Six inspiring creative tech projects ranging from a digital classical musical assistant to art made with an accessible robotic drawing machine have received grants from a Bath-based fund.
The Studio Recovery Fund was set up last year to financially support freelancers, micro-businesses and third sector organisations in the creative tech sector.
Supported by Bath Spa University’s Centre for Cultural and Creative Industries (CCCI), the fund has awarded a total of £25,000 this year, with individual projects receiving between £1,000 and £5,000.
The diverse range of recipients – all based in Bath and North East Somerset – were selected for the way they push boundaries and use creativity and technology to impact different communities and audiences.
As well as the musical assistant and robotic drawing machine they also include a scheme to map and connect of the creative ecology of Bath, a family-friendly Web 3.0 game using NFTs (non-fungible tokens), the development of an international multi-disciplinary festival, and the next steps for a virtual dance interface for the visually impaired.
The fund is managed by Bath Spa University’s city-centre research and innovation hub The Studio in Bath, which will host a showcase of the projects at a free event on 22 September.
The fund also fits in with the recovery ambitions of the West of England Combined Authority, which include rebuilding business, helping new and existing businesses to survive and thrive and promoting a green recovery that uses changes in behaviour brought about by the pandemic to accelerate transition to net zero carbon.
The six projects are:
Nat Al-Tahhan, Gimme Gargoyles. Serving as a bridge experience between Web 2.0 and Web 3.0, this project will develop Gimme Gargoyles – a browser game full of mini-games and activities, and a fun, family-friendly way to introduce the idea of ethical use of NFTs.
Emma Pauncefort and Phil D Hall, CRD Records and Elzware. Aiming to make classical music more accessible and discoverable, this project will create and test a prototype of the world’s first classical music discovery assistant as a collaboration between CRD Records and conversational AI company Elzware.
Joseph Wilk, Poetic Computation. By using a new custom-built robotic drawing machine called a pen plotter, Joseph will experiment and develop larger paint-based canvas work for exhibition as well as running workshops, particularly for people with disabilities, providing an accessible tool to the Bath and Bristol community to use in the creative exploration of code.
Scarlett Mosnier, Fringe Arts Bath. Expanding the reach, creative impact, and sustainability of Fringe Arts Bath is at the heart of the project, by enabling the engagement of international curators and artists through innovative tech, and the development of a business plan and future funding strategy.
Silvia Carderelli-Gronau, Sonic Dancer. This project will research and develop new user interfaces and approaches to support access to Sonic Dancer, a tool that uses movement and sound to enable connection and interaction in a shared virtual space beyond the visual sphere and screen technologies for people that cannot rely on their vision or who are visually impaired.
Dr Penny Hay and Dave Webb, House of Imagination. Working with Digital Wonderlab, this project will create a digital space where creative and cultural partners, practitioners, and participants, can connect and share ideas for future collaborations and opportunities by prototyping an open source visual map of Bath’s creative ecology and positioning as a ‘City of Imagination’.
To book for the showcase on 22 September, click here: https://thestudioinbath.co.uk/events/the-studio-recovery-fund-showcase/
