Studio Innovation Fund 2026 Awardees Announced
We are delighted to announce that three projects have been awarded £10,000 each from the 2026 Studio Innovation Fund, in addition to an extra £4,000 to support specific creative tech training.
The £50,000 fund is designed to support collaboration and partnerships between Studio Residents, external individuals and organisations to explore creative technology solutions that address pressing social issues.
The three 2026 Studio Innovation projects are:
Play and See
This is an exciting collaboration between American-British composer and pianist Charlie Hooper-Williams and Francesca Simpkis, the Royal United Hospital (RUH) in Bath’s musician-in-residence.
Play and See is an interactive piano and live-visuals system that turns music into real-time imagery, inviting anyone to create sound and visuals through play. This project will explore how it can evolve into a hospital-safe tool for wellbeing, starting with the children’s ward at the RUH. By combining music and reactive visuals, the installation aims to offer distraction, self-expression and calm. They’ll prototype both meditative scenes and playful ‘mini-game’ interactions, testing how different modes of engagement affect patient experience. The system will be adapted into a portable, wipe-clean cabinet with plug-and-play setup, ensuring ease of use for hospital staff.
Running from January to July 2026, the project will bring together creative, technical and clinical expertise: Charlie Hooper-Williams will develop the technology, musician-in-residence Frankie Simpkins will work with patients, and music therapist Jim Cornick will guide therapeutic use, supported by RUHx Art & Design Manager Hetty DuPays. By the end, they aim to deliver a working prototype, evidence of patient interaction, and insights into how creative technology can support wellbeing in healthcare – laying the groundwork for future development and wider deployment.
Glitter Hearts Immersive Labs
Glitter Heart Immersive Labs (GHIL) is a tech-led, practice-based pilot supporting older female, trans, and non-binary artists (40+) in BANES to explore immersive media through autobiographical live art. Running January–June 2026, the Labs offer CPD, mentoring, experimental workshops, and intergenerational support, enabling participants to gain skills in VR, spatial audio, volumetric scanning, and performance. Led by Liz Clarke (20+ years in participatory live art) and Naomi Smyth (20+ creative tech and theatre expertise), GHIL embeds equity and creative risk-taking while amplifying underrepresented voices.
Participants will create new immersive works, contribute to a digital resource library, and share outcomes with live and online audiences. The project builds digital fluency, artistic confidence, and sector networks, strengthening community for older artists. Work will be archived by Live Art Archives and LADA, with evaluation focusing on digital literacy, artistic growth, and network building. GHIL pioneers a new model of sector support, widening access and visibility for elder female and NB artists through immersive, inclusive, and deeply personal creative practices.
Second Chance
Second Chance is a multisensory social XR experience exploring grief, memory, and connection for participants inside and outside VR. Designed to counter VR’s isolation and accessibility issues, it brings together three participants – one in VR and two non-VR – in an intimate, interactive setting. Building on positive feedback from its initial showing, the project aims to create a safe, inclusive space for reflection on loss, informed by grief specialists and co-design sessions with local audiences.
Running January – May 2026, we’ll refine the emotional depth and accessibility of Second Chance through intensive sprints and community workshops. Collaborating with experts and partners such as the Centre for Death & Society, we’ll integrate multisensory design, ethical framing, and thoughtful onboarding/offboarding to support participants. The outcome will be a socially impactful XR experience that uses immersive technology for connection and care, addressing the need for spaces to process grief and share memories.
Second Chance is a partnership between Studio Residents Eirini Lampiri and Joseph Wilk, with Dr Harry Wilson.
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Proposals were selected through a comprehensive multi-stage process, including a selection round from external partners from local businesses and funding organisations.
The Studio Innovation Fund was initially launched in 2021 to help creative tech start-ups recover after the Covid-19 pandemic. The fund has supported local freelancers, micro-businesses, social enterprises and third sector organisations to progress their creative technology project ideas.
Over the past four years we have seen some amazing projects which have:
- Helped young people re-engage with learning through the creative use of AI.
- Created the first Capitalism Escape Room – ‘Escape Christmas’ – which opened to the public in 2025.
- Quantified the real impact of arts and culture in Bath.
- Helped visually impaired people connect with each other through sound and movement.
- Creating immersive audiovisual content for staff and patient wellbeing in healthcare settings.
- Empowered people to access and create cutting edge visual, musical, and digital performance that supports unheard voices.
- Addressed the countless un(der)-used buildings in communities by exploring a new creative use of a 3D space capture technology.
Supported by the University’s strategic Centre for Cultural and Creative Industries, the fund utilises a UKRI Policy Support Fund grant from Research England, the purpose of which is to support new interdisciplinary programmes and to help solve pressing public policy challenges.
Find out more about the Studio Innovation Fund here.