Pervasive Media Studio supports a creative community to make extraordinary and inspiring work. We foreground the power of art and the imagination to direct technology towards a more inclusive, playful and sustainable world. 

Each year the team writes a report for our funders and partners (Watershed, Arts Council England, UWE Bristol and the University of Bristol). This collates evaluations of our programmes and insight that the community give us; collected through conversations, feedback moments and a survey that we ask all residents to complete. 

We know that many people don’t like being asked to complete surveys and share data. But to be clear, if we are not able to demonstrate the impact of the Studio it will not continue to exist. And more than that, the information about how the community are doing informs our own work, and equips us to advocate for what is needed to other funders, policy makers and civic institutions. 

So a huge THANK YOU to everyone that contributed. 

Studio community

The Studio continues to be hugely important to me. The physical space supports the stability and continuity of my company, offering me a safe, stable and welcoming environment from which to work. The networks here, the creative opportunities, and connection to industry peers and ideas is a lifeline I would struggle to find elsewhere. This positive experience of a place to work and belong professionally has positive repercussions on the rest of my life, from my physical and mental wellbeing to my sense of belonging in Bristol. 

Over the past year we have had 23 residents join us on a permanent basis and 36 temporary residencies. We offered 240 timebank sessions for advice in marketing, producing, creative technology, inclusion, business advice, as well as 428 hours of one-to-one support from our team of producers, and 48 accountancy and law clinics. Our residents had networking opportunities through 12 monthly studio lunches as well as themed community conversations on issues of interest to the community (including home, domestic technology, and ways of thinking about the future). 

Data from residents shows a general picture of improved financial outcomes (relative to 2023/24) which we are pleased to see. However, the headline results do not feel like they reflect anecdotal information about the wide variance in residents’ actual experience. For example, while the overall turnover has increased in recent years, 36% of those with a creative focus reported a figure less than the UK full-time minimum wage this year. The percentage of residents who describe their creative practice as their main source of income has also dropped from 67% in 2022/23 to 56% in 2024/25. We are planning to undertake some further research to explore the data in more detail and are using this insight to make the case for more equitable forms of creative support from national funders. 

Wider programme 

Supporting the Studio community is the heart of what we do, but we also think it is important to engage with a wider range of people - we call this R&D you can see. Last year we reached 4,690 people in person and 4,769 online through 76 Lunchtime Talks, First Friday and bespoke sharing events. 

Our engagement with schools and young people is really thriving. Alongside our regular meet ups for early career creatives, we ran workshops in classrooms and in the Studio (often in collaboration with residents). These offer access to skills and ideas that most don’t get in school. We know from participants that these sessions build confidence and develop criticality in how young people engage with creative technology. 

We launched our first Immersive Arts funding call, and ran More than AI Sandbox – supporting a wide range of new creative work to be made. We collaborated with Sony Music Entertainment Japan, Drake Music and Paraorchestra, to host a three-day hackathon, focused on co-designing musical instruments with Disabled musicians. We were also commissioned by the University of Bristol to produce their one day Connected Futures Festival, sharing speculative ideas about the future of the internet with over 3000 members of the public. 

This is just a bit of what we got up to last year, you can read the full report here:

Pervasive Media Studio Activity Report 2024/25