How can arts and technology partnerships work effectively? The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Space to Play Report, is a a new research report that explores this issue.
In 2016, the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) collaborated with Intel and The Imaginarium Studios to create a unique new production of The Tempest. As an innovative arts project, this led to a series of learning that could be applied across the sector in the future.
The RSC, with support from its collaboration partners and Nesta commissioned Dr Ceri Gorton to capture learnings from the project in the Space to Play Report. In its findings, the report identifies four key ingredients for success in digital R&D partnerships:
- Put people first, celebrating and recognising expertise;
- Shift your culture to accept risk, flatten hierarchies and provide time and space to play;
- Develop transformational leaders, giving them a mandate to build enthusiasm across the partnership and unlock expertise;
- Make sure you measure the innovation you achieve as well as any financial return.
Sarah Ellis, Director of Digital Development at the RSC, said: “Together we were able to push the boundaries of theatre, with live performance capture and facial real-time motion capture on stage for the very first time. And in the process, the experience reached people in 124 countries around the world, as well as 136,000 audience members in Stratford and at the Barbican. This new research shows how using a partnership model to invest in collaborative R&D can also catalyse wider organisational innovation.”
To find out more, visit the Royal Shakespeare Company