Help CULTVR build the next seven years

Aim

Support our immersive arts centre and help keep artists, ideas and audiences under the dome.

Seven years ago, we set out to build something that didn’t exist in the UK: a permanent home dedicated to immersive arts, where artists could develop new work, access specialist technologies and share ambitious ideas with audiences.

Since then, CULTVR has become a not-for-profit home for digital art, music, film, performance, workshops, festivals, education, experimentation and international exchange, alongside many incredible shared moments under the dome.

But CULTVR has never been just a venue. At the heart of what we do is creative development. We give artists the space, technology, expertise and time to explore ideas that can be difficult to realise anywhere else. As artists ourselves, we know first-hand how important it is to have somewhere to experiment before an idea becomes a finished piece of work.

Every week, we hear from creators across Wales, the UK and around the world, from people taking their first steps into immersive practice to internationally established artists looking to explore something new. We try to support as many of them as we possibly can, but as an incredibly small team we simply don’t have the bandwidth or resources to achieve the scale of impact we know our arts centre could provide.

So, how does all of this happen?

Looking at everything CULTVR does, you might assume there must be substantial financial backing behind it all, a secure stream of ongoing public funding, angel investors… or perhaps even a lottery win.

There isn’t.

CULTVR is proudly artist-led and pioneering. That has given us the freedom to innovate, respond to new ideas and continually explore what an immersive arts centre can be.

But being a pioneer comes with its own challenges. We created a model that didn’t previously exist in the UK, bringing together artistic development, production, training, technology and public presentation of immersive arts under one roof.

That cross-disciplinary approach is one of our greatest strengths, but it can also mean we sit between traditional funding models and structures.

We are not simply a cinema, gallery, grassroots music venue, production studio, training centre or creative technology facility. CULTVR sits across all of these things, and more. That is one of our greatest strengths, but it also means we don’t always fit neatly into traditional funding models.

And sometimes, when you sit between the boxes, you fall through the gaps…

This year, those gaps have become particularly difficult to navigate. Our operating costs have risen significantly, while ticket income and the project funding we rely on have fallen substantially. So, as CULTVR turns seven, we are asking our community to help us protect what has been built and give us some breathing room to keep moving forward.

We know things are difficult for many people, so please only contribute if you are able to. But if CULTVR has meant something to you, whether you have experienced a show, developed work here, danced under the dome, attended a workshop or simply believe that a place like this should exist in Cardiff, any contribution, large or small, will make a genuine difference.

What makes CULTVR different?

CULTVR is artist-led and built from the ground up by the people who run it.

We didn’t inherit a venue or set up as part of a cultural institution. We created the space from scratch, gradually transforming an empty building into a specialist centre for immersive arts.

Since then, we have continually reinvested what we earn back into CULTVR, developing our spaces, technology and infrastructure while building the specialist knowledge needed to create and present ambitious immersive work in Wales, and take that work out into the world.

Along the way, CULTVR has developed its own slightly unexpected character. We’ve lost count of the number of visitors who’ve walked in and told us they feel like they’re in Berlin! We always take that as a compliment, as we love that something created here in Wales can feel experimental, a little unexpected and connected to a much wider international creative community.

And because being future-facing shouldn’t just be about having lots of exciting technology, we try to think about the planet too. Sustainability has been part of CULTVR’s development from the beginning, and we’re always looking for ways to do things better. We have more than 200 solar panels quietly doing their bit on our roof, and continue to explore how creative practice and emerging technologies can contribute to a more sustainable future.

What began as an ambitious experiment has become something much bigger: creative infrastructure for artists, audiences and ideas.

And after seven years of building it, we want to make sure it is here for the next seven.

What will your support pay for?

We have set an initial target of £7,500 for a very simple reason: that would help us towards covering our rent and utilities for October.

It might not sound as exciting as a new immersive installation or a spectacular show, but keeping a building like CULTVR running is what makes all of those things possible.

One month of those fundamental costs being covered would give our small organisation valuable breathing room. It would allow the income we generate through tickets, hires and other activity to go further towards our team, artists, programme and the work audiences actually experience.

So whether you can contribute £5, £20, £50 or more, every donation becomes part of something very tangible: relieving the pressure for one month.

Our Journey

CULTVR began with a simple but ambitious idea: to create a home in Wales where art, technology and people could come together in completely new ways.

When we opened in Cardiff in 2019, there was nothing else quite like it in the UK or across Europe. Seven years later, CULTVR has grown into a recognised centre for immersive arts, connecting artists and audiences in Wales with a rapidly developing international creative field.

In that time, we have welcomed more than 150,000 people through our doors and presented over 800 immersive performances, screenings and events.

Our spaces have hosted everything from live music, dance and theatre to 360° cinema, spatial sound, exhibitions, workshops and festivals. We have welcomed students and emerging talent, created opportunities for artists and freelancers, and enabled people to experiment with specialist technologies that can otherwise be extremely difficult to access.

And what happens here doesn’t stop at our doors.

Work created and developed at CULTVR has travelled internationally, reaching audiences around the world and receiving international recognition and awards. At the same time, artists have travelled to Cardiff to create, experiment and share their work with audiences here.

All of this has grown from an independent, not-for-profit organisation in Cardiff that has continually reinvested in its space, people, technology and programme.

Seven years ago, CULTVR was an idea.

Today, the building is here. The technology is here. The expertise is here. The artists are here. And, most importantly, our audiences are growing month on month. With two new immersive spaces set to launch in the near future, we have big plans for what comes next.

That is what we are asking you to help us protect, and help us carry it into our next birthday.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 8th October 2026 at 5:43pm