Digital
art therapy for people living with dementia, metal sculptures which will help
regulate building temperatures and the use of virtual reality technology as a
catalyst for dance, are among 31 innovative projects funded through a £250k
scheme by Creative Fuse North East.
The
Innovation Pilot and Innovation Development Awards offered grants of up to
£25,000 to SMEs, freelancers and creative and cultural organisations from
across the Creative, Digital and IT (CDIT) sectors. They teamed up with
academics from the North East's five universities, including Northumbria, to
propose groundbreaking new projects.
The
funded proposals are extremely varied, but what they each have in common is the
creative 'fusion' of arts and design skills with technology expertise.
Among
the successful proposals is sculptor Steve Newby's Innovation Project. The
Ouseburn-based artist will be working with experts from Northumbria University's
department of Mechanical and Construction Engineering and Newcastle University's
Joseph Swan Institute to develop metal sculptures which will thermally manage
buildings in a beautiful and energy efficient way.
Steve
said: "Through this project we intend to create a unique, customisable and
desirable energy saving solution. We are excited to combine the universities'
knowledge with our innovative, aesthetic work to provide installations with a
dual functionality."
Another
project connects art, technology and health. Artist Peter McAdam will be
working with health care professionals, rehabilitation experts and digital
media researchers to develop a novel digital arts therapy product that could be
used to stimulate memories for those living with dementia, or to calm children
before surgery.
"I'm
really excited to be receiving the Creative Fuse Innovation Award" said
Peter. "This is a great opportunity to collaborate with academic and
clinical partners to try and improve health outcomes and wellbeing of patients
through the use of digital arts."
Professor
Eric Cross, Principal Investigator for Creative Fuse, said: "We have been very impressed with the ideas that the
region has brought to this open call. We hope that these collaborations
generate new ways to bring traditional arts and culture into the digital world
and demonstrate how creativity can spill over beyond the CDIT sector and
stimulate innovation elsewhere, including the health, agriculture, and
construction sectors. These awarded projects signify the start of an incredibly
exciting time for Creative Fuse and the North East."
The
successful project teams will be invited to a celebration event on 17 January
to get to know each other and further strengthen the collaborative spirit in
the North East CDIT sector.
The
full list of projects can be found on the Creative Fuse website.
Creative
Fuse North East is a unique partnership between Northumbria, Newcastle, Durham,
Sunderland and Teesside Universities and is funded by the Arts and Humanities
Research Council, the European Regional Development Fund, and Arts Council
England. The project offers a variety of business innovation support
opportunities, insights into the regional creative economy, and brings
different working disciplines into closer collaboration through their monthly
CAKE (Collaboration and Knowledge Exchange) networking events.
Creative Fuse: Get Ready to Innovate at Northumbria from Creative Fuse North East on Vimeo.
