Overview

Northern Ireland Screen will oversee the new Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund (the ‘USBF’) with an anticipated budget of £1million per annum over the next five years from 2011 to 2015.

 The USBF will provide finance for the production of film, television or other moving image projects relating to the Ulster-Scots heritage, culture and language in Northern Ireland.

The aim of the Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund is to ensure that the heritage, culture and language of Ulster-Scots is expressed through moving image. The USBF also aims to foster the Ulster-Scots independent production sector in Northern Ireland and to fund high quality Ulster-Scots cultural TV programmes for a Northern Ireland audience.

Objectives

• To rise to the delivery of 20 additional hours of Ulster-Scots programming per annum in a range of genres conducive to the delivery of the heritage, culture and language aim.
•  Broadcast 90% of the USBF funded programming within 6 months of delivery.
• Reach a significant Northern Ireland audience, primarily but not exclusively through broadcast television, with an initial audience target of 25,000 people in Northern Ireland. 
• Achieve high levels of audience satisfaction amongst those within the Northern Ireland audience who express a particular interest in Ulster-Scots. 
• Achieve general audience satisfaction levels consistent with those for other local programmes broadcast in Northern Ireland of a similar genre in a similar broadcast slot.
  

General information on applications to the USBF

• The USBF will organise a minimum of two and a maximum of four funding rounds in 2011.
• The first 2 funding rounds have been completed. These 2 rounds were much closer together than will become the norm, this was to ensure that quality projects were not passed over because they could not comply with the tight turn around for the first round of funding. The need for a third and fourth round will be assessed depending on funding available. 
• The USBF’s production budget for 2011 is £1m. 
• Normally production companies must submit applications to the eligible broadcasters in advance of submitting applications to the USBF.
  
• It is foreseeable that an USBF priority (e.g. with educational material and/or with computer games) could be better achieved through a platform of delivery other than an eligible broadcaster. In this case, the production company would apply directly to the USBF without reference to an eligible broadcaster.
• The USBF welcomes applications for development funding. Projects are funded for development on a 50/50 basis by the USBF and the broadcaster, applicant or other funder. 
• It should be noted that this is a competitive process in which only the best applications are awarded funding. 
• Funding decisions are made by the USBF Investment Committee in line with the following assessment criteria:
• The project complies satisfactorily with the Priorities.
• Contribution to increased awareness and understanding of Ulster-Scots heritage, culture and/or language. 
• The quality of the proposal and the audience appeal.
• Value for money/maximising the resources within the USBF.
• Accessibility within the broadcasters’ schedule/maximising audience access to ensure an audience appropriate for the genre of programme can be reached.
• Contribution to the growth and development of the Ulster-Scots independent production sector and infrastructure.
• The commitment of match funding and satisfactory evidence that the project is additional to the programming levels already undertaken by the attached broadcaster.