Hello (is this thing on?),
I’m Ben Roberts, Chief Executive at the BFI and this is the first post on our new BFI blog.
Thank you for taking the time to read more about our newly launched ten-year strategy, Screen Culture 2033.
Well where do I start? As well as preparing to launch Screen Culture we have been busy preparing for this year’s London Film Festival, returning the BFI IMAX to an upgraded in-house operation (more exciting news around that in future blog posts), and most recently we have been sharing films from the BFI National Archive on a temporary screen installed outside the BFI Southbank for the 250,000+ people who queued to pay their respects to the Queen.
Personally, It’s been an intense two and a half years since I became CEO – both managing and emerging from UK-wide lockdowns, and setting the BFI on a transformational journey that is far from complete but publishing this strategy is a major milestone reached.
A lot of passion and energy has gone into this over many months, and I want to thank everyone who’s contributed – colleagues across the BFI and the many individuals, companies and partners across the UK. We’ve gathered the suggestions and ideas of over 2000 members of the public and 300 stakeholders to help create this vision. You have talked to us and we’ve listened, and we’ll keep on listening.
A big thanks goes to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport for your help and support. Also to our Chair Tim Richards and the BFI Board of Governors.
So what is Screen Culture 2033 and why a 10 year strategy?
Well it takes us up to our centenary, gives certainty to all our partners and steers our focus.
It’s our best articulation of what we think, know and intend to do right now.
We’re also a pretty large organisation with over 700 staff and many different stakeholders, so we wanted something that pulls together our different strands of work.
But 10 years is a long time and disruption is fast, things will change and we’ll adjust and learn as we go. For example, two areas we know will need more work are our support for video games and our educational programmes.
So this is a blog to share what we learn, document the changes, keep you informed and to get your input.
Most of all it’s a place to think out loud as we go along “Our organisation’s brain, over time, on the internet” to paraphrase Giles Turnbull’s brilliant Agile Comms Handbook which (at Neil William’s insistence) we’re taking as our guide.
As well as keeping you posted about our strategy, this blog site is also a place to bring you a wide range of voices from inside the BFI and from our friends and partners. We’ll be sharing insights and stories, along with our knowledge and passions for everything around screen culture.
Our video sets out our ambitions around our Screen Culture 2033 strategy in more detail, so please do give it a watch.
I hope you’ll come back and read more about our plans through future blog posts.
Please feel free to get involved and send your thoughts to bfiscreenculture2033@bfi.org.uk, we’re listening!
Ben