News: Creative communication and collaboration opportunities for EaPConnect partners at NPAPW19

Creative communication and collaboration opportunities for EaPConnect partners at NPAPW19

Using research and education networks to support real-time musical, dance and artistic education and performances is of growing interest to EaPConnect project partners. Opportunities for learning and new collaborations arose when twelve people from seven organisations in Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Estonia and Moldova participated in the 2019 edition of the Network Performing Arts Production Workshop (NPAPW19), which took place on 2-4 April in Prague, Czech Republic.

NPAPW19 was hosted by the Music and Dance Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU) with technical support from CESNET, and was sponsored by GÉANT and Internet2.

NPAPW19 provided to researchers, teachers, musicians, artists and technology developers a unique opportunity to learn about new developments in the use of technology-supported scenarios for distance learning and remote collaboration in performing arts and higher-education.

A two-day hackathon, organised for the first time at NPAPW19, allowed attendees to learn, experience and compare practical use and scenarios of LoLa (low-latency), UltraGrid and MVTP technologies for distance collaboration. Participants also could see and try for themselves advanced full immersive technologies, where real time communication is blended with virtual or augmented reality, permitting the creation of new forms of art.

“The tech & art hackathon included a series of exciting sessions, such as LoLa shows, UltraGrid updates, cyber performances, case studies on distance learning, etc. The impact of this event is multiple: articulation of new ideas, networking with colleagues from different institutions, unprecedented sound experiences, a new vision of how to match creation, education, research, communication and collaboration!”
Victoria Tcacenco, Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts (Chisinau, Moldova), Head of the European Integration and Academic Mobility Department

Apart from learning about what’s the current status of technologies and activities in the network-supported performing arts scenario, EaPConnect participants had a first-hand feel of what’s running, and what can be done also in the hands-on training sessions.

Given the current way that network connections run from EaPConnect countries to GÉANT, it is technically easy for them to collaborate with EU core countries. A request for more collaboration projects got an immediate answer, with the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (Vilnius, Lithuania) and HAMU to start working together. Discussions on possible collaborations were also initiated between representatives of Baku Music Academy (Azerbaijan), Zurich University of the Arts (Switzerland) and Edinburgh Napier University (UK) just to mention a few.

“Collaborations are created in occasions like NPAPW, when people meet, talk and discuss. We made as many as possible with direct introductions to other participants, so creating human networking and the possibility for them to find collaborations and enter into the large community.”
Claudio Allocchio, GARR, NPAPW19 Programme Committee Member

“It seems to me that this is the beginning of the most interesting development of online technologies that awaken new ideas of compositional creativity, which cannot be realized in past formats! This workshop created a very pleasant environment for creative communication and discovering a lot of interesting information, where everyone met old and gained new friends.”
Mihail Afanasiev, Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts (Chisinau, Moldova), composer, Prof. of the Faculty of Instrumental Arts, Composition and Musicology