CREATIVE VOUCHER SCHEME

The Creative Voucher scheme enabled small and medium sized businesses to partner with an arts & humanities-based researcher from one of Creativeworks London’s partner institutions. This section shows all of the projects that we have supported. More information about the scheme can be found here.

Creative Voucher Scheme

Heart n Soul and Goldsmiths, University of London

SME Partner

Mark Williams, Heart n Soul

Academic Partner

Dr M Grierson, Goldsmiths, University of London

Project Title

Cheeseburger Man

Project Description

A key concerned for Heart n Soul is enabling people with learning disabilities to develop their creative ambitions and increase their access to participation. Working with Goldsmiths, University of London, Heart n Soul prototyped, tested and launched a new app for iPad.

Inspired by the electronic funk, pop, hip hop music of The Fish Police the app is designed to allow users with disabilities to remix the band’s track ‘Fish Water’. Seeding control to the user the app allows individuals to perform and share their own unique version of the song, arranging a mind-bending range of effects. Tracks can be uploaded to the Remix Wall for other users to hear.

The project also helped the development of Heart n Soul’s SoundLab, a successful tool for empowering people with learning disabilities to express themselves musically, and to collaborate with others using readily available musical technologies. SoundLad was featured at two festivals in 2015: The Liberty Festival, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (July) and The Beautiful Octopus Club Festival, Southbank Centre (September). It also went towards a nomination for the Music Teacher Awards for Excellence 2016.

The work in this collaboration has paved the way for larger scale funding through the NESTA Digital R&D Fund which will be used to develop innovative cultural products that are attuned to and reflect learning disabilities and aesthetics.

Chief Executive of Heart n Soul, Mark Williams, remarked that: “Sharing new ideas and testing the creative potential and accessibility of new mobile technology with people with learning disabilities is right at the heart of our work and this project opens even more possibilities to do just that.”

Photograph credit: Felipe Pagani

 
Queen Mary - University of London
Arts & Humanities Research Council
European Union
London Fusion

Creativeworks London is one of four Knowledge Exchange Hubs for the Creative Economy funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to develop strategic partnerships with creative businesses and cultural organisations, to strengthen and diversify their collaborative research activities and increase the number of arts and humanities researchers actively engaged in research-based knowledge exchange.