Over the last year, we've been having lots of conversations with arts organisations and leaders, not to mention artists and audiences from all different walks of life, right across the country. The idea is to find out what the 主播大秀 can do to support creativity in Britain better than we already do. In turn, for us to find new ways of working, new forms of art, and engage with a broader range of audiences.
The main mechanism has been a 主播大秀 Arts Advisory Group, set up by Sir Nicholas Serota last year. It consists of a handful of arts leaders from different backgrounds: Maria Balshaw from the in Manchester, Vicky Featherstone from the , Marcus Davey from the , Indhu Rubasingham from and Amit Sood from . Each of these leaders led workshops in different parts of the country, reaping the insight of over 20 arts organisations - big and small, national and regional - looking in particular at how we might do more to engage younger audiences and support grassroots creativity throughout the country.
Alongside this, the led a day during the summer focused on arts and digital technology, which brought together 30 organisations - from Hull, UK City of Culture 2017 to the Edinburgh Festivals. Meanwhile, our partnership with the What Next? movement (consisting of hundreds of arts leaders from across the country) has opened up dialogue on an unprecedented scale with organisations like , and .
Lots of conversations. But one message coming back clear and loudly: the desire for a more open, generous and enabling 主播大秀.
But why?
Our economy has changed greatly over the last 10 years and the challenges facing arts organisations - those crucibles of world-renowned talent - and the audiences they serve are vast. Many have had to scale back or, indeed, close entirely. The benefits of digital technology, which should be the great liberator, are far from universal, dividing the haves from the have-nots. The ability to digitally capture and distribute art requires resources and expertise that many smaller organisations just can't afford. Some of this underpins the alarming revelation by a report published earlier this year (the ) that the most culturally active part of the population is also the wealthiest, better educated and least ethnically diverse.
Meanwhile, the 主播大秀, for all the challenges it faces, has a degree of stability that means it can think far into the future. Its services reach over 96% of the population a week, so it can deliver access to the arts and culture like nobody else. And it has a precious and sophisticated infrastructure of local services that can connect artists and audiences at regional, national and international levels. More than most other organisations, the 主播大秀 can enable the wider sector to continue making Britain one of the most culturally exciting nations in the world.
Last week, we announced our vision of a more open 主播大秀 for the internet age: working with partners to both tackle the challenges and seize the opportunities surrounding arts and culture in 21st Century Britain. This requires working in a new way - listening hard, contributing with commitment, developing ideas with partners that will actually achieve what is needed for a wide range stakeholders each with their own unique challenges.
At this stage, the key thing is not the individual content ideas, but creating the right framework and working practice for those ideas to emerge. This is the single most important principle behind the 'new UK arts platform' .
The word 'platform' is one of those deceptively simple-sounding words which is actually rather hard to pin down. My own understanding of it is informed by brilliant thinkers in the wider arts and tech sector, as well as within the 主播大秀, who have been engaged with this stuff far longer than I have. A 'platform' does not mean 'a website', although it will certainly have digital outlets and may be digitally led. A platform is a framework for collaboration as much as anything else, enabling a wide range of partners to work together on a regular basis: sharing technology, collaborating on forward plans, as well as broadcast, online and physical expressions of those collaborations. This is why the description of the 'new UK arts platform' avoids being dogmatic about what it looks like, but rather what it needs to achieve.
In Monday's speech and report, the words 'open' and 'partnership' were used a lot, and there were also revealing insights into what some of the tools might be. The Director-General talked about 'co-commissioning' with partners. We have some precedence with this already, like the together last month. Or the .
Creating a framework for enabling more of these collaborations and developing a shared forward plan of seasons and themes that other partners can opt in or out of has obvious advantages in achieving both impact and savings for all involved.
Likewise, the '' report talks about how the arts platform will sit within a broader Ideas Service that will work across broadcast as well as online, suggesting a modern and nimble commissioning approach. This should be reassuring to those organisations who cite the reach of the 主播大秀's services as its greatest asset and are rightfully wary of projects which exist only online.
The next few weeks and months are crucial in getting the 'new UK arts platform' off on the right footing. Since partnership is to be at the core of the service, then partnership needs to be at the core of the creation of it - from development to realisation. We are consulting a range of partners and independent voices about how best to frame this development process and we will make announcements soon about how it will work. Later in the autumn we will hold a series of consultation days for those who want to input. Finally, we will be looking for short-term opportunities to test and pilot the ideas that emerge, which will inform and prepare the ground for the longer-term vision.
Did I forget to say how excited I am? If we get the process right - honouring that spirit of openness and partnership - then I truly believe we'll succeed. Thoughts, insights and suggestions will be welcomely received at jonty.claypole@bbc.co.uk
Jonty Claypole is Director, 主播大秀 Arts