WIREDGOV

Eight pioneering projects that will harness digital technologies for the benefit of the arts and cultural sector have been selected to receive funding from the Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture, run by Arts Council England, the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and NESTA.

Following the launch of the £0.5 million fund in early June, 495 projects applied for a total of £28.5 million worth of funding. 18 projects were shortlisted and interviewed before eight were selected to receive funding. The successful organisations are:

• Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) working with Videojuicer and The Arts Collective (£75,920)
• Exhibition Road Cultural Group working with the Dickens Museum and Seren Partners (£70,200)
• Imperial War Museum (IWM) with Knowledge Integration and University College, London (£84,500)
• London Symphony Orchestra with Aurora Orchestra and Kodime (£67,270)
• New Art Exchange with Artfinder (£54,000)
• Punchdrunk with MIT Media Lab (£80,120)
• The Sage Gateshead plus partners with Videojuicer and Aframe (£57,397)
• Site gallery working with Lighthouse and Caper (£80,000)

You can find out more about the individual projects on our Digital R&D fund projects page.

Alan Davey, Chief Executive, Arts Council England, said: 'I'm really pleased by the imaginative ideas that organisations put forward for this fund, even though this has meant that we've had some very tough decisions to make. Each of these successful projects shows incredible creativity in embracing technology and partnering with technology organisations in new and exciting ways. There's lots to learn in this area, and these projects will bring many valuable insights for all arts organisations. I look forward to seeing how they progress in bringing more arts experiences to more people across the country.'

The Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture aims to support arts and cultural organisations to work with those with digital expertise to understand the potential offered by new technologies.

Culture Minister Ed Vaizey said: 'There is a huge amount of scope for bringing the innovative use of technology into cultural organisations and today's announcement unveils an exciting range of proposals. The number of applications for funding shows there is a tremendous appetite in the sector for digital innovation, with some very impressive and forward-thinking ideas emerging. It is great to see the cultural sector looking forward and striving to be at the forefront of digital innovation.'

The selected projects will be undertaken over the next 12 months and each will be rigorously evaluated to produce new data and research insights that can be shared with, and benefit, other organisations in the arts and culture sector.