Future Screens NI Funding Opportunities

FSNI IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

Given the volume of Pre-Commercialisation applications which has been received, Future Screens NI is pausing any further receipt of applications until this volume has been processed. Please follow the web presence for future information on the Pre-Commercialisation awards. 

New Funding Cycle Now Open

The next phase of Future Screens NI awards, funded by the Department for Communities, is now open. The funding will be live from July 1st, 2024 to July 1st 2025 with 74 Proof of Concept awards of £20K, and a limited number of Pre-Commercialisation £50K awards to be made.

Experience from the first phase of Future Screens indicated that the expression of interest model was important in allowing applicants to finesse their ideas through negotiation with a member of the FSNI Management Team. It also helped the Management Team to assess whether the proposed project would meet the criteria for funding ensuring that valuable time was not wasted by either party. Given this experience it has been deemed useful to continue with this process in the latest phase of funding.

The criteria for Proof of Concept awards are:

  • The proposed project must have a clear research and development focus addressing a specific issue through the use of contemporary technologies

  • The proposed project must have a social-facing outcome and this impact must be explicitly articulated in the proposal

  • The proposed project must have a sectoral impact as well as a company/individual impact hence advancing capacity in the region

  • The proposed project must have the potential to create employment or contribute to the GVA for the region

The criteria for Pre-commercialisation awards are:

  • Proposed projects must have completed a successful proof of concept phase

  • Proposed projects must have identified an audience for the product or service

  • The proposed project must show a strategy for the commercial and market realisation of the product or service

  • The proposed project must offer an indication of any background IP brought to the project

All applicants must be resident in Northern Ireland.

If the expression of interest phase is successful applicants will be asked to move to full application. On submission an application will be assessed by two members of the Management Committee and/or the Steering Group and marked according to an agreed set of criteria. If an application is not deemed ready for funding the applicant will be asked to work with the FSNI team to revise and re-submit.

On approval the applicant will receive 75% of the funding initially and the remaining 25% on completion of the project and submission of a final report.

If you wish to enter the process please send an email requesting an expression of interest form to info-futurescreensni@ulster.ac.uk. This will allow FSNI to monitor and map the applications being made. If you have specific questions about the process please also use the email address above to make your enquiry.

 

Closed Calls:

THE PUTTNAM SCHOLARS COMPETITION 2022

Opportunity closed 12 noon on Friday 10th of June 2022.

Atticus Education, Screen Ireland, Northern Ireland Screen and Future Screens NI are delighted to announce the return of the Puttnam Scholars scheme for the third year running.

The pioneering cross-border initiative provides eight individuals (four from Northern Ireland residents and four from the Republic of Ireland) the opportunity to attend six two-hour online masterclasses with Oscar-winning producer Lord David Puttnam (Midnight Express, Chariots of Fire, The Mission, The Killing Fields).

The participants receive a special Scholarship from Atticus Education for their future career development. The scholarship bursaries are supported by Accenture in Ireland. Screen Ireland are working closely with four Irish universities to select four Puttnam Scholars from the Republic of Ireland, while Future Screens announced the recruitment process in Northern Ireland earlier this month. The Puttnam Scholars’ application form for Northern Ireland applicants is available on the Future Screens NI website.

Lord Puttnam said: “We created this initiative in 2020 and it’s already developed as a unique opportunity in the development of an exciting new generation of talent. Cinema is a vital medium for developing understanding, all the more so as we tackle serious global issues and increasingly turbulent times.

This successful collaboration, between Atticus Education, Screen Ireland, Northern Ireland Screen, Future Screens NI, and supported by Accenture, has already enabled two cohorts to advance their futures in the screen industries; I’m greatly looking forward to meeting the next eight participants”

Applying to the scheme as up-and-coming writers, directors, or producers, the chosen Puttnam Scholars will have either made their first feature or television drama or will be in the process of developing their first feature or television drama.

A Puttnam Scholar, Isabella Dijalil-Devine, said of her experience in 2021’s cohort that “the Puttnam Scholars programme was inspiring, informative, and fun. Lord David Puttnam and his guests shared their advice and experience generously, not just about filmmaking but also about the industry as a whole. I felt very motivated and encouraged to take steps in my career, and I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to take part. 

Over the course of the sessions, Lord Puttnam will explore the following themes: The Power of Identity; The Evolution of Creativity; Fact or Fiction; Builders and Brokers; Music and Meaning; and Interpreting the Future.

Alastair Blair, country managing director of Accenture in Ireland said: “We’re delighted to once again support the Puttnam Scholars Scheme. Ireland’s screen and creative industries are thriving, making a significant contribution to the economy each year. Programmes like these, which focus on the ongoing development of Irish talent and encourage the next generation of filmmakers to build their careers, are vital in ensuring that Ireland is a creative capital, now and into the future.”

The masterclasses will be online and fully interactive with special guests and content appearing across the course. The sessions are designed to enhance participants’ understanding of the creative process and the cultural context within which the screen industries operate.

Application Information

The master classes will be fully interactive and a full engagement by each participant is an essential feature of the programme.  Having attended the entire programme each individual will receive a scholarship from Atticus Education with the support of Accenture Ireland to the value of €1250. 

Applicant form is available here.  

Please download and complete in Word.  Online applications are not supported.   

Please email completed applications to: info-futurescreensni@ulster.ac.uk by 12 noon on Friday 10th of June 2022.  

Important Dates: 

The master classes will run between 1000 hrs. and 1200 hrs. on the following dates: 

  • Wednesday 22nd June 

  • Friday 24th June 

  • Monday 27th June 

  • Friday 1st July 

  • Monday 4th July 

  • Friday 8th July 

Selected participants MUST be available for ALL the masterclasses. 

 

Art Work - Covid Recovery - Employment and Skills Initiative for the Arts Sector

The objective of the Covid Recovery - Employment and Skills Initiative is to provide support for individuals to enter into the Arts, Creative Industries, Sport, Heritage, Voluntary and Community sectors in Northern Ireland where job roles have been impacted by the pandemic, to enhance their job prospects and skill sets, and in doing so strengthen the organisations and sectors.

The Executive and the Minister for Communities, Deirdre Hargey MLA, have provided this COVID recovery funding for arts organisations and a range of other not-for-profit organisations. The funding aims to deliver interventions to address labour market barriers faced by individuals in light of the impact of the pandemic on the economy. The interventions are to have a particular focus on the arts, creative industries, heritage, sport and voluntary community sectors.

The Department for Communities has appointed Future Screens NI (FSNI) in partnership with Arts Council NI to deliver this programme to organisations specifically within the arts sector.

Purpose:

The purpose of this programme is to create employment opportunities for individuals to work in a recognised arts organisation, which will in turn support organisational and sectoral growth. The programme will achieve this by offering organisations financial support to create fully-funded fixed-term work opportunities aligned to career paths for people from across all age ranges and backgrounds, and with a range of appropriate abilities in the arts/creative industries.

Who is the Scheme Aimed At?

•   any small to medium-sized not-for-profit arts organisation

•   organisations which can provide employment and skills development for an individual who wishes to enter into, or progress within, the arts sector

•   organisations that can show how involvement in the scheme will support and strengthen the arts sector as a whole

•   organisations based in Northern Ireland

Available Funding

A grant to fund the salary and associated costs of a new entry level position for 3 years. This is calculated on the Real Living Wage plus on-costs and includes an anticipated % increase year on year.

An additional and optional grant of up to £3,000 to fund skills and development needs of the newly appointed staff and, where appropriate, mentoring and support of existing staff within the organisation. This should add real value to the individuals involved, to the organisation and to the sector.

Management and Governance:

The Programme will be managed and administered through FSNI.

FSNI and the Arts Council (the Partners) will both be represented on the board of Art Work and will provide the oversight of the Programme.  The Partners will introduce a third stakeholder to the board responsible for ensuring that the social inclusion focus of the Programme is not diluted over time.

FSNI will be used exclusively for the purposes of the Programme ensuring that the finances of the Programme are wholly transparent and that the Programme cannot be distorted or ‘mainstreamed’ into other activity undertaken by the Partners.

A key role for FSNI will be to monitor the progress of the scheme within the organisations selected to ensure agreed targets and outcomes are being reached.

FSNI will be operational for the duration of the scheme, as will the FSNI associated Future Foundation programme, which can offer mentoring to those making application to, or already supported through, the Art Work fund.

Application process:

Interested arts organisations will apply to FSNI/Art Work to have an employee appointed under the following criteria:

Applicant organisations must:

·       be not-for-profit organisations, constituted, with two unrelated people able to sign on behalf of the organisation;

·       organisation’s primary purpose must relate to arts;

·       demonstrate that the new post created would provide a good quality job opportunity (providing transferable skills, contributing to future employability, enhancing the sector); and

·       demonstrate a credible plan to prevent the need for further public sector funding for the new post after 2025 such as absorbing the post into the organisation.

Applicant organisations will be required to:

·       show how the role will improve the individual’s future employment opportunities (by providing on the job training);

·       have a credible proposal outlining the support and management of the new employee;

·       have the ability to ensure the new post holder will be supervised by another member of staff to facilitate learning and development;

·       have a strategy for planning for at least the next 3 years;

·       set out how they will endeavour to employ someone who would not otherwise have the opportunity to enter employment in this sector; and

·       indicate how the employment will add value for the sector.

·       encourage new talent to enter employment in sectors where talent has been depleted and/or there is an ageing workforce.

·       allow individuals to fulfil their potential and add value to their organisation and sector, by training in sector-specific skills.

A broad range of roles across the arts sector can be supported by this programme.  Applicants are asked to demonstrate that the new posts would provide a good quality job opportunity for individuals which will in turn support organisational and sectoral growth. Roles could include, but are not limited to posts, in marketing, digital skills, operations, finance, sales, technical support, administrative support and audience engagement.

Key dates 

·       Open for applications between February and noon on 25 February 2022

·       Decisions will be announced by 31 March 2022

·       We will fund activity between 1 April 2022 to 30 June 2025 

·       Completion reports must be submitted by 30 September 2025

Our Proof of Concept and Pre-Commercialisation open calls have ended as we are nearing the end of our funding cycle.  

Future Screens NI Open Calls closed for Expressions of Interest on Thurs 9th of September 2021

Future Screens Open Calls are targeted towards funding co-created collaborative partnerships between industry and academic research partners at Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University.  Applications are welcome across the full spectrum of the creative industries undertaking research and development across new, immersive and emerging technologies.

There are two funding streams available for this call:

Proof of Concept- Up to £20,000

Future Screens NI Proof of Concept Funding is directed towards addressing R&D led challenges at the earliest stage of marketable product development. 

Pre-Commercialisation-Up to £50,000

Future Screens NI Commercialisation Funding is directed towards R&D led product development which is ready for market with the overall aim of realising commercial potential through the stimulation of commercial outcomes with impact.  Projects previously funded through the FutureSceensNI Open Call which can demonstrate significant commercial potential are welcome to apply alongside new applicants meeting the criteria.  The focus of this funding scheme is to develop a project from a Proof of Concept stage to a point where it can be launched commercially.  Application should clearly demonstrate how the project will employ R&D led strategies to release the commercial potential of a new product, service or production process.  In some cases this may include R&D led product refinements, business case developments, mentoring and business support.   


The Puttnam Scholars Competition 2021

Opportunity closed Friday 11th of June at 12 noon

Future Screens NI, Northern Ireland Screen, and Screen Ireland have teamed up with Atticus Education to offer four Northern Ireland residents the opportunity to attend 6 two hour online master classes with Lord David Puttnam (Producer of MIDNIGHT EXPRESS,CHARIOTS OF FIRE, LOCAL HERO, THE KILLING FIELDS, THE MISSION etc.). 

The master classes will be fully interactive and a full engagement by each participant is an essential feature of the programme.  Having attended the entire programme each individual will receive a scholarship from Atticus Education with the support of Accenture Ireland to the value of €1.5k.

Those participating in the master classes will enhance their understanding of the creative process, and the cultural context within which the screen industries operate. The masterclasses will be delivered digitally and will cover the following themes:

·      The power of identity

·      The evolution of creativity

·      Fact or Fiction

·      Builders and Brokers

·      Music and Meaning

·      Interpreting the Future

To be eligible to apply candidates MUST fulfil the following criteria:

·      Be a writer, director, or producer resident in Northern Ireland that has either:

made their first feature (fiction or documentary) or television drama with funding from a broadcaster, distributor, financier, or screen agency in the past three years.

Or

is about to make their first feature (fiction or documentary) or television drama and has that feature (fiction or documentary) or television drama project in active funded development with a broadcaster, distributor, financier, or screen agency.

 Candidates that fit the above criteria should send an email to Nuala Toman n.toman@ulster.ac.uk containing:

·      Evidence of how they fulfil the eligibility criteria.

·      Confirmation of their availability to attend the masterclasses at the above dates and times.

·      Details of how specifically attending each of the above listed masterclasses will advance their project and their career.

If you do not meet the eligibility criteria please do not apply.

Applications from graduates of post-graduate screen industry affiliated courses or from people from backgrounds that are currently under-represented in the screen sectors, who fulfil the above criteria, are particularly welcome.

Applicant information is available here. Please download and complete in word.  Online applications are not supported.  Please email completed applications to n.toman@ulster.ac.uk by 12 noon on Friday 11th of June.


REWRITING THE NARRATIVE OPEN CALL:

Call Overview and Challenge Themes

In response to the impact of Covid-19 on the creative industries Future Screens NI and Northern Ireland Screen partnered to deliver the Rewriting the Narrative Open Call. As a result of this call 32 projects were funded representing a wide range of creative initiatives. The most significant aspect of the call was the realisation that relatively small awards of funding could allow micro ventures to shift quite rapidly from a community project status to becoming a community economy enterprise in partnership with the creative industries.

Building upon this foundation Future Screens NI and NI Screen wish to continue to support this process of transformation and to encourage creatives working in this region to use the understandings they have gained from the impact of the pandemic to examine what future narrative practices might look like and how they might be delivered, exhibited and distributed in this now transformed cultural landscape. 

Narrative Futures is an open call to the Northern Ireland creative industries challenging them to explore, in a visionary manner, how the changes we have witnessed can be used as the catalyst for genuinely new and original thinking about how creative work could best be designed and delivered in the coming years. The call focuses upon 5 core themes:

•    Immersion - the move to online engagement has suggested that participants in creative projects, audiences and those delivering the experience, are all now interacting in constructed immersive spaces. However, what does the advent of sustained immersion mean for the way in which creativity is framed and what might be the most suitable technologies for constructing truly immersive experiences?

•    Time - the convergence of lockdown, online engagement and home working has ensured that our understandings of time, embedded as they are in the needs of late 19th, early 20th century industrial structures, have been challenged. Over the last few months the mantra of ‘past, present, future’ as a singular concept has entered the mainstream imagination. What does this challenge to time mean for those involved in creative work and what might new, contemporary definitions of time both look like and be represented in creative projects?

•    Language - the emergence of the pandemic has created a new vocabulary and new sets of definitions and understandings connected to this vocabulary. How should the creative community engage with these new meanings and what new structural forms (for example in poetry, prose, visual imagery) can be developed to best illuminate these new linguistic forms?

•    Environment/Work/Life Balance - one of the interesting aspects of the pandemic is the apparent move in popular culture away from explicit dystopian narratives (despite, or perhaps because of, the world actually appearing in many ways to be a dystopian place) to more bucolic and nostalgic environmental representations as manifested in the popularity of programmes. Should creative projects be trying to address and represent the question of what we want and need our daily environments to look like and sustain us?

•    Learning - the last few months have posed serious questions about what we need to learn to best cope with a transformed world and what the correct structures might be to deliver this learning. It is manifestly clear that there needs to be a rethink on what we as citizens need to know and what the best methods are for delivering that knowledge. As creatives what can our role be in producing work which is educating without being didactic and which challenges our accepted notions of what it means to be educated?

Narrative Futures will fund up to 20 projects with a £5,000 grant each to undertake research and development into the 5 themes mentioned. The call is seeking projects which clearly address in an original, future-facing and experimental manner some or all of the issues outlined above.

The call is open to individuals/freelancers and companies from Northern Ireland’s creative industries. What form the projects take is open to the applicants; a website, a short film, a report etc. anything that tackles the challenges we face today as a society to improve it for the better. Preference will be given to applications which interrogate new and emerging technologies, technological and cultural forms or new creative methodologies.

Call overview Documentation available here

Application Form available here

Please Note that applications cannot be done online and must be downloaded and emailed to Future Screens NI

Applicants will be paired with an academic from Ulster University or Queen’s University Belfast who will provide project support.  If you require support in accessing an academic please contact n.toman@ulster.ac.uk

To apply please complete the application form and return it by email to n.toman@ulster.ac.uk  by 12pm on the 4th of December 2020.

Future Fellowships Call:

Future Screens NI is one of nine UK Creative Industries Cluster Partnerships supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council as part of the Industrial Strategy. Future Screens NI comprises the two higher education institutions (Ulster University and QUB) and a number of key industrial partners central to the creative economy. The Partnership has, from this, developed a definition of, and a working model for, the creative industries in NI, which is focused on participation, cultural and economic growth, and social and economic regeneration placing the Partnership as a leading developmental catalyst in this NI sector.

Applications are now open for Future Screens NI Future Fellowships. 

Future Fellowships will provide you with the opportunity to address an R&D challenge in partnership with a University partner.  The fellowship will allows you to identify a particular Research and Development gap and to access finance which will help you solve it partnership with a University partner.  The Fellowship will support you to spend time in a University setting, or for a University partner to spend time in your business to create an R&D solution with clear outputs with an impact upon your business, the creative industries or the creative economy. 

Proposals should illustrate how you, the proposed project, organisation, or research development initiative will benefit from the fellowship.  It is expected that the funding accessed will cover the Fellows time on the project and associated relevant research and development costs

Timescale:

Call opens: 12pm Monday 4th November

Call closes: 5pm Thursday 12th December

Eligibility Checks and Peer Review: January

Future Fellows Announced: March

Please get in touch with Future Screens NI at creativeclustersNI@gmail.com if you have any questions regarding the programme.

Application Form: https://tinyurl.com/y4fpksfa

Puttnam Scholarship Programme

This opportunity closed for applications at 12pm on Thursday 9th of July

Future Screens NI, Northern Ireland Screen and Screen Ireland have teamed up with Atticus Education to offer four Puttnam Scholarships with the opportunity to attend 6 two hour online masterclasses with Lord David Puttnam Oscar-winning producer of Chariots of Fire, The Mission, The Killing Fields and Midnight Express, former Digital Champion and entrepreneur within the creative industries.  

 
 

The masterclasses will be fully interactive and a full engagement by each participant is an essential feature of the programme.  On completion of the entire programme each individual will receive a scholarship from Atticus Education to the value of €1.5k.

Those participating in the masterclasses will enhance their understanding of the creative process, and the cultural context within which the screen industries operate.

To be eligible to apply candidates MUST fulfil the following criteria:

  • Be a writer, director, or producer resident in NI that has either:

made their first feature (fiction or documentary) or television drama with funding from a broadcaster, distributor, financier, or screen agency in the past three years.

Or

is about to make their first feature (fiction or documentary) or television drama and has that feature (fiction or documentary) or television drama project in active funded development with a broadcaster, distributor, financier, or screen agency.

Applications from graduates of post-graduate screen industry affiliated courses or from people from backgrounds that are currently under-represented in the screen sectors, who fulfil the above criteria, are particularly welcome.

Candidates that fit the above criteria should send an email to n.toman@ulster.ac.uk by 12pm on Thursday 9th of July containing:

  • Evidence of how they fulfil the eligibility criteria.

  • Confirmation of their availability to attend the masterclasses at the above dates and times.

  • Details of how specifically attending each of the masterclasses outlined in Applicant Information Document below will advance their project and their career.

Link to applicant information here

Applications from graduates of post-graduate screen industry affiliated courses or from people from backgrounds that are currently under-represented in the screen sectors, who fulfil the above criteria, are particularly welcome.

For further information on this amazing opportunity please contact Nuala Toman, Project Manager of Future Screens NI at n.toman@ulster.ac.uk

A Joint funding Call from Future Screens NI and NI Screen

Call Overview

In response to the impact of Covid-19 on the creative industries Future Screens NI and Northern Ireland Screen are partnering to deliver the Rewriting the Narrative Open Call.  Applications are now welcome for awards of up to £5,000.  Applications should be received by 5pm on Friday 8th of May 2020 to Nuala Toman Project Manager of Future Screens NI at n.toman@ulster.ac.uk. If you have any questions or queries about the call please contact Nuala directly at the email above.

We are currently living in a moment in time where the norms of how we live, and work, have been disrupted as never before. Already Covid-19 has a had a significant impact on businesses including those within the creative industries. It is challenging how the industry operates and disrupting the narrative around how we work, communicate and create. There is hope that from this difficult and challenging time that there is change that will be positive, long lasting and sustainable.

Rewriting the Narrative is an open call to the Northern Ireland creative industries challenging them to explore where and how these changes are happening in the creative industries. More importantly the call is aimed at identifying how can we learn from the current situation, both positives and negatives, and use it to strengthen the industry once normality returns. The call focuses upon 5 core themes:

  • Creativity – How has social distancing and social-isolation changed how we create? What are the new types of content and/or experiences being inspired by how we are being made to live our lives at this moment in time?

  • Community – Community has always been driven by in person interactions but how can that be maintained when the in-person element is taken away. Even before Covid-19 members of our communities were feeling the impact of social isolation due their own personal circumstances. As a society we now understand that better than before. How can we most effectively replace that in-person interaction? How can that be used to help those who may feel social isolated in future?

  • Environment – With society and business evolving we are seeing a positive impact on the environment. Air pollution is reducing around the world, in our towns and cities nature is returning in some form. Where in the creative industries can this positive environmental impact be maintained within our practices?

  • Work/Life Balance – With more people working from home than ever before what does this mean for the traditional workday. Do video calls allow us to be more efficient and effective with our time? How can this be used to better the creative industries, both from how ideas are developed but how production is practically implemented?

  • Education – The current situation has shown that there is still a place, and need, for the classroom in education but also that education can take place outside of the classroom. How has Covid 19 changed how we approach learning and teaching both for adults and younger generations?

Rewriting the Narrative will fund up to 20 projects with a £5,000 grant each to carry research and development into the 5 themes outlined above. The call is open to individuals/freelancers and companies from Northern Ireland’s creative industries. What form the projects take is open to the applicants; a digital platform, a short film or animation, evidence based recommendations for change etc. anything that tackles the challenges we face today as a society to improve it for the better.

Applicants will be paired with an academic from Ulster University or Queen’s University Belfast who will provide appropriate research support. This support should not be costed in the application.

To apply please fill out the application form and monitoring form.  Please return it by email it to n.toman@ulster.ac.uk  by 5pm on Friday 8th of May

Application Forms: https://tinyurl.com/ssa8boh

Challenge Calls:

Challenge Calls published twice a year. These specific calls will be designed in response to industry trends and relevant research.

Ongoing Capacity Building:

Two parallel talent growth programmes. These will be rolling work programmes (over a twelve month period), limited to a specific number of participants.  Initial focus will be on Writing and Design.


Co-Investigator Engagement:

A Co-I or initiated a funding call, or a Co-I invited by an industrial partner to be involved in a project.