The Arts Council West Midlands DCD fund – some notes

Today I had a meeting with Anna Douglas and Steve Manthorp at the Arts Council’s Birmingham offices to discussed the Digital Content Development (DCD) fund. This was announced in December 2008 and since then I’ve been increasingly asked by arts organisations for advice on formulating their applications. Since this has become a significant part of my businesses, and given that after a year the scope and aims of the fund may have shifted, I figured it would be a good idea to get up to date.

The meeting was very illuminating and I’m happy to say I have a much better understanding of what the fund is for and what Anna and Steve are looking for in the applications. Here, then are my (relatively opinion free) notes.

What is the Digital Content Development fund?

The tag line is “establishing platforms for content delivery”. The platforms and the content are not necessarily digital. And, as we all know, the definition of “platform” and “content” is pretty fluid.

It’s a Pilot Project fund. They’re looking to, as Steve put it, float some boats and see what works. It is most certainly experimental and they’re interested in ideas that haven’t properly been thought through. The fund is to enable that thinking through process.

It’s less an investment in physical things, such as websites or infrastructure, and more an investment in ideas. They’re looking for things that will help change the way the organisation thinks about what it does with its content.

They’re looking to fund explorations in the following three areas:

1. New forms of organisational operation.
2. New forms of distribution.
3. New forms of engagement

In other words, the creation of stuff, the getting of stuff to people and the way people deal with your stuff.

Be interesting, not boring

There have been a lot of applications over the last year. Here’s a few things they really don’t want to see any more of:

• Digitising archives for the sake of it. There needs to be a good reason why that cupboard of VHS tapes should be put online.
• Creating broadcast-style channels.
• Revamped websites, particularly those primarily concerned with marketing / ticket sales.
• Voting, polls or any form of faux “engagement”

And here’s what they would love to see more of:

• Kernels of potentially interesting ideas.
• Things that aren’t necessarily technically possible yet but are conceptually interesting.
• Repurposing of existing technology platforms. Don’t re-invent the wheel, use the wheel differently.
• Using technology in new social ways. (Not sure what that means exactly. Could be connected to the above point.)
• Redefining what the core concepts in your organisation mean.
• Moving from analogue to digital while maintaining the level of innovation.

What are organisations doing wrong?

• Not thinking experimentally. This is a fund for experiments.
• Not being playful. Again, it’s for trying things you wouldn’t normally try. Approach it with a sense of play.
• Not taking risks. A nice aspect of the DCD fund is there’s no fear of failure. As long as you can learn from it, everything going horribly wrong is not a problem.
• Emulating retail or broadcasting. The retail model is important for selling tickets but this isn’t about selling tickets. Similarly, a one-to-many model of engagement isn’t going to succeed.
• Starting with existing content or platforms.
• No substance to the proposal. Effectively saying “We’re going to do some digital stuff but we don’t really know why.”
• Concentrating too much on technology. Tech is a tool you use to do something. What is the something?

Why?

The big thing I got from the meeting is orgainsations aren’t asking themselves “Why?” There are bids coming in that tick all the boxes but don’t seem to have been properly thought through (note: I haven’t actually seen any bids myself – that would be wrong). Organisations need to think about why they want to do it, what the implications will be, who they’re aiming to reach and what they’re looking to change.

My reading of this is that if this is a door that has been opened people are looking at the door and trying to understand how it works when what the should be doing is going through the door and exploring what lies beyond it. I appreciate that sounds like motivational nonsense but when you look at all the organisations going on Twitter because they think they need to go on Twitter but not really understanding how going on Twitter fits with what they do, it kinda makes sense.

You need my help with this

Well, maybe you don’t. But I’d be a fool if I didn’t mention that this is the sort of thing that’s right up my street. A big part of the Metapod Connect course I ran this year (helping arts organisations get to grips with the social Internet) was getting people to stop thinking about online engagement as another way to sell tickets and start thinking about it in terms of how it could change the way they work. I wanted people to question their roles as cultural guardians in an environment where the creation, distribution and consumption of culture has been radically democratised. This, I think, is where the DCD fund is coming from. It’s providing a space, through funding, to safely explore these questions and issues. And I’ve been thinking about them a lot.

Drop me a line.