Jackson handed budget boost in expanded Channel 4 arts role

31 March 2010

The channel has also launched a new More4 Arts strand to showcase the best arts documentaries. Films already transmitted include: Making War Horse, produced by The National Theatre's Digital Media Unit and directed by Phil Grabsky; The First Movie, directed by Mark Cousins and nominated for an RTS, and the double Emmy-award winning Autism: The Musical, acquired from HBO.

Upcoming films under the More 4 Arts umbrella include a 6 part series made by the Proudfoot Company in partnership with the Rolex Mentors and Proteges scheme. The series features world-renowned artists including Martin Scorsese, David Hockney and Jessye Norman as they mentor a young protege over the course of a year.

Also for More 4, Artangel have produced an innovative hybrid documentary film based on the life of playwright Andrea Dunbar (Rita Sue and Bob Too). The Arbor, directed by Clio Barnard, will have its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival in April.

Following the critical success of two directorial feature debuts, Steve McQueen's Hunger and Sam Taylor Wood's Nowhere Boy, Channel 4's film production arm, Film4, is currently in the early development stage on new films with prominent British artists including the Chapman Brothers.

Channel 4 also has ambitions to significantly increase commissioning of digital arts content. Building on the successful work of Adam Gee, Commissioning Editor Cross Platform factual and arts, there is a new commitment to allocate online content spend from digital innovation fund 4iP, Channel 4 Education and the Channel 4 cross-platform commissioning fund to arts based activity. As with all its activities, Channel 4 remains committed to a partnership approach and is aiming to co-fund and collaborate with both small and large arts organisations to bring their activities to a wider audience via digital platforms, as well as acting directly as a patron to artists online.

Current projects that exemplify Channel 4's approach to digital arts include: Lost Art, an online project in partnership with Tate Media, a division of Tate, which will tell the stories of works of 20th and 21st century art that have disappeared; art that has been stolen, looted, lost, destroyed or decayed, and can only be shown virtually and Such Tweet Sorrow, an innovative initiative with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Mudlark to tell the story of one of Shakespeare's best loved plays via twitter.

Channel 4 is also looking to build on its association with major arts events such as The Turner Prize.

Jackson said: "Channel 4's approach to the arts has, for me, been the purest expression of the innovation, excellence, audacity and difference that has always set the channel apart.

Jan Younghusband is a pretty daunting act to follow but I can't wait to start working with the most interesting artists, filmmakers and distinctive new voices to define the next phase of arts on Channel 4.

Any job that allows me to call on the creative firepower of commissioners like Adam Gee and Matt Locke; and to exploit the varied tonal potential of Channel 4, More 4, and Film 4 is a job that I would sell my granny to have. Luckily for my granny I didn't have to."

Lygo added: "Channel 4 will continue to seek a distinctive approach to its arts coverage, focusing most of our activity on the vibrant contemporary arts scene in Britain today and the visual arts in particular. We want to position ourselves as both an aggregator and instigator of the most interesting and challenging art work going on across Britain today."

Tabitha Jackson biography

Tabitha Jackson has been Editor, More4 since September 2008, working closely with controller, Hamish Mykura, to commission and curate one-offs, series and seasons for the channel. In this role she has also acted as editor for the channel's flagship strand, True Stories, which showcases the best feature length documentaries from around the world, and launched the new More4 Arts strand.

Before joining More4, she worked from March 2007 as a Deputy Commissioning Editor in Channel 4's specialist factual team.

Prior to joining Channel 4, Tabitha worked as a freelance director and producer on a range of documentary projects including: The Emmy award winning Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge for PBS in the US, and, Motherland - A Genetic Journey, a 90-minute documentary by Takeaway Media for BBC2, which won the RTS award for best science programme.

Between 1994 and 2000, Tabitha worked at the BBC as a director and assistant producer. Her production credits include Timewatch, Rough Justice, Panorama and People's Century.

She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Tabitha Jackson, Commissioning Editor, Arts

• New Arts Editor has core channel budget doubled to £6m
• Cross-platform role will oversee further £3m invested in More4 and online
• Kevin Lygo to lead newly established Channel 4 arts board

Channel 4 has appointed Tabitha Jackson as Commissioning Editor, Arts, as it prepares to significantly increase its budget for arts content across its network to reinforce its credentials as the broadcast home of contemporary British arts.

Jackson, who is currently Editor of digital channel More4 and oversees its highly regarded True Stories strand and newly established More4 Arts strand, replaces Jan Younghusband, who left to join the BBC last year. She will report to Channel 4's Head of Specialist Factual, Ralph Lee.

Her appointment is intended to signal a renewed commitment to arts broadcasting in the wake of Channel 4's decision not to renew its rights deal for Big Brother post 2010.

To underline this commitment, Channel 4 is doubling its commissioning budget for arts programmes on its core channel to £6 million a year and setting up a new arts board to be chaired by Director of Television and Content, Kevin Lygo, and to include Jackson alongside representatives from cross-platform commissioning, 4iP, Channel 4 Education, marketing and Channel 4 News.

Lygo commented: "Tabitha has impressed in making True Stories one of the stand-out strands on television today despite working with limited means and has replicated this success with the recently launched More4 Arts strand. We're confident she can have a similar impact across all our arts output, helped by a significant increase in the funds at her disposal. The arts remain a litmus test for any free-to-air public service broadcaster; with the last vestiges disappearing elsewhere within mainstream commercial TV we believe this is the opportune moment to demonstrate the breadth and ambition of Channel 4's ongoing commitment to the arts."

At the centre of Channel 4's cross-platform arts strategy, the core Channel 4 service will continue to originate and showcase major arts documentary series. Commissions for 2010 include: 6 x 1 hour series, The Genius of British Art, produced by the same team at Oxford Film and Television responsible for Channel 4's The Mona Lisa Curse, which won an International Emmy, a Grierson Award and a Rose D'or; The Orchestra, a major 4 x 1 hour prime time series following the world famous Halle Orchestra as it builds a new orchestra of young musicians, demonstrating the transformative power that classical music can have on young people. And in a landmark series Young, Autistic & Stagestruck (4 x 1 hour) nine autistic children come together from across the UK to produce their very own musical show. 

More4, which is now available in 90% of homes and is the UK's seventh most popular digital TV channel, is aiming to build on its reputation for bold arts commissions like War Oratorio, Ian Mckellen's King Lear, Pinter's Birthday Party and Stanley Kubrick's Boxes. The channel has announced a major new partnership with Arts Council England, which will involve the two parties looking at the process of creativity and celebrating excellent art throughout the country, working with major artists and arts institutions. The first product of this partnership, The Royal Ballet in Cuba, made by the Ballet Boyz, aired on More4 at Christmas.

The channel has also launched a new More4 Arts strand to showcase the best arts documentaries. Films already transmitted include: Making War Horse, produced by The National Theatre's Digital Media Unit and directed by Phil Grabsky; The First Movie, directed by Mark Cousins and nominated for an RTS, and the double Emmy-award winning Autism: The Musical, acquired from HBO.

Upcoming films under the More 4 Arts umbrella include a 6 part series made by the Proudfoot Company in partnership with the Rolex Mentors and Proteges scheme. The series features world-renowned artists including Martin Scorsese, David Hockney and Jessye Norman as they mentor a young protege over the course of a year.

Also for More 4, Artangel have produced an innovative hybrid documentary film based on the life of playwright Andrea Dunbar (Rita Sue and Bob Too). The Arbor, directed by Clio Barnard, will have its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival in April.

Following the critical success of two directorial feature debuts, Steve McQueen's Hunger and Sam Taylor Wood's Nowhere Boy, Channel 4's film production arm, Film4, is currently in the early development stage on new films with prominent British artists including the Chapman Brothers.

Channel 4 also has ambitions to significantly increase commissioning of digital arts content. Building on the successful work of Adam Gee, Commissioning Editor Cross Platform factual and arts, there is a new commitment to allocate online content spend from digital innovation fund 4iP, Channel 4 Education and the Channel 4 cross-platform commissioning fund to arts based activity. As with all its activities, Channel 4 remains committed to a partnership approach and is aiming to co-fund and collaborate with both small and large arts organisations to bring their activities to a wider audience via digital platforms, as well as acting directly as a patron to artists online.

Current projects that exemplify Channel 4's approach to digital arts include: Lost Art, an online project in partnership with Tate Media, a division of Tate, which will tell the stories of works of 20th and 21st century art that have disappeared; art that has been stolen, looted, lost, destroyed or decayed, and can only be shown virtually and Such Tweet Sorrow, an innovative initiative with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Mudlark to tell the story of one of Shakespeare's best loved plays via twitter.

Channel 4 is also looking to build on its association with major arts events such as The Turner Prize.

Jackson said: "Channel 4's approach to the arts has, for me, been the purest expression of the innovation, excellence, audacity and difference that has always set the channel apart.

Jan Younghusband is a pretty daunting act to follow but I can't wait to start working with the most interesting artists, filmmakers and distinctive new voices to define the next phase of arts on Channel 4.

Any job that allows me to call on the creative firepower of commissioners like Adam Gee and Matt Locke; and to exploit the varied tonal potential of Channel 4, More 4, and Film 4 is a job that I would sell my granny to have. Luckily for my granny I didn't have to."

Lygo added: "Channel 4 will continue to seek a distinctive approach to its arts coverage, focusing most of our activity on the vibrant contemporary arts scene in Britain today and the visual arts in particular. We want to position ourselves as both an aggregator and instigator of the most interesting and challenging art work going on across Britain today."

Tabitha Jackson biography

Tabitha Jackson has been Editor, More4 since September 2008, working closely with controller, Hamish Mykura, to commission and curate one-offs, series and seasons for the channel. In this role she has also acted as editor for the channel's flagship strand, True Stories, which showcases the best feature length documentaries from around the world, and launched the new More4 Arts strand.

Before joining More4, she worked from March 2007 as a Deputy Commissioning Editor in Channel 4's specialist factual team.

Prior to joining Channel 4, Tabitha worked as a freelance director and producer on a range of documentary projects including: The Emmy award winning Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge for PBS in the US, and, Motherland - A Genetic Journey, a 90-minute documentary by Takeaway Media for BBC2, which won the RTS award for best science programme.

Between 1994 and 2000, Tabitha worked at the BBC as a director and assistant producer. Her production credits include Timewatch, Rough Justice, Panorama and People's Century.

She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Tabitha Jackson, Commissioning Editor, Arts

• New Arts Editor has core channel budget doubled to £6m
• Cross-platform role will oversee further £3m invested in More4 and online
• Kevin Lygo to lead newly established Channel 4 arts board

Channel 4 has appointed Tabitha Jackson as Commissioning Editor, Arts, as it prepares to significantly increase its budget for arts content across its network to reinforce its credentials as the broadcast home of contemporary British arts.

Jackson, who is currently Editor of digital channel More4 and oversees its highly regarded True Stories strand and newly established More4 Arts strand, replaces Jan Younghusband, who left to join the BBC last year. She will report to Channel 4's Head of Specialist Factual, Ralph Lee.

Her appointment is intended to signal a renewed commitment to arts broadcasting in the wake of Channel 4's decision not to renew its rights deal for Big Brother post 2010.

To underline this commitment, Channel 4 is doubling its commissioning budget for arts programmes on its core channel to £6 million a year and setting up a new arts board to be chaired by Director of Television and Content, Kevin Lygo, and to include Jackson alongside representatives from cross-platform commissioning, 4iP, Channel 4 Education, marketing and Channel 4 News.

Lygo commented: "Tabitha has impressed in making True Stories one of the stand-out strands on television today despite working with limited means and has replicated this success with the recently launched More4 Arts strand. We're confident she can have a similar impact across all our arts output, helped by a significant increase in the funds at her disposal. The arts remain a litmus test for any free-to-air public service broadcaster; with the last vestiges disappearing elsewhere within mainstream commercial TV we believe this is the opportune moment to demonstrate the breadth and ambition of Channel 4's ongoing commitment to the arts."

At the centre of Channel 4's cross-platform arts strategy, the core Channel 4 service will continue to originate and showcase major arts documentary series. Commissions for 2010 include: 6 x 1 hour series, The Genius of British Art, produced by the same team at Oxford Film and Television responsible for Channel 4's The Mona Lisa Curse, which won an International Emmy, a Grierson Award and a Rose D'or; The Orchestra, a major 4 x 1 hour prime time series following the world famous Halle Orchestra as it builds a new orchestra of young musicians, demonstrating the transformative power that classical music can have on young people. And in a landmark series Young, Autistic & Stagestruck (4 x 1 hour) nine autistic children come together from across the UK to produce their very own musical show. 

More4, which is now available in 90% of homes and is the UK's seventh most popular digital TV channel, is aiming to build on its reputation for bold arts commissions like War Oratorio, Ian Mckellen's King Lear, Pinter's Birthday Party and Stanley Kubrick's Boxes. The channel has announced a major new partnership with Arts Council England, which will involve the two parties looking at the process of creativity and celebrating excellent art throughout the country, working with major artists and arts institutions. The first product of this partnership, The Royal Ballet in Cuba, made by the Ballet Boyz, aired on More4 at Christmas.

The channel has also launched a new More4 Arts strand to showcase the best arts documentaries. Films already transmitted include: Making War Horse, produced by The National Theatre's Digital Media Unit and directed by Phil Grabsky; The First Movie, directed by Mark Cousins and nominated for an RTS, and the double Emmy-award winning Autism: The Musical, acquired from HBO.

Upcoming films under the More 4 Arts umbrella include a 6 part series made by the Proudfoot Company in partnership with the Rolex Mentors and Proteges scheme. The series features world-renowned artists including Martin Scorsese, David Hockney and Jessye Norman as they mentor a young protege over the course of a year.

Also for More 4, Artangel have produced an innovative hybrid documentary film based on the life of playwright Andrea Dunbar (Rita Sue and Bob Too). The Arbor, directed by Clio Barnard, will have its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival in April.

Following the critical success of two directorial feature debuts, Steve McQueen's Hunger and Sam Taylor Wood's Nowhere Boy, Channel 4's film production arm, Film4, is currently in the early development stage on new films with prominent British artists including the Chapman Brothers.

Channel 4 also has ambitions to significantly increase commissioning of digital arts content. Building on the successful work of Adam Gee, Commissioning Editor Cross Platform factual and arts, there is a new commitment to allocate online content spend from digital innovation fund 4iP, Channel 4 Education and the Channel 4 cross-platform commissioning fund to arts based activity. As with all its activities, Channel 4 remains committed to a partnership approach and is aiming to co-fund and collaborate with both small and large arts organisations to bring their activities to a wider audience via digital platforms, as well as acting directly as a patron to artists online.

Current projects that exemplify Channel 4's approach to digital arts include: Lost Art, an online project in partnership with Tate Media, a division of Tate, which will tell the stories of works of 20th and 21st century art that have disappeared; art that has been stolen, looted, lost, destroyed or decayed, and can only be shown virtually and Such Tweet Sorrow, an innovative initiative with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Mudlark to tell the story of one of Shakespeare's best loved plays via twitter.

Channel 4 is also looking to build on its association with major arts events such as The Turner Prize.

Jackson said: "Channel 4's approach to the arts has, for me, been the purest expression of the innovation, excellence, audacity and difference that has always set the channel apart.

Jan Younghusband is a pretty daunting act to follow but I can't wait to start working with the most interesting artists, filmmakers and distinctive new voices to define the next phase of arts on Channel 4.

Any job that allows me to call on the creative firepower of commissioners like Adam Gee and Matt Locke; and to exploit the varied tonal potential of Channel 4, More 4, and Film 4 is a job that I would sell my granny to have. Luckily for my granny I didn't have to."

Lygo added: "Channel 4 will continue to seek a distinctive approach to its arts coverage, focusing most of our activity on the vibrant contemporary arts scene in Britain today and the visual arts in particular. We want to position ourselves as both an aggregator and instigator of the most interesting and challenging art work going on across Britain today."

Tabitha Jackson biography

Tabitha Jackson has been Editor, More4 since September 2008, working closely with controller, Hamish Mykura, to commission and curate one-offs, series and seasons for the channel. In this role she has also acted as editor for the channel's flagship strand, True Stories, which showcases the best feature length documentaries from around the world, and launched the new More4 Arts strand.

Before joining More4, she worked from March 2007 as a Deputy Commissioning Editor in Channel 4's specialist factual team.

Prior to joining Channel 4, Tabitha worked as a freelance director and producer on a range of documentary projects including: The Emmy award winning Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge for PBS in the US, and, Motherland - A Genetic Journey, a 90-minute documentary by Takeaway Media for BBC2, which won the RTS award for best science programme.

Between 1994 and 2000, Tabitha worked at the BBC as a director and assistant producer. Her production credits include Timewatch, Rough Justice, Panorama and People's Century.

She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Tabitha Jackson, Commissioning Editor, Arts

• New Arts Editor has core channel budget doubled to £6m
• Cross-platform role will oversee further £3m invested in More4 and online
• Kevin Lygo to lead newly established Channel 4 arts board

Channel 4 has appointed Tabitha Jackson as Commissioning Editor, Arts, as it prepares to significantly increase its budget for arts content across its network to reinforce its credentials as the broadcast home of contemporary British arts.

Jackson, who is currently Editor of digital channel More4 and oversees its highly regarded True Stories strand and newly established More4 Arts strand, replaces Jan Younghusband, who left to join the BBC last year. She will report to Channel 4's Head of Specialist Factual, Ralph Lee.

Her appointment is intended to signal a renewed commitment to arts broadcasting in the wake of Channel 4's decision not to renew its rights deal for Big Brother post 2010.

To underline this commitment, Channel 4 is doubling its commissioning budget for arts programmes on its core channel to £6 million a year and setting up a new arts board to be chaired by Director of Television and Content, Kevin Lygo, and to include Jackson alongside representatives from cross-platform commissioning, 4iP, Channel 4 Education, marketing and Channel 4 News.

Lygo commented: "Tabitha has impressed in making True Stories one of the stand-out strands on television today despite working with limited means and has replicated this success with the recently launched More4 Arts strand. We're confident she can have a similar impact across all our arts output, helped by a significant increase in the funds at her disposal. The arts remain a litmus test for any free-to-air public service broadcaster; with the last vestiges disappearing elsewhere within mainstream commercial TV we believe this is the opportune moment to demonstrate the breadth and ambition of Channel 4's ongoing commitment to the arts."

At the centre of Channel 4's cross-platform arts strategy, the core Channel 4 service will continue to originate and showcase major arts documentary series. Commissions for 2010 include: 6 x 1 hour series, The Genius of British Art, produced by the same team at Oxford Film and Television responsible for Channel 4's The Mona Lisa Curse, which won an International Emmy, a Grierson Award and a Rose D'or; The Orchestra, a major 4 x 1 hour prime time series following the world famous Halle Orchestra as it builds a new orchestra of young musicians, demonstrating the transformative power that classical music can have on young people. And in a landmark series Young, Autistic & Stagestruck (4 x 1 hour) nine autistic children come together from across the UK to produce their very own musical show. 

More4, which is now available in 90% of homes and is the UK's seventh most popular digital TV channel, is aiming to build on its reputation for bold arts commissions like War Oratorio, Ian Mckellen's King Lear, Pinter's Birthday Party and Stanley Kubrick's Boxes. The channel has announced a major new partnership with Arts Council England, which will involve the two parties looking at the process of creativity and celebrating excellent art throughout the country, working with major artists and arts institutions. The first product of this partnership, The Royal Ballet in Cuba, made by the Ballet Boyz, aired on More4 at Christmas.