playful return to the past created by Tate prize nominated Phil Collins. In Phil Collins: 'Marxism Today' audiences encountered film, video and photographic snapshots of life in
560-664: The former East Germany offset by the illuminating recollections of teachers of Marxism–Leninism who lived and worked in the GDR. The Gallery was closed as part of the BFI's review of all its activities following the Government's decision to cut grant-in aid by 15% over four years. The space vacated by the Gallery was redeveloped to house the BFI Reuben Library which opened in 2012. A commemorative book, 'The BFI Gallery Book',
588-498: The gallery exhibitions included a retrospective of the films of Sergei Paradjanov and of Michael Snow . As stated in the BFI Annual Review 2010-11: The BFI Gallery has a deserved international reputation at the forefront of commissioning and exhibiting innovative and exciting artists working with the moving image. Since opening its doors in 2007 audiences have enthusiastically taken up rare opportunities to experience
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#1732764814040616-412: The majority of their funding directly from the Arts Council rather than local sources. This changed the nature and structure of regional arts. These were independent non-profit limited by guarantee companies with some local authority representation on their management boards, but the democratic role and the link between subscription and governance was broken. Payment of a subscription did not guarantee
644-599: The moving image. 'American Night' borrowed from the style and rich image library of the American Western to subtly question the ambitions of recent US foreign policy. Next in residency was yet another star of the American art scene, Yvonne Rainer with the first major European retrospective dedicated to this legendary American dancer, choreographer and filmmaker. Very much a major influence on the new generation of video makers and choreographers, Rainer's work examines
672-850: The organisation will no longer have dedicated national leads for areas including contemporary music, interdisciplinary art, moving image, architecture, broadcasting, opera, social inclusion, and disability. Arts Council England's music policy was controversial within the jazz world. Chris Hodgkins, in his 1998 paper Jazz in the UK , pointed out that more than 90% of its music budget went on opera while jazz, with an equivalent audience size, received less than 1%. The funding landscape has improved since with funding for NWJazzworks and Manchester Jazz Festival 2012. Among other areas funding has diversified into youth music such as National Youth Choirs of Great Britain , National Youth Jazz Collective and South Asian Music Youth Orchestra (SAMYO) etc. On 11 May 2006 it
700-449: The work of worldclass artists such as Pierre Bismuth and Michel Gondry , Mat Collishaw , Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Jane and Louise Wilson . Major new exhibitions and retrospectives from a diverse and gifted range of artists took place, John Akomfrah , Julian Rosefeldt , Yvonne Rainer and Phil Collins . June 2010 opened with 'Mnemosyne', a pioneering film by John Akomfrah that movingly explores themes of memory and migration in
728-400: Was chief executive from 2008 to 2014. He was succeeded by Darren Henley . Each area council has an executive director and each art form has a specialist advisor. The Arts Council England divides its funding into the following headings: Arts Council England is a distributor of a core funding programme, complemented by National Lottery funding. National Lottery Project Grants
756-574: Was published in January 2011. Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport . It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bodies for England , Scotland and Wales . The arts funding system in England underwent considerable reorganisation in 2002 when all of
784-757: Was raised in the House of Lords by Lord Colwyn , as documented in the Lords Hansard Columns (1058 to 1060). In May 2015 the Board of Deputies of British Jews released a statement objecting to Arts Council England's funding of The Siege . The Palestinian play depicts a 2002 incident where armed Hamas fighters sought refuge in Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. A 39-day siege ensued, and eight of
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