Technology partnerships between Scottish arts and culture asked to apply for funding to test innovation

26/9/12

- Second call for entries to the £500,000 Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture in Scotland

The £500,000 Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture in Scotland has opened for its second-round of applications to connect Scottish arts and culture organisations with technology providers. The fund, which has already provided support for six Scottish organisations this year, aims to harness digital technologies to reach wider audiences and develop new ways of working with the arts.

Through the fund, arts and cultural organisations of all sizes from across Scotland are being encouraged to work with technology providers to discover the potential for digital technology to increase their audience and revenues, generate sponsorship, membership and new forms of giving. The fund is a partnership between Nesta, Creative Scotland and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). 

In the first round of funding earlier this year, the fund supported six innovative projects from organisations including the National Piping School in Glasgow, Dundee Contemporary Arts and An Iodhlann on the Isle of Tiree.  All the projects funded in the first round demonstrated the massive potential for Scottish cultural organisations to innovate in order to increase their audiences and revenues, as well as to produce new data and research insights that can be shared with, and benefit, other organisations in the arts and culture sector.

Jackie McKenzie, Head of Innovation Programmes in Scotland for Nesta said: "The projects supported by the Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture in Scotland has so far have demonstrated the exciting new opportunities for Scotland's world-renowned arts and culture sector to reach new audiences and develop new models to reach wider audiences.  Technology offers the potential for Scottish cultural organisations to expand their reach to a global audience, providing additional support for organisations and helping learn lessons that can be shared with the whole sector to develop and grow in Scotland. We are looking forward to receiving more high calibre applications in this second round."

Iain Munro, Director of Creative Development at Creative Scotland, said: "Digital technologies can revolutionise cultural engagement, allowing organisations to share their work and promote activity to worldwide audiences.  The projects selected in the first round are already demonstrating the benefits for arts and cultural organisations engaging with technology companies. We look forward to seeing a fresh round of ideas, innovations and approaches to collaborative working, each making a valuable contribution to Scotland's arts sector and growing the cultural economy."

Chief Executive of the AHRC Professor Rick Rylance said: "We live in exciting times as we discover more about the interactions between the new digital technologies and the arts and the potential for innovation they bring. This joint project will enable us to understand these opportunities more fully and encourage their realisation.  We are delighted to be working once more with Nesta and Creative Scotland in this area."

Applications to the Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture in Scotland are invited from all sizes of arts and cultural organisation based in Scotland from today (Wednesday 26 September) until 1 February 2013.  To be eligible, organisations must be either predominately publically funded and/or registered charities and want to work with digital technologies.  

For further information and to submit an application, visit http://www.nesta.org.uk/digital_rnd_scotland.

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Notes to editors:

For more information, please contact:

Nesta:  Graeme Downie 07595 710 856 / graeme.downie@nesta.org.uk

Creative Scotland:  Michelle Jordan 0131 523 0016 / michelle.jordan@creativescotland.com

AHRC: Danielle Moore-Chick / D.Moore-Chick@ahrc.ac.uk

About the Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture in Scotland

The first call for ideas for the Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture in Scotland was launched on 17 January 2012 and the first awardees were announced on 1 June 2012.

The project is jointly funded by Nesta, Creative Scotland and AHRC.  All submissions are judged by a panel involving the funders and independent technology experts. 

The first round of projects, announced on 1 June 2012 were: 

• The National Piping Centre - they are developing an online portal to deliver high quality bagpipe tuition using webinar technology and streaming services that will allow remote teaching to anywhere in the world.
• An Iodhlann - the local community is using existing local archives to create mobile experiences for visitors to the Isle of Tiree, including solutions to overcome local difficulties of poor mobile reception.
• Lyceum Theatre - working with local partners (The Filmhouse, Traverse Theatre and Usher Hall), this project is creating a new shared online and mobile-based marketing programme, particularly designed for cross-selling between venues and targeting young adults and students.
• Dundee Contemporary Arts - working with two Scottish 'digital toy' experts , DCA is embedding technologists within the organisation and give them freedom to work to improve experiences of both staff and visitors through "gamifying" the process which they use to support increasing engagement with audiences, experimentation and developing dynamic ticketing models.
• National Galleries of Scotland - this project is building an app called "Art Hunter", a free, multi-platform mobile app to drive people to see more art in Scotland.  Aimed at both art lovers and new audiences, each month a hand-curated, themed selection of ten "must see" artworks will be published through the App.  Users will then be able to visit the artworks and register the fact by scanning a barcode displayed with the work.  This will tick the item off their list and unlock extra content which could include super high resolution images, video, hidden details or links to other works.  
• Glasgow Film Theatre - is exploring new business models through the use of digital technology to expand audience reach and engagement through cinema curated Video on Demand (VoD) using the "Day and Date" business model by releasing a slate of six different films. 

Organisations based in England, please see the affiliate programme the Digital R&D Fund for the Arts (http://www.artsdigitalrnd.org.uk/content/about-digital-rd-fund).

About Nesta: http://www.nesta.org.uk 

Nesta is the UK's innovation foundation. We help people and organisations bring great ideas to life. We do this by providing investments and grants and mobilising research, networks and skills. We are an independent charity and our work is enabled by an endowment from the National Lottery.

Nesta Operating Company is a registered charity in England and Wales with a company number 7706036 and charity number 1144091. Registered as a charity in Scotland number SC042833. Registered office: 1 Plough Place, London, EC4A 1DE

About Creative Scotland

Creative Scotland is the national leader for Scotland's arts, screen and creative industries. It's our job to help Scotland's creativity shine at home and abroad. We invest in talented people and exciting ideas. We develop the creative industries and champion everything that's good about Scottish creativity.

Scotland boasts an incredible range of talent, from award-winning directors and writers to widely recognised actors and internationally renowned visual artists, architects and digital companies. As a result of the wealth of indigenous talent, Scotland produces a huge volume of home-grown productions and products each year.

We think Scotland's arts, screen and creative industries are worth shouting about. We'll lead the shouting.

This is part of a £1.5m Cultural Economy / Digital Programme. Further announcements will follow shortly.

For more information on the other parts of Creative Scotland's Cultural Economy Investment Programme go to http://www.creativescotland.com/investment/investment-programmes/cultural-economy

About AHRC

The Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC): Each year the AHRC provides approximately £100 million from the Government to support research and postgraduate study in the arts and humanities, from languages and law, archaeology and English literature to design and creative and performing arts. In any one year, the AHRC makes approximately 700 research awards and around 1,100 postgraduate awards. Awards are made after a rigorous peer review process, to ensure that only applications of the highest quality are funded. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK.

http://www.ahrc.ac.uk