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The Growing Importance of Media

3. FACT’s Identity and Impact

3.1 Institution: Building the FACT Brand Brands are pervasive and ubiquitous We take them for granted –

3.1.3 From Agency to Institution

Evidently, the rebranding of Moviola marked a significant shift in the history of the organisation, and it signalled the increased integration of its individual outputs through the development of a stronger brand and more sophisticated business plan. However, FACT’s current Director, Mike Stubbs, stated in 2010 that FACT was still described as an

adhocracy,598 a term which can be understood as meaning “a system of flexible and informal organization and management in place of rigid bureaucracy.”599 Stubbs stressed the importance of the organisation operating more like a business,600 a statement which casts doubt on the efficacy of the comprehensive business plans produced in 1999, which

596FACT Centre: Synopsis (The White Book), (Available: FACT Archive, Box – FACT Centre Business Plans (HIST.25); Folder – June 1999), p.6

597

See Smith 1998 598

Stubbs, M. (Director, FACT), interviewed by the author, 7 January 2010 599 Oxford English Dictionary (2011), Adhocracy, n. (Online)

600

numbered five volumes and many more appendices.601 That FACT was still operating as an adhocracy by 2010 can perhaps be attributed to the new brand having been developed whilst the organisation was still an art agency, which consequently imbued the new identity with the more flexible and malleable model associated with art agencies. An art agency can be understood as a commissioning body which works on a broad scope to produce and facilitate a range of art projects which are presented in various locations as they tend not to occupy their own dedicated exhibition space. Moviola, through its work with the Video Positive festivals in particular, functioned as one of very few national art agencies in the UK that focused on film and media art,602 and relied heavily on collaboration with other partners as a consequence.

For Moviola, the art agency model had worked well because it was more accommodating of the different branches of operation that existed, and despite claims that the new brand would “ensure a consistent corporate identity,”603 FACT remained committed to maintaining its agency role.604 Furthermore, each of the sub-brands that were incorporated into FACT – Video Positive, the Collaboration Programme and MITES – had strong independent identities, thus threatening the intended coherence of the new name. This was further demonstrated by the tenantspin project, which launched in 1999, developing an equally strong independent identity which remains somewhat separate from FACT today. However, the threat of legal action which forced the rebranding process coincided

601

FACT Centre: Synopsis (The White Book), (Available: FACT Archive, Box – FACT Centre Business Plans (HIST.25); Folder – June 1999); FACT Centre: History and Context (The Green Book), (Available: FACT Archive, Box – FACT Centre Business Plans (HIST.25); Folder – June 1999); FACT Centre: History and Context Appendices (The Green Book), (Available: FACT Archive, Box – FACT Centre Business Plans (HIST.25); Folder – June 1999); FACT Centre: Transition (The Orange Book), (Available: FACT Archive, Box – FACT Centre Business Plans (HIST.25); Folder – June 1999); FACT Centre: Programme and Operations (The Red Book), (Available: FACT Archive, Box – FACT Centre Business Plans (HIST.25); Folder – June 1999); FACT Centre: Programme and Operations Appendices R1-7 (The Red Book), (Available: FACT Archive, Box – FACT Centre Business Plans (HIST.25); Folder – June 1999);

FACT Centre: Programme and Operations Appendices R15-18 (The Red Book), (Available: FACT Archive, Box – FACT Centre Business Plans (HIST.25); Folder – June 1999); FACT Centre: Finance (The Black Book), (Available: FACT Archive, Box – FACT Centre Business Plans (HIST.25); Folder – June 1999)

602 FACT Centre: History and Context (The Green Book), (Available: FACT Archive, Box – FACT Centre Business Plans (HIST.25); Folder – June 1999), p.1

603

Foundation for Art & Creative Technology Business Plan: Update (1997/98), (Available: FACT Archive, Box – Admin General 1; Folder – Business Plans 1997-2000), p.15

604FACT Centre: Synopsis (The White Book), (Available: FACT Archive, Box – FACT Centre Business Plans (HIST.25); Folder – June 1999), p.11

with some major changes to the organisation, with 1997 also being the year that FACT began to actively pursue funding for the development of its own premises. Although discussions for this had started in the early 1990s, it was only with the opening of the FACT Centre in 2003 that the framework of the organisation was altered on a fundamental level, transforming FACT from an agency with occasional bursts of intense activity, to something more akin to traditional museums and art galleries. This new structure had to fit the FACT brand and, in turn, the calendar of year-round exhibitions within the FACT Centre were supported by the Collaboration Programme, but also brought an end to the Video Positive festivals. In response to this change, a new set of aims were drawn up, based around seven core themes: exhibition; production; participation, education and collaboration; ethos; accountability; the region; and management.605 These themes echoed many of the Labour government’s core objectives, and FACT’s new position within a more traditional framework of art institutions ensured that it was well placed to attract funding from a wide range of sources.

The changes that were undertaken by FACT in the years 1997–2003 amounted to a process of institutionalisation, of which the FACT Centre was the physical manifestation. Through the rebranding process, and in the development of aims and objectives that closely responded to the new government agenda, FACT presented a more professional and corporate identity which complemented the revitalised image projected by New Labour, but it also placed the organisation within the long history of art and its institutions. Historically, Moviola had been imbued with a desire to produce work that was of relevance to the local community, and as an art agency it occupied a powerful position outside the traditional institutions of “family and marriage, the school, the university [and] the state.”606 The rebranding exercise of 1997, which was overtly aligned with government agendas, complicated the relationship between the organisation and its audiences, however, and whilst the decision to rebrand may not have been made with a stated intention to transform its operations from an agency model into an institution, this was the effect of the process, and the transformation was reinforced and represented by the construction of the FACT Centre.

605

FACT’s Mission (c.2003), (Available: FACT Archive, Box – Admin General 1, Folder – Business Plans 1989-2000)

606