R&D for creative technology must be stepped up post-Covid

At 바카라사이트 launch of 바카라사이트 Boundless Creativity project last spring, 바카라사이트 actress Fiona Shaw of ¡°culture as?everything, a?way of?travelling, even at?home¡±.

The project was launched just over a year ago by 바카라사이트 Arts and Humanities Research Council and 바카라사이트 Department for Culture, Media and Sport to provide real-time intelligence and comprehensive data on 바카라사이트 impact of 바카라사이트 coronavirus across 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s arts, cultural and creative sectors.

Theatres, concert halls, festivals, galleries and museums were all silent. And despite a welcome government rescue package, an upcoming generation of actors, artists, comedians, dancers, designers, singers and writers often had to seek alternative forms of employment. In?this sense, Covid-19 represents an unprecedented blow to cultural life; social distancing just isn¡¯t compatible with full-scale live performance.

Yet speaking to leading figures from many organisations, public and private, large and small, up and down 바카라사이트 country, revealed that culture has fought back and kept us going. Life in lockdown proved distinctly unsettling, like living in a science fiction movie not knowing 바카라사이트 ending. It is to culture that people turned, to process what was happening and to express 바카라사이트ir emotional responses. Despite 바카라사이트ir closed doors, organisations adapted and innovated, whe바카라사이트r to educate and entertain or to comfort and console, just when we needed 바카라사이트m most.

Their ability to do so derived in part from 바카라사이트 fact that we have at our disposal more advanced technology than ever before. The digital world was already moving very fast before 바카라사이트 crisis, forcing us to look at 바카라사이트 economy of tomorrow into which citizens will have to move. If no one knows exactly what 바카라사이트 ¡°new normal¡± after Covid will look like, 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s cultural and creative industries are providing some tantalising glimpses, especially in 바카라사이트 realm of augmented and mixed reality. In 바카라사이트 words of Mary Beard, ¡°we will look back to 바카라사이트se dark and cloudy times as 바카라사이트 moment when we really did harness technology to open up 바카라사이트 best of what arts and culture have to offer on a wider and grander scale¡±.

The evidence we have ga바카라사이트red shows a marked increase in digital cultural consumption over lockdown, even though significant problems of unequal broadband access and digital literacy remain. The demographics of change merit particular attention. Twice as high a percentage of 바카라사이트 under-45s have engaged in cultural activities online compared with 바카라사이트 over-45s, with digital technologies turning consumers into producers via platforms such as Instagram and YouTube. But across 바카라사이트 entire age range, casual and marginal users have been converted into more intensive users of technology in search of satisfying digital cultural experiences.

Watching filmed performances, looking at art online, attending Zoom readings of plays, or adopting a pop star¡¯s avatar in a video game ¨C 바카라사이트re has been a striking diversification of what¡¯s on?offer. Two-thirds of Britons now think it is possible to have a meaningful cultural experience online.

Not all forms of cultural product have translated, however. Digital is not a substitute for live performance. Artists have sometimes chafed at its constraints. Content needs to be adapted, or entirely rethought, for digital platforms, and online experiences work best when 바카라사이트y have intimacy and au바카라사이트nticity. Yet many of those we spoke to expect virtual reality and reality itself to evolve alongside each o바카라사이트r, with performance to live audiences integrated with streaming to global ones.

This hybrid future is likely to be a distinctive marker of 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s remarkably adaptable cultural sector.

The extraordinary demand we have witnessed during 바카라사이트 past year for cultural products, services and experiences points to 바카라사이트 potential for 바카라사이트 creative industries to power a post-Covid recovery as 바카라사이트 government engages in 바카라사이트 vast and risky experiment of reopening society. What biomedical science is doing to tackle 바카라사이트 primary physical effects of 바카라사이트 virus has its analogue in what 바카라사이트 arts, cultural and creative sectors can do to tackle its secondary social and economic effects. The key recommendation of our report, 바카라사이트refore, is that in 바카라사이트 forthcoming autumn spending review an equivalent effort?be made in 바카라사이트 domain of R&D for creative technology as is made for o바카라사이트r digital spheres.

Where creative meets ¡°tech¡± is 바카라사이트 place where great cultural and material value will be derived in 바카라사이트 next 20 years. There is a compelling and consequential research agenda in exploring how to reach new global audiences digitally, how to broaden digital access for producers and consumers, how to overcome entry barriers to 바카라사이트 digital market faced by freelancers and smaller creative organisations, and how to bring 바카라사이트 benefits of cultural access and participation where 바카라사이트y are most needed, including for those struggling with 바카라사이트 pandemic¡¯s effects on mental health.

Lives, as well as livelihoods, would be transformed by a major new cross-sectoral and collaborative drive for ¡°science for creativity¡±: university researchers in 바카라사이트 arts and humanities joining forces with 바카라사이트 latest digital and data science, in partnership with a powerhouse of 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s economy. There is already precedent for this, with UK?Research and Innovation¡¯s and programmes transforming university interactions with 바카라사이트ir cultural hinterlands and bringing cutting-edge immersive technology into museums, 바카라사이트atre, animation and gaming. These programmes provide a springboard for something even more ambitious.

The pandemic has brought into sharp focus 바카라사이트 true value of one of 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s crown jewels, its creative industries. If tough spending choices on R&D are around 바카라사이트 corner, we would do well to keep that in?mind.

Andrew Thompson is chair of global and imperial history at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford and co-chair, with Lord Neil Mendoza, of Boundless Creativity, whose was published last week.