Sector News

New Digital Research and Development Fund for the Arts

A new £7m Digital Research and Development Fund for the Arts has been launched by Arts Council England, NESTA and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The Fund has been designed to support a range of innovation projects with key themes, one of which is education and learning.

Posted: 10/03/2022


The fund will support research and development projects that use digital technology to enhance audience reach and/or explore new business models for organisations with arts projects.

The fund is open for application 2012-15. Organisations with arts projects, Technology providers and Researchers or research teams are invited to form collaborative relationships and make joint funding applications.

It is expected that the fund will support approximately 90 research and development collaborations. Projects will be funded up to a value of £125,000.

The Digital R&D Fund for the Arts has been designed to accommodate a range of innovation projects which will include key themes identified in collaboration with the arts sector:

  • User generated content and social media: harnessing the power of the internet and social media to reach audiences and to give them a platform for discussion, participation and creativity
  • Distribution and exhibition: using digital technologies to deliver artistic experiences and content in new ways in online and place based environments, including exploring international distribution and exhibition
  • Mobile, location and games: developing a new generation of mobile and location-based experiences and services, including games
  • Data and archives: making archives, collections and other data more widely available to other arts organisations and the general public
  • Resources: using digital technologies to improve the way in which arts organisations are run including business efficiency and income generation and the way in which they collaborate with each other
  • Education and learning: developing interactive education and learning resources for children, teachers, young people, adult learners and arts sector professionals

These thematic areas will be reviewed during the life of the fund and new ones may be added.

The application process will have two stages: a call for expressions
of interest and a final application stage. Expressions of interest will
be accepted continuously throughout the first two years of the fund.

More
information on the application process, including key eligibility
criteria, can be found on the Digital R&D Fund for the Arts website.


"Just to say a huge thanks ... I am looking forward to progressing with this project thanks to your support, advice and guidance"

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