Art Shots

Tate Media, working with Arts Council England and Tate Connects, invited submissions to the second round of the Art Shorts film development programme in 2010.

The aim was to partner with a selection of visual arts organisations in England to support the production of a series of short films exploring the work of each organisation. We looked to collaborate with developing or established arts organisations that employed innovative approaches to presenting contemporary visual arts to a broad public audience.

We worked in partnership with those selected to create a short film that would benefit the organisation. Tate offered funding, expertise and resources to create the film, in addition to skills development opportunities that could enable each organisation to produce their own films in the future. Tate Media acted as co-producer, to help manage the financial, production and post-production processes.

Participants had to bring a strong idea to the table, along with a clear interest in using film to illuminate or explore an aspect of their work and a willingness to collaborate with us to realise this vision.

We were keen to support proposals which included clear thinking about distribution. This could be physical or online, and would both complement and enhance existing audience engagement strategies. We profiled films on the Tate website and the Arts Council England website.

We wished to support organisations that employed imaginative approaches to the film’s content or distribution. The film could involve a documentary or narrative about a particular artwork, artist or exhibition; incorporate live performance or installation; or focus on engaging a particular audience group. The film could include historical content, but should present a contemporary viewpoint.

We selected organisations based on the ideas submitted and the benefit to the organisation. If selected, we funded their film, helped them to develop and hone their ideas, source appropriate production personnel and provided them with guidance in filming and post-production.

We aimed to support short films (between three and six minutes long) that:

• complemented and provided insight into an area of the organisation’s programme
• would add value
• enhanced their existing profile and audience engagement activity.

We were not able to support:

• The production of artists’ moving image work
• Submissions from individuals
• Proposals that did not evidence thinking around distribution and legacy
• Submissions from organisations with existing capacity and expertise to deliver comparable projects.

A workshop was held on 24 May 2010, for organisations wishing to explore and develop filmmaking within their activities.