About us

The Space is a digital agency established by Arts Council England and the BBC to help promote digital engagement across the arts and cultural sector. We also work regularly with Creative Scotland, the Arts Council of Wales and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

We support organisations by commissioning projects, building digital skills and capacity, and helping organisations reach wider audiences using digital content, media and online platforms.

We are a Community Interest Company (CIC) with an independent Board of Directors from technology, media and the arts.

If you’re an arts or cultural organisation, or an organisation working in the creative technology sector, we're interested in working with you. Find out how and what we commission, or explore our case studies and resources.

You may be interested in:

Developing audiences online - take a look at our Online Audience Development Toolkit

Starting a podcast - take a look at this guide to podcasting

Digital rights - here's a comprehensive Digital Rights Toolkit

Live streaming - a guide to low-fi and low-cost options for streaming arts events

Who we are

What we commission

The Space funds and provides development support to projects that get great arts experiences to more people using digital content, technologies and platforms.

We support ‘Capture’ projects that digitally record live arts events and open them up to new audiences, ‘Lo Fi Extend’ projects that extend the reach of an organisation's work to online audiences, and 'Create Digital' R&D projects, which provide new interactive and meaningful artistic experiences, exploring new forms of digital storytelling, interactivity and participation.

We run open commissioning rounds where applicants who meet the commissioning brief can apply, and also commission organisations directly. Find out more.

Reaching new audiences

We think art should be for everyone. So we want to tackle the things that stop more people seeing it - like geography, or ideas about it not being ‘for them’.

We believe technology can do that, and we're passionate about helping artists make the most of it by supporting projects that let people enjoy culture in new ways - whether they’re card-carrying arts fans or cultural first-timers.

We’re especially interested in reaching wide and varied audiences. If that’s your sort of project, check out commissioning, resources and our training events.

Building skills

We need you to help us reach more people with great art.

If you’re an arts organisation or arts professional, we’re here to help you embed digital content, technologies and online platforms into your thinking and practice. We commission arts projects, and we offer support with developing them - from advice and guidance to help getting your work out there.

But we know you don’t always need a commission. So we’re also on hand to offer digital skills training, events and resources, too.

About the team

Our team come from the arts, digital media, gaming, digital development and broadcasting. We're united by a passion for making great art and getting it to the most people possible using digital technologies and platforms.

We’re based in Birmingham but are often on the road at The Space’s regular events, or meeting organisations, production companies and artists.

Meet the team

See some of the work we’ve commissioned so far

Our board

The Space is an independent Community Interest Company with a Board Of Directors from the arts, media, digital and technology sectors.

Our Board Directors are:

Sarah Ellis (Chair), Director of Digital Development, RSC
Fiona Allan, Chief Executive and Creative Directpr of the Birmingham Hippodrome
Manisha Ferdinand, Senior PR Manager, Entertainment at Amazon
Edward Humphrey, Director of Digital at the BFI
Tim Plyming, Chief Creative Officer, Green Rock
Liz Rosenthal, Founder and CEO of Power to the Pixel
Jonnie Turpie, Founder of Maverick TV

Our partners

We were founded by Arts Council England and the BBC. We are also supported by the Arts Council Wales, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Creative Scotland. We work with the BBC Academy to provide events and resources that help build digital skills in the arts.

Our founding partners

Associate partners

Get in touch

We'd love to hear from you. Drop us an email and we'll get back to you.