AV Magazine: The Immersive Arts programme has secured more than £8.5m to continue supporting UK artists working with immersive technologies until 2030.
Since launching in 2024 with a £6m investment, the UK-wide Immersive Arts programme has awarded more than £3.2m in grants to 225 creative teams.
3 comments:
I think it’s really great that funding can be so widescale like what is mentioned in the article. I think the concept of immersive art is really interesting and it’s great that it is being supported like this. Giving artists access to money so that they can continue to expand on their work and continue to make art is so special and so important. With AI turning into this large-scale network it is so important that artists continue to create so that art doesn’t become lifeless with AI involvement. I am curious about how they select what projects to help fund and how much they give to help the artists. The article makes it seem like the community within itself is very collaborative and supportive of each other which is really great!! Artists should be coming together and celebrating each other's work and supporting each other. I am really interested in what art works are going to be coming out of this and how it continues to be supported in the future.
Having applied for this kind of program back in New York, I know how much it means for artists to have this kind of opportunity to get funding for what they want to make. I do not think the US really has anything similar. Some big companies run their own programs, but not at this scale. The one I joined was run by a private company instead of a public arts fund, and I feel like that difference matters more than it sounds. A company program exists because that company wants it to, so it can just stop whenever they decide it should. Immersive Arts is committing to three more years and actually publishes how many teams they fund, which means artists can plan around it. That is a pretty big deal when you are trying to decide whether a project is even worth starting. Also, £3.2m across 225 teams is only about £14,000 each, which for immersive work is honestly not that much once you count hardware and space. But I think the point is not to fully fund anyone, it is to get something started.
I admire Immersive Arts so much for their ability to fund other artists while still exploring creative work themselves. Money inevitably plays a huge role in the creation of art. Without resources, no one can bring their creative visions into form. It’s really happy to see how the community is supporting each other. How this act also makes immersive works more accessible is a great opportunity for those unfamiliar with this form and concept to learn more about it. Because it’s not something people experience in everyday life, this accessibility is crucially important for people to experiment with different types of art. It’s also interesting to see them commenting on how technology can “actively involve an audience.” I wonder whether the technology would be incorporated seamlessly to deliver a message, or whether it would be made more prominent to emphasize that it is not natural.
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