The arts - live, free and on demand

The Space provides live, free and on-demand access to the work of artists and arts organisations, and went live during extraordinary summer of arts 2012, allowing visitors to experience and enjoy some of the events of Festival 2012 and the wider Cultural Olympiad. It was designed to change the way people can connect with and experience the arts, to give artists space to innovate and experiment, and to build digital skills in the arts sector through a new commissioning programme and expert mentoring scheme.

The project, which is designed to build the digital skills and capability of the arts and cultural sector, will now run until the end of March 2013 having been extended after an initial six month pilot phase.

We have set aside £8 million of Lottery funding to allow for the possibility of The Space continuing as a freely-available digital arts service. Arts Council England and the BBC are actively exploring the future of this service, which has a huge potential to make more of the arts available in new ways to new audiences.

You can access The Space now at thespace.org or by viewing on The Space channel (Freesat channel 908, Freeview HD channel 232).

Background to the project

It aims to challenge artists, arts and cultural organisations to collaborate with each other and partners to capture and create a wealth of cultural experiences.

For the first six months Arts Council England invested £3.5 million of its strategic digital innovation funds which was made available to arts and cultural organisations via a Lottery grant programme. The BBC committed a £2 million support package including providing the technology solution and training and mentoring for successful applicants.

The programme is designed to encourage experimentation and innovation and provide an opportunity to learn more about how to connect audiences with arts and culture using digital technologies. The service uses technology across four digital media platforms: PC, mobile devices, tablets and television.

It showcases a host of content from both established and up-and coming companies and artists and includes live broadcasts and the creative and innovative presentation of Arts Council and BBC archive content.

Aims of The Space

We expect our investment in The Space will significantly build the digital skills of the arts and cultural sector, ensuring that they are at the forefront of emerging digital technologies, and making their work available to even more people.

Logos for The Space commissions

Logos and brand and publicity guidelines for commissioned arts organisations can now be downloaded from the logos section of our website.