Guildhall School awarded AHRC Doctoral Focal Award to grow and diversify audiences in the creative economy

The ADAPT-AI Doctoral Focal Award will see Guildhall School of Music & Drama partner with King’s College London, who will lead the delivery of the Award, and London South Bank University (LSBU). Supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Focal Award will provide funding to recruit and train Doctoral students over seven years. 

ADAPT-AI: Analysing and Diversifying Audience Participation with Creative Technologies & AI, Doctoral Focal Award is a new initiative based in the Faculty of Arts & Humanities at King’s, in partnership with Guildhall School and LSBU, combining research expertise in the creative industries, digital humanities, media production and performance practice.

The AHRC Doctoral Focal Awards champion the next generation of researchers, offering future-facing training in areas vital to the UK’s creative economy and societal wellbeing. The ADAPT-AI programme has been awarded funding to train twenty students across four cohorts over seven years.

The inaugural programme will see the ADAPT-AI cohort collaborate with a diverse group of partners including; Barbican Immersive, 180 Studios, The National Gallery, Southbank Centre, Serpentine Galleries, VIVE Arts, Outernet, B3 Media, Target 3D, Lightroom, Royal Shakespeare Company and Innovative UK Immersive Tech Network, who together are drawing millions of audience members annually and leading in immersive content creation in the UK.

ADAPT-AI's London location means students will be at the heart of a global hub for creative industries and cultural innovation. The facilities and audiences across the consortium and partners mean doctoral students will have access to cutting-edge technologies and diverse user groups, essential for comprehensive audience research and development.

Professor Andy Lavender, Provost & Vice-Principal (Academic), Guildhall School, said:
“We are delighted to enter this partnership with King’s College London and London Southbank University, building on existing relationships and forging new collaborations across industry, practitioners, audiences, and researchers. The studentship holders and our wider research community will benefit from the collaborations and bespoke training that will be on offer. Building on our expertise in Digital Performance and Socially Engaged Practice, these partnerships will enable us to search out and empower the most talented emerging researchers in the performing arts and creative industries.”

Professor Sarah Atkinson, Director ADAPT-AI Doctoral Focal Award, King’s College London, said:
"The ADAPT-AI consortium is thrilled to be working with these extraordinary cultural venues and cutting-edge creative digital partners to tackle the urgent challenge of growing and diversifying audiences in our rapidly evolving creative economy. This unprecedented partnership positions our doctoral students at the heart of London's cultural landscape with access to millions of visitors and cutting-edge AI technologies, enabling them to critically develop ethical methods of audience engagement that will transform who participates in and who leads the UK's creative industries."

Dr. Amy Blier-Carruthers and Dr. Simon Bayly, Postgraduate Research Programme Leaders, Guildhall School, said:
“This is an excellent opportunity for us to develop our exciting programme in ever more equitable and innovative ways, offering fully-supported scholarships to the brightest and most deserving up-and-coming postgraduate researchers. It is a testament to the strength and breadth of our programme that the AHRC have chosen this grouping to work collaboratively on training and preparing the next generation of researchers in creative practice and performance technologies. With our partners Barbican Immersive and Target 3D, these cohorts of students will be creating sector-leading work which will contribute meaningfully to addressing the current and anticipated challenges in the creative arts and society as a whole.”

Mark Ball, Artistic Director, Southbank Centre, said:
"At Southbank Centre, we're inventing the future of culture by exploring how new forms of digital creativity and cross-artform immersive experiences can reach wider and more diverse audiences. The ADAPT-AI programme offers an exciting opportunity to work with doctoral researchers to evaluate the impact of our programmes and to test new technologies and methods for understanding audience engagement and data. It will help us innovate with confidence, while strengthening our commitment to public value and cultural inclusion."

Professor Christopher Smith, Executive Chair, Arts and Humanities Research Council, said:  
“Introducing Focal Awards allows us to support cohorts of students in centres for excellence for strategically valuable areas such as health and the creative economy. In the future this approach will allow us, in consultation with the sector, to provide support where it is needed to disciplines across the arts and humanities, vital skills and digital humanities.“

Read the AHRC Doctoral Focal Award announcement in full and find out more about Doctoral Research at Guildhall School.