As the Director of Partnerships & Industry Relations + Head of Creative Innovations at Factory Berlin, Germany’s largest members club for innovators and entrepreneurs, and a key player in Berlin’s tech & startup ecosystem, I was brought on as a consultant in 2018 to conduct research on creative innovations in AR, VR, Gaming, Music, and New Media within a business startup and entrepreneurial campus. I managed a team of four, a 360 XR Room to conduct audio-visual artist projects and exhibitions, a Creators Lab garage, and a Music Studio powered by Beats by Dr. Dre.
Previously, when I worked with various artists and asked what they needed, the answers remained the same: education on access to funding, partnerships, powerful networks, and mentorship.
The intention was to create a hybrid Accelerator x Artist Residency program.
GOAL:
Outside the program: Inspire a new perspective on how artists are perceived, beyond music and conference stages, beyond the surface of their artistic practice.
Inside the program: Inspire artists to explore their creative entrepreneurial pursuits to evolve their research and practice. Obtain access to key industry contacts and investors by presenting their works, empowering and helping them explore, grow, and further develop new ideas, with advice from a pool of mentors
The program was built within an unconventional space to allow members, businesses, and important guests visiting the campus to learn, explore, and co-collaborate with multi-disciplinary creative technologists. We were able to initiate various talks, presentations, performances, and demos with artists within this unique space, and the program connected artists to nearly 50 global high-profile mentors from diverse industries, with occasional special guests from Founders to C-Suite teams to Startups & Unicorns and Fortune 500 businesses.
As a result, the program garnered global press & media coverage, funding, performance, and speaking opportunities for artists. The residency program helped accelerate artists’ new startups with research & exhibition works that have won awards such as the Lumen Prize, ADC, S+T+ARTS, Media Futures, and more.
FACTORY BERLIN x SÓNAR+D & BEATS BY DRE - ARTIST IN RESIDENCE PROGRAM
Factory Berlin’s Artist in Residence program supports artists exploring new lines of inquiry intersecting technology & society. We aim to discover, explore and showcase how creativity impacts innovation, problem-solving, work culture, how we collaborate, and how we come together as a community.
During their time on the residency artists collaborate, and craft installations and exhibitions, such as our ‘By Appointment Only 'series. Artists will perform, create, and exchange with the wider Factory Berlin community. The aim of the program is to facilitate dialog, partnership, and collaboration at the intersection of technology and exploratory arts. By focusing on this synthesis, the program empowers artists to create work that inspires shifts in perspective and cross-collaboration.
THE PROGRAM:
Help develop skills, competencies, and know-how, including how to adapt to digital technologies and the future of work.
Explore innovative approaches to audience and networks.
Enable international collaborations & enhance vour artistic exploration.
Access and be part of a powerful ecosystem and network of 6,000+ experts in science, tech, arts, music and politics.
PROVIDED:
1-year free Factory Membership
Private Artist Atelier, Music Lab, 360 XR Room
Mentorship from selected Jury Board members.
Press & Media features.
Content features & exclusives in our magazine & social media.
Network growth & paid project opportunities.
Selected works presented at Sónar+ D
THEMES & TOPICS:
Computational Creativity & Human-Machine Collaboration
Machine learning for visual art & sound
Creative voice experience design
Al experiments
Create bots & automation
Art, Robotics & DIY