Upgrade of Production Arts IT infrastructure to enable a future Performance Industry Centre for the Research and Application of Creative Technologies

伦敦市政厅音乐与戏剧学院是一所世界领先的小型专业高等教育机构，在音乐和戏剧领域拥有雄厚的研究实力。但它也有长达数十年的生产艺术（有时被称为技术剧院）培训专业知识，提供高技能的创意劳动力，没有这些高质量的戏剧（在一定程度上是音乐）表演就无法实现。自2008年学院首次参与国家高等教育研究评估以来，我们的研究环境迅速发展；到目前为止，美术制作是一个主要领域，缺乏技术能力阻碍了我们的发展。在日益重要的数字表现和技术增强的沉浸式体验领域，我们缺乏必要的基础设施。因此，我们正在申请资金，在内部建立一个新的生产艺术研究设施。这一发展将建立在我们与英国创意产业的中小型公司以及选定的高等教育研究合作伙伴的广泛合作关系的基础上。它将涉及利用我们建筑物内的现有空间，部署大部分便携式最先进的设备，以探索视觉效果和扩展现实（XR，结合各种超现实，增强现实和虚拟现实）的研究潜力。我们将利用这台设备开展一系列创造性的研究项目，探索技术在未来生产艺术中的作用。首先，这将通过为学院内的表演者和研究人员提供世界一流的技术设施来实现，但同样重要的是，这也将促进他们获得现有和其他行业合作伙伴的技能和知识，并有机会从我们的投资中受益。我们的中期目标是通过建立一个创新技术研究和应用的表演产业中心来实现这一动态。这个研究中心不仅可以巩固和发展我们与工业界和其他高等教育机构的研究合作和交流，还可以促进研究部门、Guildhall Live Events（一个半分拆出来的教学、研究和商业服务机构）和新成立的电子和制作音乐部门（该部门最近招聘了一些在该领域边缘工作的新员工，尤其是在游戏领域）之间的内部合作。第一步，也是本请求的目的，是采购两件重要的视听硬件和有关的信息技术供其使用。（第三件设备是互补的，但更侧重于我们的劳动力培训任务，是另一个融资竞标的对象。）拨款期间将由制作艺术部的技术人员安装这些设备，培训一小部分核心研究人员，以及策划和初步实施一系列创意技术研讨会，旨在选择一系列试点项目，以测试a)设备的潜力，b)设备与学院现有研究团队的互动，这些研究团队完全是内部的，也包括熟悉的外部合作伙伴。c)来自该行业最具创新精神的小企业的新合作伙伴。然后，计划是审查进展情况，并以最具生产力和可持续发展的方式推进新研究中心的发展。

Guildhall School of Music & Drama is a world-leading small specialist higher education institution with established research strengths in Music and Drama. But it also has decades-long established training expertise in Production Arts (sometimes called Technical Theatre), providing the highly skilled creative workforce without which high-quality theatrical (and to a certain extent musical) performance cannot be realised. Our research environment has grown rapidly since the School's first participation in the national assessment of HE research in 2008; Production Arts is the one main area where lack of technological capability has so far held us back. In the increasingly important areas of digital performance and technologically enhanced immersive experience in particular, we lack the necessary infrastructure. Therefore we are applying for funding to establish a new Production Arts research facility in-house.This development will build on our existing extensive range of partnerships with small and medium-sized companies working in the UK creative industries, as well as with selected HE research partners. It will involve using existing spaces within our buildings to deploy largely portable state-of-the-art equipment in order to explore the research potential of visual effects and extended reality (XR, incorporating, variously, hyper-, augmented and virtual reality). We will use this equipment to carry out a series of creative research projects that explore technology's role in the future of production artistry. In the first place, this will be achieved by providing access for performance makers and researchers inside the School to world-class technical facilities, but-just as important-it will also facilitate their access to the skills and knowledge of existing and additional industry partners, drawn in by the opportunity to benefit from our investment. Our medium-term aim is to crystallise this dynamic by establishing a Performance Industry Centre for the Research and Application of Creative Technologies. Not only would this research centre consolidate and grow our research collaborations and exchanges with industry and other HEIs, it would help effect internal collaboration between the Research department, Guildhall Live Events (a semi-spun-out teaching, research and commercial services body), and the new Electronic and Produced Music department (which has recently recruited new staff working at the edges of this area, especially in gaming). The first step, and the object of the present request, is the procurement of two significant pieces of audio-visual hardware and associated IT for their use. (A third piece of equipment, complementary but more focused on our workforce training mission, is the object of another funding bid.) The period of the grant will be devoted to their installation by technical staff from the Production Arts department, the training of a small core of researchers, and the planning and initial implementation of a series of creative technology workshops aimed at selecting a range of pilot projects to test the potential of a) the equipment, b) its interaction with the School's existing research teams, both entirely internal and involving familiar external partners, and c) new partners from among the most innovative small businesses in the sector. The plan is then to review progress and move ahead with development of the new research centre in whatever is revealed to be the most productive and sustainable way.