StoryFutures Academy: The National Centre for Immersive Storytelling
About
StoryFutures Academy is the new National Centre for Immersive Storytelling run by the National Film and Television School and Royal Holloway, University of London and funded by the government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.
The Academy will develop cutting-edge creative training and research programmes in immersive storytelling to ensure the UK creative workforce is the most skilled in the world in the use of VR, AR and MR. We believe story is the missing link and the key to unlocking audience engagement in immersive and will enable content creators to engage new audiences.
StoryFutures Academy will work with established storytellers including Sir Lenny Henry, Asif Kapadia, Alex Garland and Sarah Gavron to help them experience and exploit opportunities in immersive storytelling through a series of immersive labs, writer’s rooms, work placements and co-funded productions.
The Programme
The centre will aim to bring about an immediate step-change in the core screen sector’s engagement with immersive narrative forms, developing a national base of creative and commercial talent that can establish the UK
as a world-leader in this sector.
The centre will work to identify skills-gaps and construct courses that bring together higher education and industry to response to these. Diversity will be embedded in the training approach to make sure the full breadth of UK talent in immersive. A next generation of talent who are fluent in immersive storytelling techniques will have access to an alumni network of talent and companies to fully develop their creative careers.
A core aim of the centre is the development of a diverse and experienced base of trainers skilled in the cross disciplinary art of immersive storytelling who are able to develop a talent pipeline long after the funding period has ended.
In line with these goals, the project aims to establish a national CICP Network for Immersive Excellence.
The Partnership
The project is set to evolve through a partnership between National Film and Television School and Royal Holloway, University of London.
They will be working alongside world-leading partners from immersive theatre (Punchdrunk), gaming (UK Games Fund), film (BFI), television (Sky), performance capture (Imaginarium Studios), virtual reality (Rewind VR), equipment manufacturers (Sony Interactive Entertainment, HTC Vive) and immersive experts (Digital Catapult), along with leading writers, performers and directors.