Our huge congratulations to Studio residents Amy Rose and May Abdalla from Anagram, Olie Kay from All Seeing Eye and Emma Hughes, all of who have been selected for the highly competitive Creative XR commissions from Digital Catapult and Arts Council England.

CreativeXR programme supports companies in creating immersive prototypes and digital content through AR and VR. 20 projects have been selected from over 250 proposals, and we are delighted that three of the 20 chosen are based here with us in the Pervasive Media Studio.

The projects:

Immersive Histories by All Seeing Eye: An immersive VR experience allowing an audience to physically step into history. Associate Creative Director of All Seeing Eye, Olie Kay is a resident here in the Studio. We have been chatting with Olie about the types of historially significant stories that they are considering bringing to life in VR and, whilst its all under wraps for now, it is certain to result in a unique and powerful experience.

Open Space by Roomsize: Be immersed within an invisible ensemble of musicians, who create an ever-changing musical texture around you. Emma Hughes  is based in the Studio and is part of Limina Immersive. She is also Creative Producer of Roomsize, and is working with sound artist Liam Taylor-West and also the brilliant aforementioned Olie Kay from All Seeing Eye, as they develop this idea. Liam, Emma and Olie have been doing some great analogue testing in the Studio this month and we're excited about what is coming next. Watch (listen to) this space!

The Collider by ANAGRAM: Navigating across a virtual divide, you and a partner find each other. Anagram's founders Amy Rose and May Abdalla have been Studio residents for several years, developing award winning, powerful immersive experiences such as Tribeca Storyscapes winner Door Into the Dark and NIGHTWATCHERS, currently running at the Tower of London. Their work always integrates storytelling and emerging technologies in interesting and unexpected ways, and we are very much looking forward to seeing how they approach bringing VR into their creative toolkit.

A special mention to our friends down the road at Aardman Animations, who have been awarded another of the commisions to develop CODA, a story-led VR experience that blends fairy tale, music and gaming.

See the full list of commissions, and find out more about the Creative XR programme at creativexr.co.uk

Creative XR