Royal Shakespeare Company to help firms develop new uses for technology

RSC/PA Media A large red-brick building on the riverside with grey clad sections. Boats can be seen on the right of the picture. There are parasols on a terrace overlooking the river. Pedestrians walk along a river path.RSC/PA Media

The Royal Shakespeare Company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, previously explored live performance and gaming technology in Dream

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is to help tech firms, among others, incorporate new technologies such as virtual reality in live events and multi-platform content.

The CreaTech Frontiers project has attracted a £6.75m government investment.

It is being led by Birmingham City University, working with the RSC and other universities in the region.

The theatre company is expected to lend its expertise in live performance to help organisations in the creative sector find news ways of using cutting edge technologies.

These are expected to include artificial intelligence and immersive content, which the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) said would “revolutionise creative productions”.

Research projects in the region will also look at how 3D modelling and animation techniques can be used to create engaging, immersive material.

It comes two days after the government announced RSC Chair Baroness Shriti Vadera would help lead the Creative Industries Council – an organisation that links up government, firms and public bodies involved in the UK’s creative sector.

grey placeholderRoyal Liverpool Philharmonic Fawn brick building with engraved glass of 3-storey height with receding tiers of parapets. Symmetrical front: between semi-circular stair turrets and a canopied entrance are 7 large vertical metal windows separated by piers topped by jagged abstract motifs.Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic will work with the MusicFutures cluster, which will fund training in innovative technologies

The RSC will also collaborate with US-based tech and media festival South by Southwest in a number of research pilot projects.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the funding would support training, research and development across a range of creative projects “using new technology and driving growth”.

“Talent is everywhere but opportunity is not,” she said.

The RSC previously used motion-capture technology in 2021 for a performance of Dream for remote audiences during the pandemic.

The CreaTech Frontiers partnership will also involve the Birmingham Opera Group, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.

grey placeholderPA Media Nandy has long dark hair and is wearing an orange blouse and navy jacket with a poppy pin on the lapel. She is walking outside past a grey stone column.PA Media

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said government support for creative industries exploring new technology would support “imagination and experimentation”

A further £6.75m has also been allocated to Liverpool’s combined authority’s academic and private sector programme, the MusicFutures cluster.

Working with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and the Liverpool M&S Bank Arena, the cluster will fund training for musicians, teachers and business using technology to make the “live music sector more environmentally sustainable”.

This could mean building simulated environments as well as having computer-generated creations.

Nandy said: “Liverpool and Merseyside hold a special place in our nation’s music landscape and this funding will support imagination and experimentation across the city and region.

“Birmingham and the West Midlands have a rich industrial history, and we are putting them at the forefront of a potential new industry developing the amazing technology that will revolutionise visual effects in film, theatre and gaming.”

Source link

Leave a comment