Arts Council England, the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) have announced the Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture, a new £500,000 fund for projects that will harness digital technologies to connect with wider audiences and explore new ways of working. This follows a speech by Culture Minister Ed Vaizey at the National Theatre in January, calling for cultural organisations to embrace new technologies and the opportunities they offer.
Arts and cultural organisations are being asked to work with those with digital expertise to help them understand the potential offered by new technologies and together develop innovative project proposals for submission to the new research fund.
It is hoped that the research and development projects, supported by the Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture, will have the potential to produce new data and research insights that can be shared with, and benefit, other organisations in the arts and culture sector.
Hasan Bakhshi, director of creative industries in NESTA’s policy and research unit, says: ‘The rapid development of digital technologies opens up exciting new opportunities for the UK’s world-renowned arts and culture sector. Through this programme we hope to explore what these opportunities are, and rigorously assess them to understand how these technologies can benefit the wider sector.’
Alan Davey, Chief Executive, Arts Council England, said: ‘Through projects like the National Theatre’s NT Live and the RSC’s ‘Such Tweet Sorrow’ we’ve already seen the massive potential art and technology partnerships have to transform the way people connect with the arts.
‘How the cultural sectors engage with emerging and existing digital technologies in the next few years will have far reaching effects on our creative, social and economic lives, as artists and audience members.
‘This fund is a golden opportunity for cultural organisations to partner with technical experts, get to grips with the detail, and reap rich rewards. I’m excited to see the ideas they come up with.’
Professor Rick Rylance, Chief Executive of the AHRC, says: ‘We’re delighted to be collaborating with NESTA and the Arts Council on this exciting initiative. Digital technologies are manifestly altering our world. We can only glimpse their potential for the performing arts and the transformations they might bring. So we keenly need research. This project offers arts and humanities researchers the chance to work collaboratively with arts organisations and cutting-edge technologists to look into a future that might well be present almost before we know it.’
Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Communications, and the Creative Industries, says: ‘I’m delighted to see NESTA, AHRC and the Arts Council collaborating in such a vital area. Our lives are increasingly defined by how we engage and interact with the world digitally and cultural organisations can’t afford to be left behind. Too often finances, structures or traditions can constrain the arts from making best use of the technology which now sits at the heart of many people’s everyday lives. This programme seeks to show how digital technology can revolutionise our cultural engagement, helping people to derive greater value from cultural activities and to find new ways to generate income. I look forward to seeing the innovative and exciting ideas put forward.’
The call for applications follows a scoping exercise with the sector to determine the areas and themes of most importance. This exercise revealed several themes that the sector is keen to explore and proposals are sought in the following six areas: user-generated content and social media; distribution; mobile, location and games; data; resources and education & learning*.
Organisations that are eligible to apply to the programme include visual and performing arts organisations, cultural organisations in England including arts and cultural archives, literary organisations, museums and galleries, libraries, commercial arts and cultural organisations and creative industry businesses (where the funded activity is self-contained and has a clear benefit to the public).
Applications from arts and cultural organisations are invited from today (Tuesday 7 June) until Friday 2 September 2011. Following interviews with shortlisted applicants, successful applications will be announced in October.
For further information and to submit an application, visit www.nesta.org.uk, www.artscouncil.org.uk or www.ahrc.ac.uk.
Picture caption: Compton Skyline Project, Brighton, 2006 by Matthew Andrews
