The Digital R&D Fund for the Arts was a £7 million support initiative that acted as a catalyst for collaboration between arts organisations, technology providers and researchers. It ran as a partnership between Nesta, the Arts & Humanities Research Council and Arts Council England. To expand the reach, and promote awareness of the fund and its activities, a one-off publication; Native, was created to represent Digital R&D Fund projects in England: as a 128-page printed magazine with accompanying website. The online hub was subsequently expanded to include projects from Scotland and Wales, alongside international case studies.
Making Digital Work was the follow-up, was launched to mark the end of the Digital R&D Fund for the Arts programme cycle. Where Native served to introduce the fund and its many project teams, Making Digital Work documented the outcomes and concluded the programme cycle. A publication was issued to coincide with a one-off Making Digital Work conference (at the NEC in Birmingham), that was held to bring participants together in celebration of the many achievements facilitated by the fund across the themes of accessibility, business models, data and mobile.
