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Digital Transformation - Next Stage © FEDORA © i
Digital Transformation On, Behind, & Beyond the Stage
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09 May 2024
FEDORA's Activities
FEDORA encourages the seamless blend of traditional art forms with cutting-edge digital innovations. Through our supported digital projects and initiatives, we explore the creative possibilities of digitally interactive elements embedded within opera and dance, that push artistic expression and open up new avenues for creativity, audience engagement, and immersive experiences that transcend boundaries beyond the stage.
Our funding programs celebrate projects that embody digital transformation, encouraging the creation of artworks that revolutionise the sector, using technology as a tool to overcome barriers and engage new audiences in immersive installations and performances.
Some FEDORA Prize Winners showcase projects that embody this commitment, by raising awareness about the importance of technology, the good and bad of its integration into our daily lives, and the possibilities it has created for artists, creatives, technicians, and audiences at once.
Similarly, our Next Stage Grants Recipients have utilised their funding to develop digital tools that facilitate accessibility and inclusion, and enhance efficiency on, behind, and beyond the stage. These projects help set new industry standards by sharing their technologies or by initiating replicable changes that create a ripple effect to shape the cultural landscape as a whole.
Furthermore, our Next Stage Capacity-Building initiatives help build a community of innovators committed to digital innovation. We organise, in collaboration with our expert partners, online workshops and seminars that connect artists and creatives to industry experts, initiating dialogues related to technological possibilities and sharing of best practices.
On the other hand, our Platform Members are invited to create annual Roadshows within their own communities that serve as forums for exchanging best practices and forging collaborations centered around technology in the arts, amplifying the impact of our collective efforts.
Discover all the FEDORA Prize winners, Next Stage Grants Recipients, capacity-building workshops, and Platform Members’ Roadshows that tackle and are centered around digital transformation on, behind, and beyond the stage.
FEDORA Prize Winners
The Sound Voice Project - Britten Pears Arts
The Sound Voice Project: Exhibition V: An immersive digital-opera installation created with partners in healthcare, technology, science and biomedical research, and people with lived experience of voice loss. Dynamic integration of voices from across the globe in an ever-changing and evolving work of art.
Out of the Ordinary - Irish National Opera
Out of the Ordinary harnesses the creativity and life experience of diverse Irish communities that currently have little or no connection to opera. It uses cutting edge technology as a tool to distil and present their stories. It results in the world’s first ever VR community opera.
Laila - Immersive Installation - Finnish National Opera and Ballet
Laila invites the audience to shape her reality and the world of the future together with artificial intelligence.She challenges us to encounter our hopes, fears and anxieties related to technology and the unknown tomorrow.
FEDORA Next Stage
XR Stage
The “XR Stage” project aims to develop a functional digital twin of the physical opera stage. The purpose is to modernize the production process of the performances from the artistic design work and decision-making, to engineering and manufacturing, and all the way down to stage operations during rehearsal period. Virtualization of the stage addresses several topics around the artistic quality, operational efficiency, and sustainability of the productions. Virtual model illustrates the set in its final form, and it can be processed further on-line without need for travel. It is a reliable input for engineering and provides early access to the scenes for the lighting and projections’ design.
ISOLDE - Irish National Opera
A transformative digital project that aims to revolutionise the presentation, sustainability and access of opera through the medium of Street Art Operas that explore climate change. They are a unique blend of opera, street art & animation, presented as outdoor video & sound installations projected onto buildings. These presentations of Street Art Opera to date have been remarkably successful and fully subscribed, but have been limited in scale because of the current technology options available.
FEDORA Next Stage Capacity-Buiding
© FEDORA i
Next Stage Capacity-Building Workshop on Digital Transformation 2023
On this occasion, the participants had the opportunity to learn more about what constitutes “value” in the digital realm for the Performing Arts: generating revenue, developing audiences, engagement with communities, innovation, inclusion or a combination of these and other values? These questions assume new urgency in light of the Covid 19 pandemic’s impact on live performances. Opera and dance companies have to reassess how they will create and deliver new work to audiences in the future.
© FEDORA i
Next Stage Capacity-Building Workshop on Digital Transformation Platform Members 2022
FEDORA held a full-day workshop in collaboration with Expert Partner IMZ - International Music + Media Centre, to tackle the Challenges and Opportunities brought forth by creative digital transformation. On this occasion, the participants had the opportunity to exchange with seven industry experts who presented the challenges faced in their respective organisations and projects. The session attendees also had the opportunity of discovering two projects where digital innovation is at the core of the creative process.
FEDORA Platform Members, Roadshows
XR Stage: A New Era in Designing for the Stage - FINNISH NATIONAL OPERA AND BALLET
XR Stage is set to transform the world of stage design. This groundbreaking virtual design tool for large-scale stage productions empowers artistic teams to create photorealistic digital twins of any stage set, providing time for testing and experimenting from proof-of-concept onwards. Beyond streamlining production design, XR Stage opens the door to find ways to enhance the audience experience and deliver maximum operational safety.
Thessaloniki International Fair - GNO TV - GREEK NATIONAL OPERA
Greek National Opera offered HELEXPO visitors a thoroughly interactive opera experience. As part of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports’ Culture Tech arts initiative, the GNO presented its digital stage – the GNO TV online platform – by means of large scale (5.5m x 3.5m) projections, screened as part of the roadshow it installed at the trade fair.
O. Conference: Opera. Music. Theatre. And Technology - O. FESTIVAL FOR OPERA. MUSIC. THEATRE
This conference aimed at presenting the innovations and new productions using technology in their performances. Leading artists from all over the world were able to present their works which are at the intersection of voice and tech: synergetic light installation, experimental sound practitioners, VR and more.
The Magic Flute by director Miroslav Krobot - NÁRODNÍ DIVADLO BRNO
The first opera directed by actor and drama director Miroslav Krobot, The Magic Flute, premiered in Národní divadlo Brno. At the core of the production, there were modern digital technologies, sustainability in set and costume design, and a new artistic concept of a classical opera piece.
Podcasts by the State Theatre Prague - STATE THEATRE PRAGUE
Prague National Theatre produced podcast episodes (in Czech) on Opera performances and Theatre plays. Each podcast episode dwells on a performance/piece or on a theme related to the sector of performing arts and its professionals, including experiencing and searching new dimensions in using AI in creative process.
Opera Beyond Conference 2022 - FINNISH NATIONAL OPERA AND BALLET
Opera Beyond Conference - the possibilities of new technology in opera and ballet, AI, volumetric video, mocap, spatial sound, 3D projections, Metaverse as a creative space, adding interactivity to performance, culture’s impact in society and, in short – the future of performing arts.
#thedigitalstage - FESTIVAL D'AIX-EN-PROVENCE
Festival d’Aix-en-Provence is inaugurating its “Midis du Festival” (“Midday at the Festival”) series. These free public events are recorded and displayed on #thedigitalstage through podcasts.
Albert Herring Premiere & Next Stage Grants - POZNAN OPERA HOUSE
General Manager of the company, introduced the Next Stage initiative to attendees during a special event, emphasising three development paths, three challenges for opera companies to work together for a better future – sustainability, inclusivity and digital technologies.
