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Today, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Director-General Mark Thompson announces the first ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ city partnership as part of a new drive to work with local agencies to boost the regional creative economies across the UK.

The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ has signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a number of key Bristol agencies and organisations to help ensure Bristol and the South West remains at the forefront of digital media production.

Today's agreement commits the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ to partner and work with local agencies in areas such as boosting local TV production and film-making, tackling the digital divide, digital skills and media literacy and collaborating on digital and connectivity projects.

The partnership includes Bristol City Council, South West England's Regional Development Agency, South West Screen and an alliance of creative industries, community organisations and academic institutions in the city including Bristol Media, the University of Bristol, UWE and Futurelab.

Mark Thompson, who visits the region today, said the agreement is the first of what could be many partnerships with cities across the UK.

He also pledged that the South West could be a world leader in natural history programming for decades to come.

The forthcoming Life series, which starts on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ One next week, showed that the "creative brilliance of programme makers in the region goes from strength to strength".

Initiatives announced today include:

• A new drive in local schools and colleges to boost media and digital production skills and find the Sir David Attenboroughs of the future
• A 'school for DJs' with the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ to open up its studios and local presenters to act as mentors for local young people with a flair for presenting or producing programmes
• A project specifically focused on harder-to-reach communities offering media and digital training to 18 to 25-year-olds keen to pursue a career in media
• A new micro-budget feature film initiative iFeatures to boost local film-making. Developed by South West Screen and backed by Bristol City Council and ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Films, iFeatures will see three full-length feature films developed, shot and premiered in Bristol during 2010 and 2011

The Director-General said a key part of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s recently announced Strategy Review will be to look at how the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ can do even more to use its stable investment through the licence fee to support "creative clusters" across the UK.

He added: "This first city partnership with Bristol will raise the bar on our ambition to spread the economic benefits of the licence fee outside of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ and out of London.

"We can do even more to unlock the creative talents and boost the creative economies across the country.

"Today's first-ever city partnership reflects our long-term commitment to working with others to strengthen digital skills, economy and expertise across the UK."

The agreement, which is the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s first city partnership, has been developed over the past year and underlines the key importance of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s location within the city.

It builds upon the city's undisputed reputation for creation of world-class content, notably from the award-winning ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Natural History Unit, and particularly in factual programming, wildlife content and animation.

Pioneering initiatives such as The Pervasive Media Studio, the Watershed and Knowle West Media Centre are also becoming widely known for their work at the cutting edge of digital media and community inclusion.

The partners intend that working together more closely and sharing expertise, resources and ambitions will bring cultural and economic benefits to the people of Bristol, the city and the South West region.

At a launch of the partnership agreement, Leader of Bristol City Council Barbara Janke said: "This partnership represents an opportunity to utilise the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s presence in the city to help stimulate creative, technological and economic growth in the creative industries and in our communities."

Jane Henderson, Chief Executive of the South West RDA, added: "The South West's thriving media industry owes much of its success to the presence of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳.

"This agreement will ensure the corporation continues to support the new generation of media content and services – developing technical and creative skills and safeguarding Bristol's position as a global centre for digital innovation and hub for the region's creative economy."

South West Screen's Chief Executive, Caroline Norbury, said: "We are proud to be part of this historic agreement.

"Bristol and the South West are known for the high quality of our drama output and creative talent when it comes to TV shows like Mistresses, Being Human and Skins.

"iFeatures is an exciting opportunity for the region to make the leap to feature film, where we can celebrate our locations, stories and talent and get to see Bristol's name up in lights."

Notes to Editors

The Memorandum of Understanding between the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ and the named agencies is referred to as the Bristol ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Anchor Collaboration. The MOU is published in full online at www.bristol-bbc-anchor.org.

MP