Ideate

Meet the Mentors

Ian Forrester – Senior Producer, BBC R&D

Ian Forrester is a well-known character on the digital scene in the UK and Europe. Living in Manchester, UK, he works for the BBC’s R&D Future Experiences team. He specialises in open innovation and new disruptive opportunities; by creating tangible value with open engagement and collaborations with start-ups, universities and early adopters. His current research is into the area of future narrative and storytelling, with a technology he calls Perceptive Media. It’s a new approach to broadcasting; which pairs the best of broadcast with the best of internet technology; creating a experiences like sitting around a camp fire telling stories. Ian is proud to have a non-traditional background in interaction design which he crossed over with development using XML & Semantic web technologies.

Meet the Mentors

David Johnston – Senior Product Manager AR/VR, BBC R&D

David Johnston joined BBC R&D in 2017. Prior to this he’s worked in film post-production on features such as Casino Royale, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them and The Chronicles Of Narnia. David studied Computer Science at the University Of Essex for a year followed by a BA in Film & Literature. Working in Future Experiences as the Senior Product Manager for Virtual & Augmented Reality, David is looking at how VR/AR and other immersive technologies can be applied to the BBC Public Service as well as enabling other areas of the BBC and the wider digital economy.

Meet the Mentors

Rose Kay – CEO, Immersive Storylab

Rose Kay is CEO of Immersive Storylab, a company making storyworld XR experiences. With funding from the Arts Council, Digital Catapult and InnovateUK, Immersive Storylab deliver projects exploring the potential of mixed reality to create innovative, imaginative cinematic-theatrical events which enchant outdoor locations and unexplored spaces with story. Rose is an award-winning international screenwriter (BAFTAs; Prix Europa; BBC2 Dennis Potter Award; Royal Television Awards etc.). She has worked with leading TV/Film companies, including Colombia, Sony, ITV, Netflix, and BBC Film. Current commissions include an original multi-episode family-noir with Hattrick/Mercurio Productions; and a BFI-commissioned feature film.

Having gained a PhD from The University of Manchester, studying the role of innovative storytelling in hybridized narratives, Rose has lectured all around Europe. Rose’s commitment to the environment, to mental health and wellbeing, and to social and cultural causes, underpins all her work.

Meet the Mentors

Paul Bason – Director of Digital Innovation, Manchester Metropolitan University  

Paul Bason has a background in managing complex multimedia projects for prestigious museums and galleries around the world.  This includes being Creative Director for the world’s largest audio-visual exhibit at Expo 2000 in Hannover. As Director of Digital Innovation at MMU he has responsibility for building relationships with broadcasters, agencies and other companies in the North West’s digital media sector. He has a particular interest in usability and service design and how these principles can be applied to harness technology for new approaches to education and economic growth. Paul is currently also leading aspects of the university’s new School of Digital Arts, a new £35m future media school due to open in 2021 and is a member of the board of Manchester Digital, the UK’s largest trade organisation for the digital sector.

Meet the Mentors

Sharon Clark – Creative Director, Raucous

Sharon is a playwright, dramaturge, producer and Creative Director of Raucous, a theatre company that fuses performance, music, film and creative technology. Until recently she was Literary Producer at Bristol Old Vic and has worked with Theatre 503, National Theatre Studio, the Arcola, the New Diorama, Theatre West, Bath Theatre Royal, Sherman Cymru and Watford Palace Theatre. In 2017 she worked with Aardman Animations on the BBC virtual reality film, Is Anna Okay? She is a resident at the Pervasive Media Studio, Associate Artist at the egg, Bath and lecturer at Bath Spa University. She was awarded a Bruntwood Judge’s Prize in 2017 and her plays have been shortlisted for the Yale Drama Prize, the National Theatre Playwright’s Award and the PapaTango Prize. In 2018 she was awarded a Fellowship with the South West Creative Technology Network exploring advancements in immersion and performance and in 2019 she was made a Royal Shakespeare Company/Magic Leap Digital Fellow.

Meet the Mentors

Alison Norrington – Founder, storycentral

Alison Norrington is a writer/producer, CEO, Founder & Chief Creative Director of storycentral, a London-based entertainment studio that incubates and develops ground-breaking transmedia properties with global partners in film, television, publishing and gaming. Alison is a best-selling novelist, playwright and screenwriter; over her 20-year career she has worked with and consulted to AMC, SundanceTV, Walt Disney Imagineering and FOX International. She is currently writing and producing a web-series with LA partners and working with emerging filmmakers in Sweden. Alison is the European Academy (EBU) Eurovision Transmedia Masterclass trainer and is a judge for a series of global media festivals including Banff World Media Festival, Canada Media Fund, Publishing Innovation Awards and Independent Production Fund (Canada) and Digital Emmy Awards. She is featured on the BAFTA Guru series and is a member of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, The Writers Guild of Great Britain, Women in Film & TV and the Romantic Novelists Association.

Meet the Mentors

Claire Tymon – Executive Director, FutureEverything

Claire is a creative entrepreneur who initiates and delivers creative urban projects and embeds co-design and participation at the heart of her practice. With a background in public art management, community regeneration and social enterprise, Claire has developed transferable skills in project management, fundraising, evaluation, partnership development. Since joining FutureEverything, a Manchester-based innovation lab for digital culture, Claire has taken a lead role in business development, fundraising and evaluation methodologies as well as embedding best practice in policy and programme management. Claire is co-founder of Placeshakers and is on the Board of Mid Pennine Arts (UK) and Sensorium Festival (SK).

Meet the Mentors

Irini Papadimitriou – Creative Director, FutureEverything

Currently Creative Director at FutureEverything, Irini Papadimitriou is a curator and digital culture manager. She was previously Digital Programmes Manager at the V&A and Head of New Media Arts Development at Watermans. Her exhibition, Artificially Intelligent, was on display at the V&A September to December 2018. She has been a co-curator for the Arts & Culture experience at Mozilla Festival, a co-founder of Maker Assembly, and a recipient of curatorial research programmes including MOBIUS (Finnish Institute), Art Fund, Mondriaan Fonds and British Council. She has served as a jury member for Ars Electronica, Lumen Prize, EU STARTS and ACM Siggraph.

Meet the Mentors

Jamie Finlay – CEO, We Make Audio

Jamie Finlay established We Make Audio in 2019 after ten years of working in music and sound design. His work has spanned multiple disciplines; from games and VR, to experiential design, film and installations. As a multi-instrumentalist, singer and sound recordist, Jamie has developed a unique practice that incorporates foley, found sounds, field recording, vocalisations, electronic and acoustic instrumentation. He is interested in driving an emotional experience and narrative through sound and music and in the convergence of audio technologies across mediums. His clients have included BBC, Channel 4, Marvel, Disney, LucasFilm, Warner Interactive, PlayStation, Nike and Google and his client list continues to grow as he takes on evermore challenging projects.