A WINCHESTER arts project has scooped a £30,000 grant.

Staff at the University of Winchester received the cash from the Wellcome Trust in order to develop an iPad app for children.

The app, still under development, will complement the Your Vivacious Voice project which is inspiring six to 11-year-olds through two interactive art installations: the Voice Trunk at Winchester Science Centre and the Uluzuzulalia touring children’s performance.

Uluzuzulalia invites children inside two hi-tech performance tents where they participate in number of interactive audio-visual experiences, such as filling bubbles with sound to make them tremble, or creating a beat box dance party using their voices.

The scheme is spearheaded by Dr Yvon Bonenfant of the university’s Faculty of Arts.

She said: “During the development of Uluzuzulalia, we tested a number of different uses of interactive digital technologies to encourage children to use their voices in ways other than standard singing.

“From these experiments, we developed a concept for an iPad app that would bring some of the exciting elements of this performance into children’s homes or classrooms.

“There has been a historic overlooking of the development of high quality artwork for children that borrows from the discoveries and aesthetic progress made by contemporary performance and music. These projects aim to create high quality artistic experiences that are audience and user-driven.”

The app will be available for free download from iTunes early in 2014 to coincide with the Uluzuzulalia tour, which launches at the Theatre Royal Winchester from February 1-14, 2014.

The musical development and advocacy agency Sound and Music will also be sharing the app with primary school teachers from January 2014.