Our partners

XR Stories benefits from strong partnerships with the following organisations who support and guide our work. Find out more about XR Stories itself on the about us page.

Screen Yorkshire

Screen Yorkshire champions the film, TV, games and digital industries in Yorkshire and the Humber. Its aim is to secure and support the very best projects, companies and individuals, helping to make Yorkshire and the Humber one of the most sought-after destinations for the screen industries in the UK. 

Screen Yorkshire offers production financing through the Yorkshire Content Fund (YCF). Since it launched the YCF in February 2012, Screen Yorkshire has invested in 40 film and TV projects, including: Hope Gap, Official Secrets, Ackley Bridge, Dark River, Yardie, Ghost Stories, Journeyman, Dad’s Army, Swallows and Amazons, Testament of Youth, ’71, National Treasure, The Great Train Robbery, Peaky Blinders, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and Hank Zipzer.

Screen Yorkshire has been leading the development of the Yorkshire Screen Hub, a cluster for the screen industries, which was recognised by the BFI in 2016 as the first awardee of funds from the Creative Cluster Challenge Fund to develop a growth plan for the industry in the region. Screen Yorkshire also works with ScreenSkills, local authorities and the education sector to develop talent by designing and delivering industry training schemes.

British Film Institute (BFI)

The BFI is the UK’s lead organisation for film, television and the moving image. It is a cultural charity that curates and presents the greatest international public programme of world cinema for audiences in cinemas, at festivals, and online. 

The BFI cares for the BFI National Archive – the most significant film and television archive in the world, actively seeks out and supports the next generation of filmmakers, and works with Government and industry to make the UK the most creatively exciting and prosperous place to make film internationally. Founded in 1933, the BFI is a registered charity governed by Royal Charter. The BFI Board of Governors is chaired by Josh Berger CBE.

Arts and Humanities Research Council

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), which is part of UK Research and Innovation, provides funding for world-class, independent researchers for a variety of subjects including: archaeology, the creative and performing arts, design, digital content, heritage, history, languages, philosophy and much more.

In the 2019 financial year the AHRC funded approximately £98 million on research and postgraduate training in collaboration with a number of partners. The quality and range of research supported by this investment of public funds not only provides economic, social and cultural benefits to the UK, but contributes to the culture and welfare of societies around the world.

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)

The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), allocated by the European Union, is designed to strengthen the economy in the EU by funding targeted areas with the aim of correcting economic and social imbalances between regions.

The EU focuses ERDF spending on smart and sustainable development, and is part of the EU’s goal to ‘reduce economic, environmental and social problems in urban areas, with a special focus on sustainable urban development’.

XR Stories is funded as a part of ERDF’s digital agenda, to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). As an ERDF-funded initiative, XR Stories has a remit to be a part of improving and developing the creative economy in the Leeds City Region.