Australia Council embeds geeks within arts organisations

Stephen Withers
Friday, 07 May 2010 16:46

IT Industry - Strategy

'Artist in residence' programs are commonplace these days. More innovative is the 'geek in residence' program being run by the Australia Council for the Arts to help provide arts organisations with technical expertise.

A program run by the Australia Council for the Arts has helped provide technical expertise to nine arts organisations around the country.

The idea isn't about providing generic tech support, but to match specific technical skills with the needs of the host organisation.

"Of course we'll see some web development, taking the companies into the Web 2.0 realm," said Fee Plumley, manager of the Council's digital program.

"But, for example, we'll also see one of the geeks dusting off a 60 year archive of orchestral recordings – digitising it, repurposing it and bringing it off the shelf and back to life. Another will be working on electronic data interchange for literary publishers, another on an ambitious cross-platform project combining live and online performances," added Plumley.

Other projects involves the use of QR codes in books and book displays, and publishing to iPhones and iPads.

Why is Tasmania getting more than its share of geeks? Find out on page 2.