folly moving forwards

 

A virtual beacon of creative excellence:  North West digital organisation’s drive for artistic leadership

Embracing the challenge of a digital future, folly - the North West's leading organisation for digital culture - will set about making 2008 a significant year of change. folly are in the process of ‘putting into place far sighted plans that will contribute towards transformational change for the region’, says Chief Executive Taylor Nuttall.

At a time when the Lancaster-based charity is alive with ideas, and fresh from the success of VELOCITY – its festival of digital culture set in Morecambe Bay last autumn - folly has gathered audience statistics that reveal the extent of its success: an overall 250% rise from 2006. Successful projects such as What’s Cooking, Grandma?, the highly acclaimed ‘digi_club’ for the under-16’s, the virtual wishing tree ‘f.wish’, and the ‘Digital Artists Handbook’ saw 74% of folly's audience participation taking place online.

Chief Executive, Taylor Nuttall says: “This is a very exciting period for us, we are now confident of the relevance of the online space as a cultural destination in itself. Our detailed online analysis is showing that over ½ million unique visitors come to our primary website every year.”

folly is enjoying a three-year push to become a world centre for the creative linkage of arts and technologies.  Plans for the development of the organisation have been given added impetus by the decision of the BBC to relocate key departments from London to Salford Quays as part of ‘Media City’.

Professor John Hyatt, who heads up MIRIAD, the world-renowned Art, Design & Innovation research programmes at Manchester Metropolitan University and chairs folly’s Board of Directors, says:

“The charity’s great success as a nest of creative ideas means that it can now spread its wings beyond its original Lancaster base. In my many trips to China and elsewhere, I found folly’s fame was travelling almost as fast as the e-traffic it generates. VELOCITY, and folly’s other festivals of digital culture, have attracted top creatives from many countries to discover North West England for the first time. Given the pace of these developments, and of modern technological innovation, folly’s next step is to go beyond a single physical space to provide the whole of the Region’s population with a virtual fast track to development and application of world-class creativity.”

 

Ends

 

Note for Editors:

Taylor Nuttall can be contacted on 01524 388 550, or via taylor.nuttall 'at' folly.co.uk

Associated images to support this story are also available.

 

FAST FACTS:

2011 sees the 40th anniversary of the first e-mail and the 20th anniversary of the first web server and the 20th anniversary of the Linux, Open Source operating system.

folly’s Board include a number with strong global experience; Richard Denyer says:

"We feel that so long as communities, companies and philanthropists throughout the region take steps to support the charity, many enterprising partnerships are bound to result. Just as important is provision of a digital tool-box to open up possibilities for those of all ages who want to make journeys of self-discovery, whether from their home or with a more adventurous, outward focus. The ability to express oneself and communicate through concepts and images as well as words can make all the difference in leading a fulfilled life. E-society facilities like those provided by folly make this possible for anyone, whatever their personal circumstances."