Collab Digital Cultural Fellowship shines light on South Australia’s creative forces
South Australia’s world-renowned cultural institutions will open their doors to cutting-edge digital creativity today with the launch of the Collab Digital Cultural Fellowship.
Applicants for the $10,000 honorarium will be asked to let their imaginations loose on the massive treasure trove of data, collections and works of art in digital form stored by the four entities that make up Collab, which is a joint venture between the South Australian Museum, the History Trust of South Australia, the State Library of South Australia and the Art Gallery of South Australia.
Brian Oldman, Director of the South Australian Museum, said that Collab is part of an international network of cultural sector collaborative GLAM* Labs that are transforming the relevance and purpose of galleries, libraries, archives and museums in the digital age.
“South Australia’s cultural institutions are keen to harness digital technology and engage with individuals or groups with a creative technical mindset across any discipline or industry,” Mr Oldman said.
“This is a unique opportunity to increase knowledge and creative thinking around the State’s priceless cultural, scientific and artistic collections. By making them digitally accessible, we will bring the depth and breadth of our cultural and scientific disciplines to life for new audiences.”
The value of the fellowship goes far beyond financial benefits to include access to collections and specialists such as curators, scientists and educators. The fellowship also offers the winner office space and cloud storage. Included for the duration of the fellowship are events, activities and behind the scenes experiences around the North Terrace precinct, from SAHMRI in the west to Lot Fourteen in the east.
Inaugural Collab Fellowship Judge Dr Eva Balan-Vnuk – who is a History Trust board member and the State’s Executive Director for ICT and Digital Government – said that she and her fellow judges would be open to “wildly creative ideas in diverse and unique combinations”.
“We encourage applicants to be bold,” Dr Balan-Vnuk said. “We are looking for innovative projects that might communicate something profound or might provoke or inspire the community, broaden our understanding or have an impact on society as a whole – for example a complex concept that can be translated for the audience using digital means.
“By bringing digital technologies and platforms together with significant specialist cultural disciplines, we’ll be throwing a spotlight on the immense creativity of South Australians.”
The launch of the Collab Digital Cultural Fellowship responds to the release of the South Australian Arts Plan 2019-2024, which spoke of the importance of embracing digital strategies to ensure that South Australia’s cultural collections are widely available online, and that collection items can be explored in new ways.
NOTE: *GLAM is the acronym for galleries, libraries, archives and museums.
IMAGE CAPTION: At Collab’s physical space in the North Terrace cultural precinct, Dr Eva Balan-Vnuck tries out an augmented reality (AR) app developed by the History Trust of South Australia, assisted by Digital Engagement team member Gagan Singh.
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Kristy Kokegei, Director, Public Engagement, History Trust of South Australia T. +61 8 8203 9888 M. +61 438 828 752 E. KKokegei@history.sa.gov.au