Evaluation of the BFI National Archive - AWARD

The BFI wants to gain a better understanding of who is accessing Archive material from the different platforms and locations, how they use the BFI National Archive and why, and the benefits gained as a result. The BFI National Archive is of national importance as it maintains the UK's film heritage for the people of today and future generations, and promotes engagement with that shared heritage. While its focus is not primarily income generation or wealth creation, research carried out by BFI indicates that value is created for individuals and organisations (the end-users). The Archive team maximise their outputs for any given inputs by creating programmes and restorations which are valued by audiences and individual users, and by increasing access to these outputs through different platforms. Some outputs have a direct impact and others generate indirect impacts, both will need to be assessed as part of the evaluation.

We wish to commission an evaluation to assess the cultural, social and economic impact of the BFI National Archive as follows:

• Cultural: this will include exploring how the BFI National Archive increases/deepens users' understanding of national cultural heritage, increases access and engagement with culturally distinct film and television, and broadens users' understanding of themselves and the world;

• Social: how the BFI National Archive enables the public to appreciate the art, impact and history of film and television, creates pleasure and enjoyment, inspires audiences to appreciate how film reflects and challenges society, and supports filmmakers' creative impulse and palette through exposure to the work of others;

• Economic impact: assess direct economic impacts by using metrics such as the value of tickets sales for Archive films at Southbank cinemas or through collaborations with other Archive partners, Archive footage sales generated for television programmes and film productions, Archive DVD sales, and revenue streams generated by those who access the National Archive for commercial interests.

This evaluation should draw on a range of sources to assess the total value created by the BFI National Archive based on the above three key areas.