The Digital R&D Fund for the Arts has selected the final five projects set to receive support from the £7 million programme.

The chosen ideas follow in the footsteps of the 47 projects previously assisted by the fund, each one seeking to promote an innovative and engaging use of technology in the arts sector to expand audience reach or explore new business models.

These projects, to be supported over a year of collaborative R&D, will target a range challenges facing the culture sector, from access to interactivity. For example, the Hidden Museum project will use iBeacons to provide location-specific information to visitors of Bristol’s Museums, Galleries and Archives, whilst 360 Degrees will experiment with pop up 360° venues, opening up access to interactive art for people of restricted mobility.

Since 2012, Nesta, Arts Council England and AHRC have collaborated closely in support of a wide variety of cultural organisations and institutions, sharing in a mission to bring digital technology to the heart of innovation in the arts.

Nesta’s Emma Quinn congratulated the chosen projects for the “valuable lessons” they could provide for the cultural industries, adding that the Fund had now received over 500 applications, demonstrative of a sector beginning to recognise the potential benefits of an “increasingly experimental approach” towards R&D.

The projects will now begin a 12 month journey to test, improve and implement their ideas across the country. Reflections on the impact and findings of the first phase of projects will be available on Native, the programme’s learning site, later this year.

For more information on aims and achievements of the Digital R&D Fund for the Arts, visit the project page.