NEWS

Between 26th and 28th January 2024, Bridging the Gaps UK-China team met and showcased the 4th collaborative digital output, the UK-China music textile tree, in Shanghai.

This news release is to celebrate the successful conclusion of Song: The Future, and to commemorate Ken Proctor, my partner and Project Manager on the AHRC awarded projects before Song: The Future.

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.

Song: The Future, a mobile app performance with extended reality taking place at Leeds Industrial Museum in October 2022

In her 80s, Huang Baomei attended the Zoom performance and post-show discussion. Baomei, China model textile worker who was received in person eight time by Mao Zedong in the 1950’s and was commended by President Xi Jinping in 2021 for her lifelong contribution to China’s textile industry.

Welcome back to Bridging the Gaps! Although COVID travel restrictions still poses challenges to UK-China collaboration, Bridging the Gaps has restarted in April 2022 and is scheduled for completion in March 2024.

‘A fascinating new partnership project between Leeds and Shanghai is weaving together the histories of female textile workers through the power of Chinese opera!’ – Leeds Council News

After many months of development, notes, meetings and rehearsals conducted entirely online, another rehearsal of Song of the Female Textile Workers was finally ready for preview by invited audiences on the 21st and 22nd of September 2021.

We are honoured to welcome our latest partner - Shanghai Textile Museum - to join our project Bridging the Gaps.

As the Song of the Female Textile Workers moves from exhibition to performance the latest rehearsal footage is released on stage@leeds

Following the online digital exhibition hosted by the Leeds Industrial Museum - Song of the Female Textile Workers - A Post-Exhibition Discussion was held on 18th March 2021

Leeds Industrial Museum will be hosting our project through an online exhibition in February:

A bid for further funding has been successful and 'Song of The Female Textile Workers, UK-China digital connectivity', a one year project funded by the AHRC Creative Partnerships: responding to the longer-term impacts of COVID-19, commenced on 1st December 2020.

On December 3rd 2020, AHRC UK-China Creative Partnership project Bridging the Gaps held an online forum, which researchers and industry partners across the UK and China attended.

Bridging The Gaps is being showcased at Beyond 2020 online conference and AHRC China Forum between 30th November and 3rd December along with other funded projects.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic social restrictions have led to rapid developments in digital connectivity in both the UK and China.

Due to travel restrictions as a result of the global spread of Coronavirus-19, Bridging The Gaps Shanghai workshops scheduled for August 2020 have been postponed and the project has been put on hold.