Call for proposals

The deadline has now passed for the first call for proposals to Nesta's Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture, Scotland. All applicants will be notified of the selection panel funding decisions by 14 May 2012. Please see the timetable below for further dates.

Nesta will launch the second call for Fund proposals in Autumn 2012, with further digital day events running at this time. The deadline for the second call will be in January 2013 - dates to be announced.

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 invited arts and cultural organisations in Scotland to submit projects which test digital propositions around audience reach and engagement and new business models.

This Fund is part of Creative Scotland's portfolioof 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.

Digital Days

NESTA ran a series of Digital Day events across Scotland aimed at arts and cultural organisations and digital providers to provide information on the Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture Scotland and encourage new collaborations between arts and cultural organisations and technology companies. We have made all presentations from the day available here and as participants were keen to share information to encourage collaboration between organisations, their contact details can also be found on this page.

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

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

• Proposition

• Project research and learning /Wider impact

• Collaboration

• Project delivery

• Finance

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