[Commlist] CDA - The Political Economy of Screen Archives: Innovation, Sustainability and the Value of Screen Heritage.

The AHRC-funded Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership 
<https://www.midlands4cities.ac.uk/>(M4C) brings together eight leading 
universities across the Midlands to support the professional and 
personal development of the next generation of arts and humanities 
doctoral researchers. M4C is a collaboration between the University of 
Birmingham, Birmingham City University, University of Warwick, Coventry 
University, University of Leicester, De Montfort University, Nottingham 
Trent University and The University of Nottingham.

  M4C is awarding up to 94 doctoral studentships for UK/EU applicants 
for 2020 through an open competition and 15 Collaborative Doctoral 
Awards (CDA) through a linked competition with a range of partner 
organisations in the cultural, creative and heritage sector.

**

*The Birmingham School of Media at Birmingham City University in 
collaboration with the University of Nottingham and the **Media Archive 
for Central England* <https://www.macearchive.org/>**is inviting 
applications to a CDA titled /The Political Economy of Screen Archives: 
Innovation, Sustainability and the Value of Screen Heritage/.

This research project is concerned with the archival institution and 
questions of cultural value and sustainability. It is grounded in 
theoretical, historical and practical interest in the film and 
television archive – a subject rarely touched upon in contemporary 
accounts of policy (e.g. Doyle,2015). The researcher will aim to 
identify meaningful solutions in policy and practice for preservation 
and sustainability in the sector. Based at MACE yet outside of the 
everyday determinants and demands on the space of its personnel, the 
doctoral student will pursue lines of enquiry and provide a model of 
reflexive research and development in order to produce impactful 
insights for policymakers, intermediaries as well as those who make use 
of film and television repositories.

The doctoral researcher will thus devise a project that addresses, 
extends and adapts the following indicative research questions that seek 
to direct the research:

  * What is the cultural value and purpose of a publicly funded film
    archive?
  * What is the role of the archivist in meeting contemporary policy
    expectations, securing funding and managing the business of the 
archive?
  * How might the proposed research understand tensions and trade-offs
    between the ideals and ambitions of professional cultural workers
    and the pressures of economic expediency in order to assess and
    model new opportunities for institutional identities and
    sustainability in the screen archive?

The research will examine the nature of past and current film archive 
policy, of its promises, expectations and obligations for the sector, 
paying particular attention to the relationship between national and 
regional priorities. It will explore financing for the sector – of the 
rationale and mechanics in how funding is apportioned and income 
generated – and will explore specific case studies at MACE that enable 
an examination of business models and ideas for innovation. It will also 
work with concepts of cultural labour, expertise and value in assessing 
the role of the archivist and indeed, the constitution of user-audiences.

The doctoral researcher will engage with archivists and practices across 
the sector. The research project will be empirically focussed on the 
role of MACE as a regional screen archive, and engage with its partners 
as part of a wider landscape through its relationship with BFI and 
national policy objectives alongside the role of MACE’s Director as 
Chair of the national representative organisation for the sector, Film 
Archives UK. Research will commence in September 2020. It is envisaged 
that the researcher will be on site at MACE for up to 50% of the four 
years of study with the opportunity for activity articulated in blocks 
as month-long work placements and/or on a day/week basis. Research 
methods will include policy analysis, organisational ethnography, 
interviews with cultural workers and audiences. There is potential for 
practice-based work and innovation will take place in the approach to 
secondary research in scoping out and synthesising grey literature, 
archival theory and current work across several disciplinary fields that 
is concerned with cultural organisations, policy and economics.

To find out more:

Go to the *Midlands4Cities website.* 
<https://www.midlands4cities.ac.uk/find-a-project/>

Contact Dr Oliver Carter: *(_oliver.carter /at/ bcu.ac).uk_*

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