The BBC and Arts Council England today announce plans for an exciting joint initiative that will help develop digital media production skills in the arts sector.

The BBC Academy and Arts Council England partnership will run a series of masterclasses and workshops for arts organisations interested in developing their digital skills. The classes will cover skills including commissioning and producing film and web content, archiving and rights issues, digital marketing and communications, and internet TV. The agreement will also provide opportunities for sharing expertise, knowledge, research and ideas.

The announcement will be made by Liz Forgan, Chair of Arts Council England at the Media Festival Arts event in London. The joint initiative will see the BBC Academy working with the Arts Council to help arts organisations gain the production skills they need to create and distribute high quality arts content for digital platforms including online, mobile and internet protocol television.

In her keynote address, Liz Forgan says: "Our partnership with the BBC is about working together to maximise the public value of the arts. It's about pooling our expertise to help create the arts leaders of the future and to help arts organisations broaden their skills.

"This joint initiative will enable arts organisations to produce high quality digital arts content that will reach new audiences in new ways, to prolong the life and extend the reach of their exciting, excellent art."

Mark Thompson, the BBC's Director General, added: "Arts organisations are increasingly using digital media to create and distribute content to the public that otherwise wouldn't be seen. The partnership with the Arts Council England will mean the BBC shares its knowledge, skills and expertise in content production bringing to life our digital public space."

By the end of the year, the next steps in the new joint initiative will include a forum where artists, arts organisations and broadcasters can discuss the opportunities that digital presents, share best practice skills and identify the skills needed across the sector.

In 2009, the BBC and Arts Council England developed a three year Public Value Partnership, which aimed to increase the value, reach and impact of public investment between the publicly funded arts organisations and the BBC's investment in arts. The agreement also provided for using digital technologies to increase audience access to publicly-funded arts content through BBC services and platforms. The new BBC Academy partnership will extend this reach through other open platforms.

BBC Academy, launched in December 2009, is the BBC's centre for training and development. It houses the Colleges of Journalism, Production, Leadership and the Centre of Technology. The Academy focuses on providing high-quality training to all BBC staff and on building external relationships to extend the BBC's training resources to the wider industry, sharing as much of its training as possible for free.