Digital R&D programme
On 7 June 2011 Arts Council England, the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) announced a new £500,000 Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture, for projects that harness digital technologies to connect with wider audiences and explore new ways of working.
At total of 495 applications were received for the Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture and the successful eight projects were chosen from a shortlist of 18.
Find out more about the successful projects here.
Background information about the fund
Arts and cultural organisations were asked to work with those with digital expertise to help them understand the potential offered by new technologies and together develop innovative project proposals for submission to this new research fund.
The project proposals had to address one or more of the following six key areas:
- 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 - using digital technologies to deliver artistic and cultural experiences and content in new ways
- 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 and cultural organisations and the general public
- Resources - using digital technologies to improve the way in which arts and cultural 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 and cultural sector professionals
