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 IN THE NEWS:
Arts Council England backs Digital Arts – and why that matters for Panivox, RichCast and our partners

  • Digital Arts is now an official ACE artform

  • Interactive storytelling just went mainstream

  • Why this matters for museums and RichCast

Arts Council England has just confirmed that Digital Arts will become its tenth supported artform, sitting alongside Theatre, Dance, Music, Visual Arts, Combined Arts, Museums, Libraries, Literature and Collections & Cultural Property.

 

From April 2026, Digital Arts will be recognised across ACE’s funding programmes, with a dedicated Digital Arts portfolio launching from April 2027.

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For anyone working at the intersection of culture, storytelling and technology, this is a watershed moment. For Panivox and RichCast – and for the museums, heritage sites and cultural organisations we collaborate with – it’s a powerful signal that interactive, story‑driven digital work is no longer a bolt‑on. It’s a recognised artform in its own right.

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Digital Arts: finally on equal footing

ACE’s decision doesn’t come out of nowhere. For years, artists and organisations have been creating work where digital technology is not just a delivery channel but the creative engine:

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  • Immersive installations and VR experiences.

  • Interactive, game‑based work and playful storytelling.

  • AI‑driven and data‑driven creative practice.

  • Socially engaged digital projects that live across devices and platforms.

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Until now, this kind of work has often been squeezed into existing categories – part “Theatre”, part “Museums”, part “Combined Arts” – which made it hard to describe, hard to measure and, crucially, hard to plan for strategically.

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By naming Digital Arts as a discipline, ACE is:

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  • Putting it on an equal footing with more traditional artforms.

  • Making it easier to see and evidence the scale of investment into digital practice.

  • Creating the conditions for stronger networks and communities of practice around digital creativity.

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For organisations experimenting with interactive guides, game‑like trails, AI‑enhanced interpretation or immersive storytelling, this recognition matters. It says: this isn’t a side project; it’s part of the future of our cultural ecology.

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Panivox's Interactive Henry VIII Picture Frame, at Mary Rose Museum

A perfect fit with Panivox and RichCast

Panivox and RichCast sit squarely inside ACE’s definition of Digital Arts: creative practice where digital technology fundamentally shapes how work is conceived, made and experienced.

RichCast was created by veteran game and narrative designers as a story engine for interactive, choice‑based experiences:

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  • Digital storytelling and game‑inspired trails for museums and attractions.

  • Interactive characters and “talking portraits” that visitors can genuinely converse with.

  • Immersive, branching narratives that live in the browser – no apps, no code for partners to learn.

  • AI‑supported, but always human‑authored, stories that can flex for different audiences and languages.

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That puts our work alongside the very forms ACE has highlighted: interactive and game‑based art, digital storytelling, immersive practice and AI‑inflected creativity. Recognising Digital Arts as an artform validates the idea that these aren’t just “tech projects” – they’re part of the cultural offer that funders, boards and audiences should treat as core.

Why this is good news for museums and heritage

For museums and heritage organisations, Digital Arts recognition isn’t about becoming tech companies overnight. It’s about having a clearer route to support, partners and funding for exactly the kind of work many teams already want to explore:

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  • Story‑driven digital layers that run before, during and after a visit.

  • Interactive games and trails that speak the language of younger audiences.

  • Experiments with AI and immersive storytelling that keep human interpretation firmly in charge.

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With Digital Arts in the portfolio, it becomes easier to:

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  • Position interactive storytelling and game‑like experiences in funding applications as artistic practice, not just audience development “extras”.

  • Connect with peers, consortia and programmes that are specifically focused on digital creativity.

  • Build long‑term plans for digital content that don’t sit awkwardly outside existing artform silos.

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For partners working with Panivox, it also strengthens the argument that a RichCast project is not simply “a bit of tech”, it’s a contribution to a recognised national artform that ACE has explicitly said is central to the future of creativity and culture.

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Panivox's ''Graphite Miner'', at Derwent Pencil Museum

How Panivox already works in this Digital Arts mindset

The way Panivox approaches projects is closely aligned with the direction ACE has set out:

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  • Story‑first, technology‑second
    We start with narrative, characters and visitor journeys, then choose the minimum tech needed to bring them to life.

  • No‑code, no‑app delivery
    Our interactive experiences run in the browser via QR codes or links, so organisations don’t have to commit to expensive hardware or complex platforms.

  • Human‑centred AI
    AI is used to enhance performance (voices, translations, responsiveness), while interpretation, tone and ethics are defined and approved with our cultural partners.

  • Low‑risk commercial models
    Revenue‑share and partnership approaches mean museums and cultural organisations can test new digital stories without heavy upfront costs, and scale what works.

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With Digital Arts moving centre stage at ACE, these ways of working are no longer on the margins – they’re exactly the kinds of models funders and sector bodies are looking to nurture.

A message from the Panivox leadership

Our CEO, Philip Oliver, has already welcomed ACE’s announcement, highlighting how important it is for digital storytellers, game makers and cultural organisations to be recognised as part of the same ecosystem.

He reflected that this move:

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  • Confirms that interactive and game‑inspired storytelling is a serious artistic practice, not a novelty.

  • Opens the door for deeper collaboration between studios like Panivox and museums, galleries and arts organisations across England.

  • Gives partners more confidence that investing in digital storytelling, whether that’s an interactive guide, a seasonal game like Billy Bunny or a full story world, is aligned with national cultural priorities, not a distraction from them.

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For Panivox and RichCast, Digital Arts recognition doesn’t change our mission – but it does change the landscape around it. It means the stories we’re helping to tell together, across museums, attractions and cultural venues, now sit inside a clearly named, nationally supported artform.

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That’s good news for us. Even more importantly, it’s good news for the museums, heritage sites and cultural organisations who want to experiment, be playful and reach new audiences without sacrificing depth, care or creativity.

Ready to see how Panivox can enrich your visitor experience?

Tap below and let’s explore what’s possible together.

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