Examples from the UK

Eric Whitacre is one of the most popular and performed composers of our time, a distinguished conductor, broadcaster and public speaker. He is currently Composer-in-Residence at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, UK. The Virtual Choir is a global phenomenon, creating a user-generated choir that brings together singers from around the world and their love of music in a new way through the use of technology.

It began in 2009 as a simple experiment in social media when one young woman recorded a video of herself singing Eric's “Sleep” and shared it on YouTube. Eric responded by sending a call out to his online fans to record themselves singing along to it, and upload the result. He was so impressed that he decided to record himself conducting ‘Lux Aurumque’, asking Virtual Choir members to sing along to that and the first Virtual Choir was created.

Now with more than fifteen million views, this phenomenon has reached all corners of the world, inspiring more and more singers to join each year. It has grown from 185 singers in the first choir to an amazing 8,409 videos for the fourth from 101 countries.

National Theatre Wales was founded in 2009 and has already established a reputation for pushing the boundaries of theatrical performance, hosting productions in a diverse range of locations, from forests and beaches to nightclubs and aircraft hangars.

Bordergame is set in a conceptual future in which England and Wales are separated by an enforced border control. The production featured both a live and an online audience, all in real time. In 2014 Bordergame won the Space Prize – a new, biennial digital theatre award presented by The Space and BBC Writersroom to encourage theatres across the United Kingdom to create a unique theatrical experience.

Since 1939 we have been collecting works of art, craft and design to promote abroad the achievements of the very best British artists, craft practitioners and designers. The Collection has no permanent gallery and has been referred to as a 'Museum Without Walls'. It has now grown to a collection of more than 8500 artworks, from paintings and prints, to drawings, photography, multi-media and installations and is used to create exhibitions for the Visual Arts Department's international touring exhibition programme. Artworks are also displayed in our cultural centres in over 100 countries around the world and a number are placed on long loan to museums and galleries overseas. The Collection was awarded the 2001 ARCO International Prize in recognition of its contribution to ‘promote, educate and inform about contemporary art’ on an international stage.

Recently, we joined with the Google Cultural Institute and we are now able to show our 'Museum Without Walls' collection through a virtual galery.

fiveFilms4freedom was the world’s first global, digital LGBT film festival. In partnership with the British Film Institute, and their BFI Flare film festival, we made five LGBT films available everywhere and hoped we’d reach people where they were most needed.

People from 135 countries watched these films, and they were even joined by online audiences from countries where being gay is illegal or punishable by death. During the festival we also used social media to talk about LGBT rights in countries around the world. Through this campaign we were able to reach 15 million people worldwide. By using digital channels we were able to reach many people that we wouldn't be able to otherwise.