As part of our new blog series, Community Case Studies, BEYOND chats to Ami Aubrey, Programme Producer for Bedford Creative Arts.
Ami tells us about her two previous experiences at BEYOND, and how the conference has helped her and her organisation to grow, collaborate, and be inspired.
Bedford Creative Arts’ latest project, AI Community Portrait, features in this year’s BEYOND Showcase.
Ami, tell us about your experience with BEYOND conference – how many times have you attended and what keeps you coming back?
I’ve attended BEYOND twice now, the first one being at the Titanic Museum in Belfast post-pandemic. It was an amazing experience. All the delegates and speakers were eager to share ideas and research they had been working on, largely remotely and in isolation. I instantly made a lot of new contacts as well as reconnecting with old ones.
The second was in London at The Royal Institute with a great range of speakers and interesting immersive experiences and technology. I met a future collaborator in the Immersive Futures Lab at that event and now we’re developing a new immersive project together.
I feel BEYOND is a great place to be inspired and see the key trends in the creative industries.
What aspects of the event do you find most valuable or enjoyable?
I find that the speakers instigate wide-ranging conversations and there is an atmosphere of excitement and pioneering within the conference – a “creative buzz”. The delegates that I’ve met are open and friendly and it’s easy to network. I especially enjoy meeting people from different countries and gaining an insight into what they see as emerging tech and how they encompass it in their projects.
I like the fact that it brings together people from different sub-sectors of the creative industries. It’s not an arts conference, or a heritage conference or overtly commercial. It’s a combination of different uses of the technology at different scales and that gives it a broad appeal.
How has attending BEYOND benefited you and your organisation? Can you share any notable outcomes such as partnerships, collaborations, or new opportunities?
As programme producer for an arts organisation, Bedford Creative Arts, I’m interested in the stories we can tell using emerging technology and how we can challenge the narrative and bring in more nuances into our work (rather than binary, mainstream or often polar responses).
We have very small budgets in comparison to the tech giants but at BEYOND we can feel part of the wider creative industry, see what people are testing, and then incorporate leading tools and digital methodology into our work.
Through previous Immersive Showcases at BEYOND I have met organisations and individuals that we are now collaborating with.
I’m also part of several creative networks through contacts at BEYOND which inform my programme.
How has BEYOND influenced your work, both in short and long term?
BEYOND has given me the knowledge and confidence to continue to explore the expanding and evolving use of digital technology in the creative industries and arts sector. It’s enabled me to have meaningful conversations with artists and technologists and learn from others in developing programmes. Going to the conference gives me space out of my busy schedule to focus on the development of my own creative digital programme.
As an organisation we have continued to build in XR/Digital work into our programme and had the confidence to showcase our own projects both at BEYOND and at other festivals in alternate realities programmes.
What are you most looking forward to at this year’s BEYOND conference? Are there any particular sessions,speakers, or networking opportunities you’re excited about?
I’m excited to hear from speakers Brian Afande from Kenya on his empowering XR tech programme and Laia Gasch from World Cities Culture Forum to gain a wider global perspective. I’m very excited to play in the Immersive Futures Lab and Creative R&D Showcase, including projects such as Museums in the Metaverse, VR shoes (can I say roller-skates?) and the immersive The Deep Blue.
I’m of course interested to see how people interact with J.E.S.S (our AI Community Portrait showcase) and gain feedback and make plans for the next steps. Networking is always great at BEYOND as there is so much to discuss and explore over lunch or drinks.
How do you hope this year’s event will help achieve your goals?
This year, in addition to showcasing AI Community Portrait and gaining advice and feedback, I hope to have conversations and learn from other organisations and individuals, and share knowledge and develop relationships that will be integral to future projects and future collaborations. Being present with other Bedford Creative Arts team members will enable us to have more conversations and widen our visibility as an organisation.
We also want people to be challenged and hope to make people think a little about representation and bias as technology progresses in this ‘new industrial revolution”. As we have other projects in the pipeline, we’ll be able to share these and get a sanity check!