Last month, we hosted a special stakeholder event to celebrate the launch of ReelBFD: Digital Arts, Bradford Stories, as part of the Bradford Digital Creatives project. The exhibition showcases the creativity of students from six Bradford schools working with professional digital artists to tell new stories about themselves, their pasts and their futures.
Guests enjoyed an exclusive preview of the exhibition, had the chance to meet the students and professional artists behind the work, and viewed the students’ own short films in the cinema.
A highlight of the evening was an interactive digital art experience led by artist Emma Tominey—capturing the project’s spirit of co-creation and collaboration through digital artforms. After exploring the exhibition, guests were invited to create their own animated word art on laptops, summing up their personal response to ReelBFD in just three words. These individual animations were collated into a single showreel and overlaid onto six large-scale posters of maps showing the six Bradford postcode areas where participating schools are based. The maps now come to life using Augmented Reality via the Artivive app (on phone or tablet), as guests’ word art animates over the city’s geography.
The AR posters are being distributed to the participating schools, giving them the chance to create their own interactive displays and bring digital art and storytelling directly into their school communities.
Try It Yourself!
Want to see the magic in action? It’s easy:
- Download the free Artivive app from the App Store or Google Play Store.
- Open the app and hover your camera over the map of BD3 below.
- Watch as guests’ feedback and reflections from ReelBFD transform into an animation!
About Bradford Digital Creatives
Bradford Digital Creatives is a two-year pilot project led by the National Science and Media Museum with partners including Born in Bradford (Age of Wonder), Bradford Council, Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, and Bradford Cultural Education Partnership.
Together, we’re working with over 1,800 teenagers across six Bradford schools to co-create artwork using 360-video, audio storytelling, videogames, and other digital forms. The project is part-funded by Arts Council England and will culminate in a public showcase as part of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture.
By introducing students to new artforms and professional artists, the project aims to expand cultural participation, develop digital talent, and help young people tell their own Bradford stories in new and exciting ways.
Discover the ReelBFD exhibition and the wider Bradford Digital Creatives project on our website.
Follow along using #ImADigitalCreative and #LetsCreate.
Excuse me can you tell me the name of the animation app plese