20 trailblazing immersive projects selected for second year of CreativeXR

London, 16 April 2019 – Digital Catapult and Arts Council England are proud to reveal the 20 teams taking part in the second year of CreativeXR, the industry-leading immersive content prototype accelerator programme. By providing teams with £20,000 of funding and access to immersive facilities and industry mentors, CreativeXR will enable the teams to develop innovative immersive prototypes which are set to change the UK’s arts and cultural sector.

CreativeXR supports new forms of creative content enabled by immersive (virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR)) technology and gives teams a platform to focus on R&D to create riskier, content-driven projects, opening up novel ways of engaging audiences and telling new stories.

As well as providing funding, CreativeXR provides a unique opportunity for the teams to develop skills and contacts to finance their projects and create commercially viable content, with workshops on pitching skills, developing business plans, and distribution and partnership strategies. The process will then culminate in a final showcase and marketplace event later in 2019, where teams will have the opportunity to pitch their prototypes to commissioners, distributors and financiers.

Jeremy Silver, CEO, Digital Catapult said: “CreativeXR is all about encouraging the development of new formats leading to new markets for cultural applications of immersive technologies. As a new medium, the ideas and approaches that can succeed are as likely to come from edges of contemporary art or from more commercially focused industrial design. This year’s cohort is an inspiring combination of inventiveness, tech ability and commercial approach. We’re super excited to see them get started on their projects, and to be working again with Arts Council England.”

The teams will also receive support and mentorship from industry experts from a range of organisations including: Royal Opera House, Serpentine Galleries, Science Museum, BBC, Unity, Abbey Road Studios, NBCUniversal, and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Francis Runacres, Executive Director of Enterprise and Innovation, Arts Council England , said: “It’s fantastic to be working with Digital Catapult again on a second round of CreativeXR. This year’s cohort show a huge diversity of ideas in projects combining artistic experimentation with technological innovation. Building on the success of CreativeXR’s first year, these prototypes show the teams pushing even further to explore the potential for immersive technologies to create new forms of creativity and cultural experiences.”

Among those selected for this years’ CreativeXR are a number of mixed reality theatrical projects that mesh elements of live performance, projection, sound, gaming and AR; an interactive sonic performance in complete darkness; a mixed reality installation exploring gender identities; immersive dancing with artificial intelligence; a virtual motorbike journey exploring Native American ancestral roots; and an augmentation of Akram Khan’s Dust for the English National Ballet, UnDust.

The following 20 teams were selected to join the programme:
● COSMOS Immersive by Abandon Normal Devices , Manchester
● Dazzle Ball R&D by Gibson Martelli , London
● Invisible Light by Fifty Nine Productions Ltd , Edinburgh
● Therese & Peta: A Tale of Two-Spirits by Queer Media CIC , Lancashire
● FLOOD by Rory Mullarkey by Megaverse Ltd , East Sussex
● Bedlam by Mat Collishaw , London
● The Enemy Within by Also Known As , Hampshire
● Goliath by Anagram , Bristol/London
● Europe After the Rain by Imitating the Dog , Leeds
● The Time Machine by The Old Market , East Sussex
● Breathe by Darkfield , London
● UnDust by Satore Studio , London
● Basic Tension by Jamila Johnson-Small Dance, London
● What is Normal? By Call & Response , London
● Rel8/Present by Fight in the Dog , London
● AI Dance Duet by BespokeVR Ltd , Middlesex
● Through the wardrobe by Colour My Reality , Bristol
● Madrid Noir: The Office by No Ghost , London
● basilisk by MadLab , Manchester
● Game Over by Blackwatch Entertainment , London

The CreativeXR programme has received around 2,000 registrations of interest and almost 500 applications since it began in 2017, demonstrating the huge appetite for the programme within the UK’s immersive content community and across sectors and communities, from theatre to art, music, education, and gaming.

Companies that took part in the first year of CreativeXR have seen numerous successes: three of the projects have been selected to premiere at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival and All Seeing Eye’s Immersive Histories project now has a permanent home at the RAF Museum in London.

CreativeXR has been developed by Digital Catapult and Arts Council England, in association with Immerse UK. Verizon’s RYOT Studio has joined CreativeXR in 2019 as exclusive AR/MR partner.

For more information, visit creativexr.co.uk