Call for proposals

The Digital Research and Development Fund for Arts and Culture, Scotland is a partnership between Creative Scotland, Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and NESTA to support arts and cultural organisations across Scotland who want to work with digital technologies to expand their audience reach and engagement and/or explore new business models.

A key element of the £500,000 Fund is supporting collaborative partnerships between arts and cultural organisations and technology providers; and to provide a body of rich research evidence, data and case studies that inspires and supports the capacity of the wider arts and cultural sector to innovate.

We are now inviting arts and cultural organisations in Scotland to submit projects which test digital propositions around audience reach and engagement and new business models. Please do read on before applying.

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We will run two calls for the Fund, in Spring 2012 and Autumn 2012 - the first call is now open for application. If you are interested in applying, we would recommend coming along to one of our Digital Days  in March, to find out more about this Fund.

This Fund is part of Creative Scotland's portfolio of digital initiatives to support the arts and cultural sector in Scotland - we will link to these initiatives when they launch during 2012.

What types of projects are we looking for?

• Innovative digital projects which will expand audience reach and engagement and/or to develop new business models
• Proposals from all sizes of arts and cultural organisations in Scotland - we have 2 award levels of projects: 1) under £25,000 and 2) £25,000-£100,000 (both levels available at both application calls in spring and autumn 2012)   
• Collaborations between arts and cultural organisations, technology providers and where possible, other cultural/arts organisations.

Eligibility and Selection Criteria

To apply to the Digital Research & Development Fund for Arts and Culture, Scotland, you must be:

1) An arts and cultural organisation* based in Scotland - which is either predominately publically funded and/or is a registered charity and who wants to work with digital technologies to:

• expand its audience reach and engagement* and/or
• explore new business models*

*Please see our definitions of these terms here

2) Your proposal must involve a collaborative partnership between yourself as an arts and cultural organisation and a technology provider (by which we mean any creative, media or technology company including other arts and cultural organisations with relevant technology know-how) that can provide technology services to arts and cultural organisations.

3) Your proposal must fall under one or more of the fund themes - 1) expand audience reach and engagement; 2) explore new business models. We ran a Google Moderator poll and the following areas were highlighted of interest to the sector: 

• Digital content distribution - delivering content in new ways
• Social media - using technology for interactive engagement
• Making the most of archives through digital technology
• Mobile and location-based services
• Fundraising - using technology to generate giving, sponsorship and membership
• Connecting thinkers with doers: methodologies for emergent collaboration

Your proposal doesn't need to fall exclusively into one of these categories; we will accept ideas which encompass audience reach and new business models.

For details on the full Fund selection criteria, see here and see our FAQs if you need more information.

Research

We have launched a separate Expressions of Interest (EoI) call for research teams who will be appointed by NESTA, Creative Scotland and AHRC - they will assist Fund recipient organisations to refine the research and development aspects of their projects into propositions that can be tested.

The research teams will then work with the organisations to extract lessons and transferable insights and provide a rich body of evidence, data and information delivering a variety of research outputs that aim to inspire and support the innovation capacity of the wider arts and culture sector.

Find out more about this call here

Digital Days

The digital day events are a series of half day events run across Scotland, which aim to:

• provide information on the Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture, Scotland
• encourage new partnerships and collaborations between arts and cultural organisations and technology companies
• inform participants about opportunities of using digital technologies

Who should attend? 

These sessions are open to all interested organisations and will be on a first come, first served basis. They are suited to people working in senior roles and especially those who work on planning or producing digital content. This event is also suitable for technology companies who are interested in working with the Arts sector. To register for one of these events, please click your preferred date below.

You do not need to attend an event to begin talking to technology providers or to send us an application, but we think you would benefit from the information that will be shared at the event and would encourage you to attend one event.

The digital days will be held in Perth on 6 March 2012; Glasgow on 14 March 2012; and Edinburgh on 16 March 2012. To attend the digital days you will need to click on the links below to register:

• Perth
• Glasgow
• Edinburgh

Digital R&D Scotland Fund Timetable

• 6 March 2012 - Digital Day: Perth (12.45pm-5pm)
• 14 March 2012 - Digital Day: Glasgow (12.45pm-5pm)
• 16 March 2012 - Digital Day: Edinburgh (12.45pm-5pm)
• 25 April 2012 - Deadline for applications
• 14 May 2012 - Organisations informed of funding decisions
• 1 June 2012 - One day collaborative workshop bringing together successful organisations
• 31 March 2013 - All project activity must be completed

Please make sure you read and agree with the Fund Terms and Conditions, before completing the Application Form, the FAQs should answer any questions you have.

Your application will be assessed on the following Selection criteria. Please see the Eligibility and Selection Criteria for a full breakdown of the following criteria:

• Proposition
• Project research and learning /Wider impact
• Collaboration
• Project delivery
• Finance

The closing date for applications is Wednesday 25 April 2012, 12noon. All Fund decisions will be made and applicants will be notified by Monday 14 May 2012.

Applications for the Second Call for Ideas will open Autumn 2012 - please check back then for full details and timetable.

If this page and associated content haven't answered your queries, please contact us at rndscotland@nesta.org.uk