More than 100 artists descended on RichMix arts centre in Shoreditch this week to take part in the second edition of Zealous X – a cross-cultural multi-disciplinary arts festival. Running until January 17, the festival aims to provide an immersive experience for audience members, as well as bringing people together to facilitate “dynamic conversations”.

The initiative for the festival comes from the creators of start-up Zealous which partners organisations with creative talent. 105 UK-based artists from fine art, design, film, gaming, interactive, music, performance and photography were selected by an independent panel of judges from over 1,000 applicants. Guy Armitage, CEO and founder of Zealous X, called the venue the “beating heart of creativity in London”.

The festival also aims to bring together a number of industry specialists from different backgrounds to discuss the newest technologies and trends. By putting on a diverse series of events, Zealous X wants to encourage collaboration and inspiration for the artists taking part and create cultural links between audience members.

Guy Armitage told Eastlondonlines: “One of the things that angers me about talks is that they seem to preach to the same people all the time, and they seem to be in conference halls where you’re not surrounded by the art you’re talking about. We wanted to make sure we had the art, we had the conversations, we had everything in one place.”

Zealous X is aimed at attracting audiences from different backgrounds.

Marketing Director Valentina Fois said: “There is a little bit for everybody, no matter what you love the most, you’re going to find it here.”