A £500,000 fund has been put in place by Creative Scotland, AHRC and NESTA to help projects use digital technology to connect with wider audiences.

The Digital R&D Fund for Scottish Arts and Culture is to invite various arts and cultural organisations to work with digital professionals to help utilise new technology to connect with audiences and develop project proposals for submission to the fund.

The fund will aim to support research and development projects and increase audience reach and revenue at cultural organisations across Scotland.

Jackie McKenzie, head of Innovation Programmes in Scotland for NESTA said that the development of digital technology was opening up new opportunities for Scotland’s cultural sector to reach new audiences.

Iain Munro, creative director of Creative Scotland, said: “Many creative organisations across Scotland already work successfully across digital platforms but, as the pace of technology accelerates, our cultural sector needs to source new opportunities to increase their audiences and improve their revenues. This new strategy – our first commitment from our Cultural Economy programme – is a dynamic new route to boosting Scotland’s digital presence and we welcome the co-investment from our other partners.”

Themes will include digital content distribution, social media, utilising digital technology, mobile and location-based services and fundraising.

Applications will be accepted until 20 April, and will be asked to take part in a series of workshops in Perth, Glasgow and Edinburgh in March.