Five consortia are starting two-year programs within ADRIE

Meet the five consortia that will start their two-year programs in 2026 and 2027 under the Artistic & Design Research for Immersive Experiences (ADRIE) scheme. 

The Creative Industries Fund NL has approved all five consortia that were selected in the first round of the scheme to implement their two-year activity programs. During the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) on January 31, 2026, the consortia presented their plans and engaged in discussions about their ambitions, themes, and collaborations. This demonstrates how artistic and design research can lead to new, immersive experiences. 

New consortia can soon apply in round 2A, which opens on March 30, 2026.

Discover how the five consortia are working on the future of immersive experiences.

HEFT: Heritage For The Future

HEFT investigates how immersive experiences can be sustainably preserved as cultural heritage. The consortium addresses challenges related to scalability, preservation, and onboarding. Through artistic and design research, new ways are developed to create, share, and preserve these experiences. The focus is on the audience's experience and the reuse of heritage. In this way, HEFT aims not only to support creators but also to increase the impact on the IX sector and the audience.

IX is such a broad concept: how do you describe immersive experiences?

We understand IX as experiences that bring together the real and digital worlds, as you experience a story with your physical body that unfolds spatially around you and allows multiple perspectives.

Shared Realities

Shared Realities aims to bring people together through shared immersive experiences. The consortium is starting a living lab where new forms of collective immersive art and a sustainable, physical exhibition culture are explored and developed. The focus is on experiencing stories together, rather than individual digital experiences. By bringing people physically together, Shared Realities aims to create space for meeting and connection. In this way, the consortium works towards a stronger ecosystem for joint production and presentation, and towards an audience that can experience and nurture immersive art together.

What is the greatest benefit or outcome of working within a consortium?

Immersive and interactive art is by definition interdisciplinary. By collaborating within a consortium with various stakeholders (creators, researchers, programmers and producers, locations and distributors), bottlenecks in the design, production, and distribution process become visible at an early stage. The diversity of expertise and perspectives sharpens thinking, increases mutual understanding, and strengthens bonds.

Thuis

Thuis (which means home) conducts research into immersive experiences (IX), where the body is central. Instead of seeing technology as an end in itself, the project explores how immersive experiences in (semi-)public spaces can contribute to a sense of connection, belonging, and feeling 'at home.' 'Home' is understood as an emotional relationship with a place or community.

"We do this from our own experience as creators of immersive experiences, which currently often involves a 'disembodied' approach. At the same time, from a societal perspective, we see an increasing urgency for connection and enrichment: a growing need to belong somewhere and experience a sense of home. We want to explore this need using immersive technology, where the body and physical presence once again play a central role." Tom Kortbeek (Fillip Studios).

What do you hope to improve or change within the IX field that is currently lacking? 

That we focus on the 'embodiment' of IX; the role of the body in the immersive experience. And that we can use technology not to create separation, but to facilitate a connection between people. 

Stage IX

Stage IX (of NINE) aims to better connect the Dutch IX sector by building an infrastructure that supports artists in creation, production, presentation, and education. The consortium organizes residencies and short projects in which both new and experienced artists and collectives collaborate. During these residencies, workshops, prototyping, and public activities are central, and artistic work is used to explore and share knowledge. This leads to new methods, sustainable talent paths, and ideas about better education, production, and audience engagement. Stage IX aims to bridge the gap between knowledge institutions and the professional creative field by offering a place for residencies and research into new art forms, thereby strengthening the currently divided Dutch IX sector.

What is the biggest advantage or outcome of working within a consortium?

The coming together and access to many areas of expertise and specializations under one roof, in other words, the pooling of all those strengths.

Futures of Listening

Futures of Listening explores new forms of immersive creation, experience, and knowledge sharing from the starting point of spatial sound. The consortium believes in the power of sound to create profound, immersive experiences that contribute to the enhancement of social and ecological awareness. Through four lines of research, focused on more-than-human experiences, experimental narrative forms, instrument development, and accessibility, artists and researchers work on new works, open tools, and shared methodologies. The program consists of a two-year residency program, workshops, public events, and community meetups. 

Futures of Listening contributes within the entire program to open knowledge sharing and the exchange between different communities and technical infrastructures. The consortium interweaves the idea of a polyphonic world, where human, ecological, and technological voices come together. What immersive listening means, and for whom, is not fixed: the program specifically examines which listeners are addressed or excluded, and how accessibility and inclusive design can open new perspectives on spatial sound.

IX is such a broad concept: how do you describe immersive experiences?

Within IX, the emphasis is often on visual technology. Sound offers something unique. Evolutionarily, it is our oldest instrument for orientation and emotional communication: 360 degrees, continuous, physical. Spatial sound can place you in ecological processes that seem inaudible, take you into a story without images, or open new ways of listening. We explore these possibilities from four lines that feed each other. We believe that similar immersive experiences can contribute to creating new connections with, and perspectives on urgent themes, and changing environments or relationships.