Exploring AI within the Arts Sector with artdepot

Reason Digital has embarked on an exciting partnership with artsdepot to support their deliberate and responsible approach to AI (artificial intelligence) adoption. Over two days, in stunning venues across North and Central London, our co-founder Matt Haworth and digital strategist Mo Spargo led immersive AI workshops with staff, senior management and trustees — offering us a window into artsdepot’s collaborative culture and their commitment to inclusive decision-making. 

Setting the Stage: Mapping AI Attitudes 

The first workshop was with staff together with members of artsdepot’s senior leadership team. We started the day by delving into how everyone was feeling about AI. With everybody on their feet, we set some simple stage directions to guide attendees to position themselves on the stage (oh yeah — we were in an actual theatre!) where they feel they are with regards to their excitedness and experience with AI:  Stage left for excited, stage right for scared; upstage for the AI early adopters and downstage for those who had never used it before.  

Seeing people dotted across the entire stage was interesting but not at all surprising. Most organisations are likely to have a mix of proficient early AI adopters, willing experimenters, one-prompt wonders, and those who want to run and hide when they hear the word AI. This can be a really useful activity for senior leaders to identify who their AI champions are and who might benefit from some additional support, as well as considering their own position and preparedness for leading change in this realm. A lack of proficiency, or indeed enthusiasm for AI amongst professionals, is not uncommon. The Digital Leaders 2024 state of AI report found that just 7% of professionals in the US, UK and Canada demonstrate high AI proficiency, and six in ten companies reported their leadership teams feeling uncomfortable with AI. For artsdepot, this activity served as a great start to the day as colleagues felt comfortable voicing their concerns, attitudes and experiences when they realised there were others close by feeling the same way.  

From Backstage to Front of House: Exploring AI Applications 

The workshop was structured to include a mix of presentations, games and group work. Learning outcomes focused on introductory AI topics such as ‘what is AI’, ‘how AI works’ and ‘what AI can be used for’. Taking the learnings and inspiration from examples and demos provided during the presentation, we then facilitated the team to think about how AI could be used at artsdepot specifically. We first detailed and described the various teams at artsdepot, its audiences and the jobs and tasks that need to be done at the centre to make it thrive, before ideating over ways in which AI could potentially support such tasks.  

Some fantastic ideas were brought to the fore. Many were concerned with using AI to support ‘backstage’ tasks to gain efficiencies in how the centre operated, such as automation of repetitive or time-consuming tasks, like box office data entry and preparing board meeting minutes. True to their organisational vision of providing a creative space for all, we heard some wonderfully innovative and interesting ideas around inclusivity and accessibility in how audiences can experience events and performances at artsdepot. Other ideas proposed AI be used to support hiring and HR raising insightful questions about bias and privacy — setting us up perfectly for the afternoon’s presentation on ethics and AI.  

AI, ethics and charitable organisations 

Charities and pro-social organisations, in particular, need to weigh the potential opportunities offered by AI with ethical implications — both generally, given their unique position of public trust and social responsibility, and in areas unique to their cause area. Key considerations include ensuring AI systems don’t inadvertently discriminate against vulnerable populations they aim to serve, maintaining transparency about how AI influences decision-making, and protecting sensitive data about service users and donors.  

With a clearer idea around ethical considerations with respect to AI, participants at the artsdepot workshop then spent some time interrogating the ideas they’d come up with earlier in the day — delving into any risks or concerns specific to those use cases. Another consideration for charities is resource availability and allocation — while AI can improve efficiency, charities must balance digital investment against charitable expenditure, ensuring that AI adoption genuinely enhances their impact rather than diverting resources from their core mission. We spent some time at the end of the workshop with staff identifying what resources they might need to support AI implementation.  

The trustee perspective 

Any conversation about risk and resourcing naturally will require input and oversight from trustees, which is why Reason Digital recommends including trustees in any consultations and training concerning AI. Much like the staff and senior management, trustees are likely to have their own unique position and experience with AI — as well as being a great source of examples and advice on AI adoption from other industries. Artsdepot had very smartly taken heed of this advice and had purposefully planned a trustee away day for the very next day to explore AI with its trustees.  

With the first workshop with staff culminating in the creation of an AI canvas for artsdepot — a strategic overview of its audiences, teams, jobs to be done, ideas for AI together with identified risks and resourcing requests — the timing could not have been better to take this information to trustees for their review and input. This second workshop was held the next day at another epic venue (check out the view from the 17th floor of this central London office) and incorporated a mix of presentation, group work and discussion. With this group of participants being slightly more versed in AI as a group — hailing from a range of industries such as education, strategy consultancy, and law — our focus leaned towards how artsdepot should outwardly position itself with regards to AI and how it can safely yet innovatively implement AI at the centre. In smaller groups, participants prepared short statements of intent for AI at artsdepot— coming together to discuss and build upon the themes that emerged. A hot topic of discussion here was the role of generative AI in the creation of art itself.  

A roadmap for AI innovation 

The remainder of the workshop provided insight into the governance of AI, looking in turn at some of the steps artsdepot can take towards using AI responsibly. Creation and implementation of an AI policy should be high on the agenda, as should training as already discussed. It’s highly likely that some staff are already using AI in some capacity so guidance on what is and is not permittable is needed to help support teams to be able to experiment safely. Rounding off the day was a review of the work completed on the AI canvas and a discussion on what’s next for artsdepot with AI. We’re so excited to see what the future holds for them.  

With 2025 set to be a huge year for AI globally, kicking off the new year with these AI workshops has come at a great time for us here at Reason Digital as we make our own considered and deliberate moves towards embracing this exciting yet terrifying new way of working. 

Author’s Note: This blog post was written by our digital strategist, Mo Spargo.