Arts Council announces £40,000 National Lottery funding to support the creation of digital art

The funding is part of the Arts Council’s Organisations Digital Evolution Awards, a programme which aims to support those making digital art for the first time or are working with digital or immersive technology which they have not used previously. Among those offered up to £10,000 each of National Lottery funding are Prime Cut Productions, Disability Action (who will collaborate with Big Telly Theatre Company), Belfast Photo Festival and Digital Arts Studios.

Roisin McDonough, Chief Executive, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, commented,

“Today’s announcement is welcome news and I congratulate all of the organisations involved. Thanks to The National Lottery, this programme will support the creation of art using digital and immersive technologies, and will help organisations to develop skills in the use of new technologies. The Organisations Digital Evolution Awards reflects the Arts Council’s commitment to encouraging innovative practices that cross art form boundaries and build digital capabilities within the Northern Ireland arts sector and I look forward to experiencing these exciting new projects as they develop.”

Among those offered funding through the Organisations Digital Evolution Awards are:

Prime Cut Productions
Funding amount offered: £10,000
Prime Cut Productions will use their funding to build upon their highly acclaimed At Arms Length Theatre In Education Project by working with five primary schools across north, south, east, and west Belfast, to develop a new live/digital hybrid show aimed at Key Stage 2 students – specifically Year 7, with the aim of exploring and encouraging an appreciation of diversity across our society.

Disability Action and Big Telly Theatre Company
Funding amount offered: £10,000
Disability Action and Big Telly Theatre Company will deliver a live multi-sensory immersive theatre experience for and by people with diverse disabilities entitled Unapologetic Adventures. This experience will incorporate an ambitious digital AI framework to promote the co-creation of content, with and between d/Deaf and disabled people, to deliver a multi-sensory live experience. The performance will incorporate both physical and remote audiences who will influence the performance narrative by making choices which will influence the experience of the performance.

Belfast Photo Festival
Funding amount offered: £9,985
Belfast Photo Festival (BPF) will partner with Visual Spectrum Studios (VSS) to facilitate the creation of new digital art for showcasing to the arts sector and audiences, both online and offline, at the 2023 Capture Conference. Involving joint learning between BPF and selected visual artists, VSS will increase access to digital art creation by removing the high financial barrier to entry, providing training, equipment and studios for participants to research, experiment, and develop a range of new digital artworks both for the first time and using technology they have not used before including AI Driven Machine Learning, Motion Capture(MOCAP), Data Capture and Virtual Reality.

Digital Arts Studios (DAS)
Funding amount offered: £9,918
DAS will use their funding to further develop its Future Labs Programme into a dedicated foundation residency, which will support new or emerging artists to produce new digital art. The aims of the residencies are to provide a substantial period for learning in a range of digital technologies, to improve the digital skills of the participants, to update knowledge and to boost confidence in the production of digital art. The new digital art produced will be showcased in a significant public exhibition in the future.

A second strand of the project will see DAS adding another branch to the Future Labs programme by providing skills development for their staff. This advanced aspect of the project will encompass a period of research and dedicated training in new and emerging technologies. The aims are to improve the skills, update knowledge and boost the confidence of DAS staff via training with industry professionals, beginning with a tour and demonstration of Digital Catapult’s Immersive Lab.

The Organisations Digital Evolution Awards scheme is now closed with all available funding allocated. For details on all Arts Council funding opportunities visit www.artscouncil-ni.org/funding