The StoryLab Research Team are excited to announce that they have successful bid for a £100,000 grant from the AHRC for Follow On Funding during 2019-2020. Building on the successful AHRC funded StoryLab International Film Development Research Network project (storylabnetwork.com) that was delivered by Professor Erik Knudsen (University of Central Lancashire, UK) and his team, Dr Nico Meissner (Griffith Film School, Australia), Dr Carolina Patiño (University of Ibagué, Colombia) and Sarah Kuntoh (National Film and Television Institute, Ghana), in the ODA countries of Malaysia, Ghana and Colombia during 2017, the AHRC have granted Follow On Funding for the StoryLab Skills Training for Democratised Film Industries project, which will build on the experiences gained, methodologies developed and the network of independent filmmakers with whom the project engaged, to research and develop a scaleable skills training impact strategy and framework to be rolled out across Colombia. The team will be expanded to include Francis Gbormittah from the University of Ghana’s School of Performing Arts, Legon. Where the AHRC network allowed us to explore the content and styles of the stories being expressed in the 3 ODA countries, a Follow-on Funding for Impact and Engagement grant would allow us to venture into new unexplored territory of seeking an understanding of how the methodologies developed in the AHRC Network project could be applied to economic and cultural benefit through innovative skills training and understanding the importance of the role of cinematic storytelling in economic and cultural development.
