Dr Simon Moreton, a research fellow from REACT, presents the importance of supporting collaboration between academia and the creative economy. This presentation was delivered at the Digital R&D in the Arts Annual Forum at Vinopolis on 3 July 2014. For more information, visit: http://www.nesta.org.uk/event/digital-rd-arts-annual-forum

1. The REACT Hub
Simon Moreton
Research Fellow
REACT Hub
http://react-hub.org.uk
Nesta Digital R&D in the Arts
Annual Forum
Supporting collaboration between academia
and the creative economy

2. What is REACT?
REACT is one of four Knowledge Exchange Hubs for the Creative
Economy funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
to develop strategic partnerships with creative businesses and cultural
organisations.
REACT is a collaboration between
the University of the West of
England, Watershed, and the
Universities of Bath, Bristol,
Cardiff and Exeter.

3. What does REACT do?
REACT funds collaborations between arts and
humanities researchers and creative companies.
Co-producing new ideas and products from the passions,
knowledges and approaches of the Arts and Humanities
and creative business sectors

4. Quipu: oral histories from marginalised
communties, connected via an interactive
platform to the rest of the world.
Ghosts in the Garden: an audio geo-locative
game where present-day visitors meet and
interact with real characters from the past
Book Kernel: your event, turned into a book,
delivered to you before that event is even
finished.

5. What support do we offer?
• Primary funding delivered through
a three-month R&D process called
Sandbox
• Collaborations are part of a cohort
of projects: usually six, united by a
common theme
• They are provided with support for
audience development, product
development, commercial and PR
advice

6. What have we learned?
• Be open to the skills of your
collaborators
• Create a protected space
• Collaboration is a journey
• Curate people as much as
projects
• Recognise your own fingerprints

7. Thank you
simon.moreton@uwe.ac.uk