The Box Plymouth has secured £330,000 in funding from the British Film Institute to support and develop its film archive over the next three years.

The award, made through the BFI Screen Heritage Fund, will help preserve and share the South West's screen heritage while creating new opportunities for communities, researchers and creative practitioners to access moving image collections.

The new investment will support a three-year programme that will focus on creating a stronger and more resilient screen heritage ecosystem across the Southwest. Central to the programme is a commitment to partnership working and collaboration, ensuring that activity is co-developed with regional organisations, communities, and practitioners.

The funding programme will be delivered through three strands:

The Living Archive Lab:

A new programme facilitated by The Box, that will create opportunities for artists, communities, technologists, researchers, and partners to work directly with moving image collections through a mix of onsite and online activity.

Carbon-Conscious Collections:

The development of practical tools, resources, and training to support archives in reducing the environmental impact of preservation – work that builds on The Box’s emerging leadership in this area. These will be shared openly with archive and heritage organisations, supporting more sustainable approaches across the sector.

Reframing the Region:

The Box will work with partners across the Southwest to build a bold new strategy for collecting to ensure that moving image collections better reflect the diversity of the region today. This will support a more inclusive and regionally informed approach to contemporary collecting and interpreting screen heritage beyond the three years.

Alongside these initiatives, the funding will also support the creation of a new online public catalogue. This will make it easier for audiences, researchers, and creatives to discover and access the moving image collections preserved at The Box Plymouth and lay the foundations for more ambitious and meaningful creative projects, research opportunities, and strategic partnerships in the future.