Sarah Ellis is an award-winning producer currently working as Director of Digital Development for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) to explore new artistic initiatives and partnerships. She is PI for the RSC’s four-year AHRC-funded research programme exploring the future of artist-led research, which includes an International Interdisciplinary Fellowship programme, in collaboration with UK and US cultural and research organisations. Recent examples of R&D include exploring Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) to increase audiences’/game players’ sense of liveness, in partnership with Tender Claws (an award-winning art and games studio based in Los Angeles, including Stranger Things VR).
Prior to this Sarah led the £6.5m Audience of the Future Live Performance Demonstrator funded by Innovate UK – a consortium consisting of 15 arts organisations, research partners and technology companies to explore the future of performances and real-time immersive experiences. In 2016, she was awarded The Hospital Club and Creative Industries Council award for cross industry collaboration for her work on The Tempest in collaboration with Intel and in association with The Imaginarium Studios.
Sarah is a regular speaker and commentator on digital arts practice, as well as an Industry Champion for the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, which helps inform academic research on the creative industries to lead to better policies for the sector. In 2023, she chaired and led the AHRC CoSTAR (the convergent screen technologies and performance in realtime) application process and interview selection panel.
