Image from BikeTAG Colour Keepers. Photography © Max McClure 2013

Image from BikeTAG Colour Keepers. Photography © Max McClure 2013

On Monday the Watershed, in partnership with National Theatre Wales and the Arts of Council of Wales, will be welcoming 12 of Wales’ leading Creative Digital Producers from a diverse range of disciplines for a week of workshops and talks.

The high calibre of participants has been matched with an exciting line up of speakers, who will cover a range of issues surrounding producing, including: how to develop brilliant ideas, project management, making business sustainable, Intellectual Property, and pitching to clients and funders. They will also have the chance to unpick a host of best practice case studies and with the help of artist Nikki Pugh dabble in a little creative tech development of their own.

The week’s speakers include:

•    Kate Tyndall, author of The Producers: Alchemists of the Impossible, who will start the week by leading a discussion on the role of the producer.
•    Clare Reddington will provide an overview of current trends in the digital landscape.
•    Professor Ian Hargreaves, author of Digital Opportunity: Intellectual Property and Growth, will discuss policy and business models.
•    Juliet Bradshaw of TLT Solicitors will dissect the legal principles of intellectual property.
•    Jo Reid, from Calvium, will lead the group through the dynamics of experience design and user testing.
•    Stephen Wilson will be presenting on the approaches to critiquing a project.
•    The challenges of testing, planning and budgeting digital projects will be topic of Katherine Jewkes talk.
•    John McGrath, the founding Artistic Director of National Theatre Wales, will present on fostering communities.
•    Dick Penny, Managing Director of Watershed, will be considering risk and asking how we can both understand and enable it.
•    Sarah Ellis will discuss Midsummer Nights Dreaming, her collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Google Creative Lab.
•    National Theatre Wales will present a case study on building communities and ways to consider rural audiences.
•    Cat John, Watershed’s Marketing and Communications Manager, will cover communicating with audiences, digital tools and campaigns.
•    Dai Banner, from Wales Interactive, will be talking about their game Master Reboot.
•    Kim Plowright will discuss legacy and the ways to end a digital project.
•    Finally, Rachel Coldicutt will be talking about cultural entrepreneurship, with a specific focus on the transition from freelancer to managing a company.

The Watershed is delighted to welcome all participants and speakers to share their knowledge. This lab highlights the commitment of all the involved partners to the debates surrounding the production of cultural experiences. We hope the week will open up contexts for understanding and managing the whys and hows imbedded in the future of Digital producing, both in Wales and internationally.