Bridging the Gaps 2022 Symposium
Bridging the Gaps' symposium on UK-China Digital Performance and Creative Industries takes the 28th and 29th of October. It would be the first time since COVID all partners are gathering. The symposium is centred on how experimental digital work seeks to breakdown and merge the conventional creative industries’ sectors of film, theatre, music, festival, gaming, museum, heritage and tourism, fashion and crafts to develop a new online digital experience. This new online digital experience is increasingly significant due to the shifts in consumption prompted by the Covid pandemic; with increasing creative engagement being facilitated through online formats. Therefore, panellists will be encouraged to discuss core issues surrounding digital performance in the wake of the Covid pandemic, with particular focus on the implications of integrating mixed reality formats into conventional creative production.
Bridging the Gaps was awarded in February 2020, but due to the pandemic the project was postponed, and following re-application and approval from AHRC, is officially granted to restart from late October 2022. In response to shifts in the global creative economy, the project has adapted it’s aims and objectives to enable greater insight into interactions between global consumption patterns and the ever-changing digital landscape. The project will see the development of three products. These products will be comprised of three digital performances intended to establish and develop a ‘creative chain’ between UK and China-based audiences, institutions, and digital companies. In the wake of disruption prompted by the Covid pandemic, the symposium will also centre on re-connecting all partners and establishing clear direction for future collaborations.
Project partners who will contribute to the symposium are:
- Shanghai Theatre Academy
- East China University of Political Science and Law (ECUPL)
- Shanghai Arts Research Institute (SARI)
- Shanghai Pudong Municipal Government
- Shanghai Yue Opera House
- Shanghai Textile Museum
- Human VR
- Megaverse
- Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre
- Leeds Playhouse
- Leeds City Council
- University of Leeds
The symposium will be opened with speeches by Josh Moulding, UKRI AHRC Senior International Partnership Manager and HUANG Changyong, President of Shanghai Theatre Academy.
Digital Performance and the UK-China Creative Industries, Bridging the Gaps symposium took place on the 28th and 29th October 2022. The event saw the gathering of all project partners from across the UK and China to share and discuss next stage of Bridging the Gaps project in the post-pandemic digital landscape.
Josh Moulding, UKRI AHRC Senior International Partnerships Manager, outlining AHRC’s current creative industry funded projects, including Bridging the Gaps, expressing a keen interest in continuing to develop partnerships and collaboration with China.
MA Haili, Associate Professor in Performance and Creative Economy and Principal Investigator of Bridging the Gaps gave a project recap, including a run-through of the project's key aims and objectives, and updates on the Song: The Future project. This is followed by HUANG Changyong, the President of Shanghai Theatre Academy to give a keynote introducing the UK-China Creative Industries Hub that is currently under development at Shanghai Theatre Academy; the Hub is aimed to facilitate research innovation and the formation of new partnerships and collaborations between UK and China.
YU Rongjun, of Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre, then provided insight into the current performances at the Centre and the issues faced during the development and distribution of digital performance production.
Nick Bax, Creative Director at HUMAN, Chris Sharp, Keeper at Leeds Industrial Museum, JIA Yiliang, Deputy Director at Shanghai Textile Museum, YANG Zi, Senior Research Fellow at Shanghai Arts Research Institute and Scott Palmer, Associate Professor at University of Leeds, each providing insight into their respective experiences of creative production and navigating challenges in the increasingly digitalised creative economy. Chris’ presentation is accompanied by a short film created by the Bridging the Gaps volunteers, to demonstrate the experiences of visitors engaging in the Song: The Future performance at Leeds Industrial Museum.
Key reflection was how content aesthetics and audience expectations vary between the UK and China, and how to navigate bridging between these varying markets. This discussion marked the end of the first day of the symposium and all in-person attendees then enjoyed a quick lunch before heading to Leeds Industrial Museum to experience the Song: The Future performance and then watch the Song of the Female Textile Worker film in the cinema room.
On the second day of the symposium we launched straight into the presentations prepared by the topic presenters. The seven presenters of the day included: LIU Zhixin, Professor at Shanghai Theatre Academy, WANG Rousang, star performer at Shanghai Yue Opera House, Duncan Leggat, Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Leeds, Ben Carlin, Director and XR Producer at Megaverse, WU Chunyi, Doctoral Researcher at University of Leeds, ZANG Zhipeng, Professor at East China University of Political Science and Law, and ZHOU Jian, Vice Director of Shanghai Pudong New District Government.
The day concluded with a 30-minute roundtable discussion, in which partners were invited to provide insight into their thoughts on the topics discussed over the two days. From these reflections, Haili drew conclusions as to how the project may be carried forward and further developed to bridging gaps between rural-urban Shanghai as well as UK-China creative chain and audiences between the two nations.