Whilst it is not uncommon for festivals to have an Artist-in-Residence creating artistic content, a “Geek-in-Residence” is to be appointed by Festivals Edinburgh, as part of a two year, £300,000 project to harness and lead new digital developments for the benefit of its twelve member festivals, their audiences and participants.
The Edinburgh Festivals Innovation Lab is headed by Rohan Gunatillake and funded by Creative Scotland’s National Lottery Fund. It aims to be an enabling project, which will help the different festivals to work with technologists, artists, audiences and digital communities. The purpose of such collaborations will be to develop and create prototype digital and technological tools that can improve the festival experience for audiences and participants.
