BOM (Birmingham Open Media) and Taran3D, two of the region’s leading teams for digital and inclusive innovation have announced that they will be joining forces from July 2023.
With a strong foundation of collaboration over the past few years, BOM and Taran3D will combine their vision to make socially impactful immersive experiences that are accessible to all.
Established in 2014, BOM is a creative technology hub that works with under-served communities to encourage innovation and creativity within society. Their superb reputation has been built through the development of projects including designing the technologies and original concepts for the Queen’s Baton for the 2022 Commonwealth Games and producing award-winning projects that have toured nationally and internationally including the Beholder VR experience by United Visual Artists and virtual pinball game Mood Pinball, commissioned by the Open Data Institute.
As an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, BOM has recently been awarded a 100% uplift in funding over the next three years in recognition of their work and future plans, as well as £250,000 from Paul Hamlyn Foundation to extend their STEAM schools engagement with Black children and young people. This follows BOM’s most recent announcement of a £50,000 Inclusive Innovation Award from Innovate UK to develop Hidden Kingdoms, an app supporting people with travel anxiety to make journeys from A to B.
Taran3D has enjoyed exponential growth over the past few years teaching and creating interactive experiences through 3D and immersive tech. With a strong reputation and expert knowledge across a range of sectors, they have enjoyed acclaim working on key projects such as animating Perry, the much-loved mascot of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games as well as being the createch team behind Leicester’s much-lauded Sikh War Memorial. Taran3D have also made exciting moves into the metaverse as part of the Colorintech Metaverse Creator Programme (supported by Meta) which was launched to give diverse founders space and support to build and grow within the metaverse.
A New Era
BOM and Taran3D’s relationship has grown through creative collaboration over the last three years, seeing the Taran3D team take up residence in BOM’s building. They recently worked together to deliver Open Worlds, BOM’s first Immersive Arts Bootcamp, giving diverse creative practitioners core skills with immersive technologies to develop work in AR, VR and games. The decision to officially welcome the Taran3D team into the BOM family has therefore been an easy choice to make.
Working as one, Taran3D joins BOM’s growing team to inject their interactive wizardry into BOM’s future projects. Taran Singh will take up the brand-new role of Chief Technical Officer to oversee the Immersive Studio team, working alongside BOM’s founder and CEO Karen Newman.
Taran3D will also bring a selection of innovative projects to develop including Calderdale College’s ground-breaking immersive training for social care, GetZero’s EdTech platform, designed to help GenZ and their families reduce CO2e household emissions and a new virtual reality narrative builder for Round Midnight to support the creation of their interactive VR experiences.
BOM Founder and CEO Karen Newman said “I could not be more excited about bringing Taran and his team into BOM, and seeing what we can achieve together. We share the same core values, in creativity, innovation and inclusivity, and are even stronger together. This is a huge moment of transformation for BOM, and I’m honoured to be shaping BOM’s future with such a talented and incredible team.”
Taran Singh, Founder of Taran3D added “We have loved building the Taran3D brand over the past few years but the opportunity to work under the BOM banner was too good to resist! Karen and the team have provided an awesome base for us to work from and merging our expertise with BOM’s vision is a very enticing and exciting time for us all.”
Team Expansion
As CTO, Taran Singh will lead BOM’s new Immersive Studio team which also includes Andy Wyer (Senior Developer), Daniel Hogan (Developer), Gurvinder Bisran (3D Specialist) and Marcus McCreadie (Immersive Trainer).
This new era of BOM coincides with other exciting appointments that see their core team double in size to increase the reach and impact of engagement, in preparation for wider expansion of the business which includes a major capital project.
New additions to the BOM team include the brilliant Mikayla Sinead who has joined as Community Manager to build audiences around BOM’s immersive projects, Paul Barnes, taking up the role of Head of Finance and Shobhit Sahota, as Finance and Administration Assistant. Marketing Consultant Jo Townsend will be overseeing comms during this hugely transformational period.
Professor Jonathan Shaw, Chair of BOM concluded “BOM’s new, supercharged team is a powerful proposition for inclusive innovation across the region. The timing of welcoming Taran3D on board acts as the perfect precursor for BOM’s ambitious plans to scale up their work and embark on an ambitious capital project in the future.”
