Alasdair Asmussen Doyle examines representation of flora between Tasmania and Ireland.

Alasdair Asmussen Doyle recently completed a Future Screens NI Future Creatives research project: The dormant existence of Tasmanian flora before they were named draws on Alasdair’s PhD research investigating how early filmic representations, in parallel to cartographic tools have framed our understanding of ourselves and our place in the world. The project was informed by Uriel Orlow’s Theatrum Botanicum and examines the translation of botanical material and knowledge between Malahide, Tasmania and Malahide, Ireland. Outputs to include presentations and talks at Belfast School of Art and Void Gallery, Derry; and an article published in the Post-Graduate Journal: Intersections, Ulster University Press, April 2022.

The Future Creatives scheme was designed to enable participants to make a step change in their research and innovation by enhanced leadership and collaboration skills and developing new practices in the field of creativity and technology.

Deepa Mann-Kler & Aura Digital share their experiences developing ‘AR In The Time of Covid’ at Future Tuesdays 22 Feb 22

On 22nd February 2022 Future Tuesdays hosted Deepa Mann-Kler, CE Neon with animation content creators Aura Digital. The cohort shared personal experiences of adapting and developing new creative industry relationships during the pandemic and how to embrace changes and ‘plan-B’s’ as potential positive, if unexpected, opportunities.  

In this session Deepa Mann-Kler shared how the company fulfilled funding requirements while achieving the original vision of the work and in doing so, created new opportunities to work with a young exciting creative technology company Aura Digital.  

Deepa Mann-Kler is Chief Executive of Neon; Visiting Professor In Immersive Futures at Ulster University in Northern Ireland; an artist and an exceptionally experienced public, private and charity sector Chair and Non-Executive Director, having served on 10 Boards across the UK over the past fourteen years. Neon harnesses the power of immersive technologies to create authentic augmented and virtual reality narrative driven experiences. This year the company launched AR Peace Wall and AR Street Art apps freely available on iOS and Play Store. As a TEDx speaker and thought leader she regularly keynotes on the intersection of digital transformation, technical innovation, inclusion, ethics, bias, data, AI and creativity. Also an award winning, internationally acclaimed, multi-disciplinary artist with over fourteen years’ experience of international exhibitions and public art programmes. 

Company awards include Royal Television Society Finalist “Interactive Entertainment” 2017. WinTech Series Finalist “Tech Start Up Of the Year” 2018. TEDx Speaker “Being Human” 2019. Digital DNA Finalist “Tech For Good” Talking Sense AR App 2020. 

www.discoverneon.com | www.deepamannkler.com | @deepamann_kler  

Aura Digital was founded during the coronavirus outbreak by Eva Robinson, Josh McAvoy, and Dónal Rainey. From big organisations to small businesses, Aura Digital combine production experience with a unique creative flair in their approach to animation. The trio combine their experience in 2D, and 3D design with a fresh approach in pipeline and innovation. Passionate about Digital Transformation, Aura Digital is a young studio that believes animation and immersive technologies are amongst the future heavy industries of Northern Ireland. This year, the company worked with Neon on AR Peace Wall and AR Street Art, Ulster University, Evoke and many others. Aura Digital was a proud quarterfinalist of the Santander Universities UK Entrepreneurship Awards, and a Dingle Animation Sting Selection of 2021. Josh, Eva and Dónal are due to graduate Ulster University with a Bdes Honours in Animation in June 2022. 

Ulster Touring Opera explore AR potential through Future Creatives

Ulster Touring Opera (UTO), the cross-border cultural opera company based in Belfast recently completed a project funded by Future Screens NI’s Future Creatives project exploring the technical and logistic feasibility of creating volumetric footage in-house with the aim to commission and create new opera experiences specifically for the medium, such as their Teeny Tiny Opera. UTO believes that reaching this level of access will increase the size and diversity of our live and online audience, as well as increasing the resilience of their company by providing this new expertise as a service for other cultural organisations. 

UTO Artistic Director Dafydd Hall Williams was invited to join the Depthkit Pilot Program as a Program Partner. Depthkit Studio is R&D software developed by the company Scatter which allows portable volumetric capture for full-body 3D video. This transformative program is accessible by invitation only, and while the program has numerous members worldwide including in the UK, Dafydd was the first program member on the island of Ireland, and UTO was the first opera company in the world.

For more information on the Ulster Touring Opera visit here.

The Future Creatives scheme was designed to enable participants to make a step change in their research and innovation by enhanced leadership and collaboration skills and developing new practices in the field of creativity and technology.

JamBird Marketing Project Report: Redefining Fandom in the Covid-19 Age

The music-specific marketing company for independent artists, JamBird Marketing recently completed a Future Screens NI and NI Screen Rewriting the Narrative funded project Redefining Fandom in the Covid-19 Age. The project carried out a study into the artist-fan relationship during the pandemic and created a report with the aim to: deepen artists understanding and appreciation of their fans as the key to their career success; create signposts for effective music marketing plans that are relevant to our time; and influence decision-making in the music sector. In addition to the data collected, key outcomes include: developing contacts for future collaboration within HEI Social Psychology research; and developing a Public Relations toolkit based on evidenced-based research to enable fandom targeting for focused audience dissemination of artists’ outputs.

JamBird Marketing is a new, UK-based, music-specific marketing company dedicated to helping unsigned, independent artists monetise their music through consultation, coaching and new technology development.

They are CIM-qualified digital marketers with 20+ years’ experience in the music industry and 40+ years’ combined experience in marketing, sales, business development and training.

Rewriting the Narrative was an open call to the Northern Ireland creative industries challenging them to explore where and how changes have impacted the creative industries. The call was aimed at identifying how we can learn from the current situation, both positives and negatives, and use it to strengthen the industry once normality returns. The funding call was a Future Screens NI and Northern Ireland Screen partnership.

DfC Art Work - Covid Recovery Initiative Application now live!

The Department for Communities has appointed Future Screens NI in partnership with Arts Council NI to deliver Art Work - Covid Recovery – Employment and Skills Initiative for the Arts Sector.

The objective of the Covid Recovery - Employment and Skills Initiative is to provide support for individuals to enter into the Arts, Creative Industries, Sport, Heritage, Voluntary and Community sectors in Northern Ireland where job roles have been impacted by the pandemic, to enhance their job prospects and skill sets, and in doing so strengthen the organisations and sectors.

The Executive and the Minister for Communities, Deirdre Hargey MLA, have provided this COVID recovery funding for arts organisations and a range of other not-for-profit organisations. The funding aims to deliver interventions to address labour market barriers faced by individuals in light of the impact of the pandemic on the economy. The interventions are to have a particular focus on the arts, creative industries, heritage, sport and voluntary community sectors.

Deadline for submitting the application - Noon on 25 February 2022.

Online application form can be found here.

Please note, additional documentation, noted in the application, will need to be submitted to info-futurescreensni@ulster.ac.uk.

Application guidance document can be downloaded here.

Any queries related to the Art Work - Covid Recovery - Employment and Skills Initiative please contact info-futurescreensni@ulster.ac.uk.

A video of the webinar hosted by Future Screens NI can be found below.