An exciting initiative to stimulate innovation with creative technology across the arts, screen and creative industries has been launched, through a partnership involving Creative Edinburgh, Creative Dundee and We Throw Switches, in association with Creative Scotland.
Light Bytes comprises a series of events that will be held in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee at the beginning of June designed to stimulate illuminating debate, critical thinking, risk and experimentation, and exploration into innovative ways of making the most of creative technology.
Simultaneous to the events, an open call for prototype development funding will be launched. These Curiosity Awards of up to £1,000 each will support the development of six project ideas into small prototypes.
The Light Bytes events will be followed by a series of monthly ‘brown bag’ lunches enabling participants to continue to meet, discuss and progress ideas, as well as hearing from Curiosity Awards recipients who will present their findings and share learning at these lunches.
Later on in the year, Creative Scotland will invite applications for projects that scale-up these ideas, and to demonstrate the creative potential of technology, the benefits of collaboration and the importance of innovation across the creative industries. (More information will be available soon.)
Clive Gillman, Director of Creative Industries at Creative Scotland, said: “Many arts and cultural organisations across Scotland are using digital technology in ways that support both their programmes and their operations. We want to work with these organisations to grow their ambition and develop new tools and processes that will benefit both them and their peers across the country. We may increasingly be living in a world where this technology is all-pervasive, but there is still potential for new ideas in our sector. These ideas should come from the sector itself and these sessions have been established to bring people together to work and to seek ways of identifying and sharing what they might be.
“The Light Byte events will create a space in which we can honestly discuss the what, why and how of creating innovative work with digital at its core. The Curiosity Awards will support this experimentation and we will then use these kindled sparks to encourage digital leadership and innovation in the sector.”
The Light Bytes sessions are taking place as follows:
- Edinburgh (CodeBase), Wednesday 1 June, 6.30pm – 9.30pm. To sign up, visit here.
- Dundee (The Vision Building), Thursday 2 June, 6.30pm – 9.30pm. This event will also be live streamed. To sign up, visit here.
- Glasgow (SWG3), Friday 3 June, 2pm – 5pm. To sign up, visit here.
- Virtual – If you are unable to make these events in person, please do join us at the Dundee session on 2 June for the live stream here. Videos from the sessions will be available to watch online after the events.
Tickets for the Dundee Light Byte event can be booked below.
Janine Matheson, Director, Creative Edinburgh said: “We’re thrilled to be collaborating with We Throw Switches and Creative Dundee to produce the Light Bytes series in partnership with Creative Scotland this June. Light Bytes will create immersive playgrounds in Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow to inspire Scotland’s cultural orgs, sparking experimentation and play with digital and creative technologies. By showcasing local digital innovators, producers and artists, we hope to demystify commissioning and open up new exciting collaborations that will ingrain digital creativity within the fabric of our cultural programming and projects.”
Gillian Easson, Director, Creative Dundee said: “Scotland has an incredibly strong cultural sector and highly innovative digital sector, and the possibilities of the two forces collaborating more in future, are exciting and limitless. Creative Dundee is delighted to be co-producing the Light Bytes event series and we look forward to creating open spaces for discussion, experimentation and magic to happen.”
Andrew Dyce and Craig Fairweather, We Throw Switches said: “These events are hugely exciting; as they give us a chance to explore what can happen when creativity and technology are brought together. From beautiful games to interactive art, these projects can help us think, play, and look at the world differently, which is a wonderful thing. Digital creativity can be captivating, thought-provoking and brilliantly riotous, and we can’t wait to showcase some fantastic examples of what’s out there at the events in June.”
Follow the conversation @creativescots and via #lightbytes