May 2023 Roundup: Racquet Studios to be unveiled next week!
By Sarah Cronk
It's great seeing our town come alive again for summer, especially with the fantastic recent Eastbourne Carnival celebrating Sussex by the Sea, headed up by Mina O'Brien (who'll be exhibiting at Eastbourne DigiFest with her company Ditzy Media). Well done to all involved for coming together to make it a success!
Racquet Studios to be unveiled with a live virtual production demo
Racquet Studios, the extraordinary virtual film production studio located by the sea in Eastbourne, will soon be unveiled with an exciting launch event at 6pm on Tuesday 6th June.
Join the Racquet Studios team for this free exclusive event, which will include demonstrations and hands-on opportunities in a full virtual production stage with both green screen and LED volume solutions. The team will demonstrate innovative techniques and technologies that are transforming the film and content-making industries and democratising content production!
The event will feature presentations and Q&As with VP technicians, a guided journey through the world of VP with custom-made 3D assets, and networking drinks. Expect an evening of immersive, theatrical fun, focussing on the wonderful world of real-time virtual production.
Located in Eastbourne’s prestigious Devonshire Quarter, home to the Eastbourne International Tennis Tournament and the award-winning Towner Art Gallery, Racquet Studios is one of the UK’s foremost dedicated independent facilities for virtual film production, education and specialist research and development. This remarkable facility transcends the boundaries between technology and art, offering an unparalleled experience that defies imagination.
The facility has been developed to support existing businesses and production companies through technical innovation to produce world-class creative content while developing a progressive creative economy to encourage investment, developing education and skilled year-round jobs in the region.
A Chat With: Donna Fielder and Sarah Cronk at Switchplane
Over the next couple of months, we’re focusing on sharing stories from our Eastbourne DigiFest sponsors - those whom the event simply couldn’t happen without.
First up - in what could be seen as a bit meta! - Donna and Sarah at Switchplane, the 20-year-old custom software company behind Chalk Eastbourne and Eastbourne DigiFest, shared their thoughts on the upcoming digital event and Eastbourne.
"Our company's growth was being hindered by a lack of good talent. It’s an industry-wide problem, we know, but this is also compounded by Eastbourne not exactly having a thriving reputation as somewhere people can have an exciting digital career.
“It made sense to hold an event that could start to dispel some of the myths about what it’s like to live and work here. We need to shout loud as an industry collective and get the town the attention it deserves."
All this and more in our latest interview...
Eastbourne DigiFest is sponsored by Switchplane, FOUNDRY, the Birchwood Group, and East Sussex College. To find out more about sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities, check out our Supporters page on eastbournedigifest.com.
Latest DigiFest speakers revealed!
We're thrilled to announce an exciting line up of 24 confirmed speakers for Eastbourne DigiFest (so far)!
Our wonderful speakers, from Eastbourne and beyond, will be covering everything from tech start ups and business growth to AI and cybersecurity - with a splash of careers, recruitment, dev and marketing skills thrown in for good measure. There's something for everyone interested in digital, whether you have a technical, operational, or business focus.
The latest speakers in our line up include:
Tech and entrepreneurship consultant Amali de Alwis MBE, who was awarded her MBE for services to diversity and training in the tech industry and was once named Computer Weekly's "Most Influential Women in UK IT".
Phillip Fumey, digital strategist and Client Technology Lead at Microsoft, who is passionate about innovative tech.
Simon Skinner from Racquet Studios, introducing film technology in Eastbourne.
COADEC's Charlie Mercer, heading up a panel session on how Eastbourne can take its tech ecoystem to the next level.
Dan Wallman (TechNative Digital), leading an education panel session with Talent Accelerator's Kim Byford and East Sussex College's Donna Harfield.
More details to follow...!
One last thing...
If you are frequently working on innovative projects in science and technology, you'll probably already be aware of R&D Tax Relief.
But since 1st April 2023, the steps needed to make a claim have changed - you'll now need to submit a claim notification form to HMRC in advance of your claim.
From 1st August 2023, you'll also need to submit additional information to support your claim.
Find out more about the changes and how to claim Corporation Tax relief on the .gov.uk website.
