Professor Claire Squires will lead a team of researchers helping six arts and cultural organisations in Scotland to understand and test the business potential offered by new digital technologies.
The research will support the organisations to work with digital experts to understand and test the potential offered by new technologies to connect with wider audiences and explore new ways of working. The interdisciplinary team includes researchers from the Universities of Strathclyde and St Andrews.
Professor Squires says: “Our role as a research team will be to work alongside the organisations and study how digital technologies can improve the vibrancy, accessibility, sustainability and productivity of Scotland’s cultural life.
“The six projects we will be working with are looking at doing things in entirely different ways: the National Piping Centre will create webinars to teach piping online to a much bigger audience around the world and the Tiree Museum will make exhibits available to people everywhere, using mobile phone technology. New data and research insights will be shared with, and benefit, other organisations in the arts and culture sector.”
“We’re really excited to be working with these organisations as they explore how digital technologies can expand their audiences and develop new business models for their work. The arts have always been central to Scottish life, and this scheme will bring them right into the 21st century.”
Professor Edmund Burke, Deputy Principal of the University, says: “The award is testament to the high-quality expertise on cultural industries in Stirling’s Schools of Arts & Humanities, Management and Education. Our work with the Universities of St Andrews and Strathclyde will complement an impressive range of research and knowledge exchange activities in the cultural industries that is currently undertaken both at Stirling and with our partners.”
The research is funded by the Scottish Digital Research and Development Fund for Arts and Culture run by NESTA, Creative Scotland and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.