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The Film Council began the roll out of its regional strategy for England last month with the appointment of chairpeople for six of its nine new regional screen agencies. It expects the first regionally determined funding awards to be made early in the new year The new strategy, approved in June, aims to establish regional ‘one-stop-shops’ for the development of film and the moving image, backing everything from education to production. The regional screen agencies which will run this service and administer funds, have been pulled together from the remnants of various pre-existing local film-related initiatives. With the exception of London, the Film Council expects all the agencies to be fully functioning, complete with staff and delegated funding powers, by March 2002. The Film Council has allocated £6m to its Regional Investment Fund for England, which will be divided up among the nine agencies. The largest budgets are likely to be £600,000 to £800,000, which the Film Council’s senior policy executive Chris Chandler, accepts is a modest sum. However, he says, the intention is that the regions will use this funding to lever in further backing. ‘Each region will then have three to four strands, reflecting its particular priorities, within which it will make grants.’ Chandler expects the eastern region, Screen East, to be the first one up and running.

The delegated budgets mark a departure for the Lottery, as they comprise a 50/50 mix of Lottery and grant-in-aid money. The Film Council acknowledges that this will require careful monitoring to ensure that the Lottery element is spent in accordance with policy and financial directions. 

www.filmcouncil.org.uk