In Place of War – February Research Seminar

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Jez Collins

The Centre for Media & Cultural Research welcomed the University of Manchester’s Professor James Thompson and his colleague Ruth Daniel to present at our regular Research Seminar event on Wednesday 6^th February.

James and Ruth came to talk about their recently completed In Place of War (IPOW) research project and the follow on project Humanitarianism 2.0. This project is in partnership with the Centre and I’ll talk more about this a little later.

In Place of War was an AHRC funded research project and was driven by Professor Thompson’s background in theatre and drama performance and studies, and in particular his work in the UK prison service working with violent offenders using drama and theatre practices and methods.

In 2000, James was contacted by the Unicef unit, Children Affected by Armed Conflict, who were working in Northern Sri Lanka, which at that time was a civil war zone. Unicef asked James to provide training for community organisations who were interested in using theatre as a way of engaging with young people affected by the war. Before leaving the UK , James did some research on theatre in Sri Lanka and was astonished to find a) very little literature about this subject, b) that what he did find claimed there was no theatre in the north of Sri Lanka because of the war.

Upon reaching Sri Lanka though, James discovered a rich, vibrant and diverse theatre and arts community who were programming a range of activities across a number of places and spaces in the city of Jaffna. Jaffna was also home to the only university Theatre Studies course on the whole island.

This was to be the seed for the In Place Of War project and the central research questions; Why do people continue to make art in war zones? Why do academics assume they don’t?

Continue reading →

Radio Futura 2009

Posted on October 27, 2009 by Jez Collins

Sam and I recently submitted some of our audio pieces to the Radio Futura 2009 which is the radio station that operated during the Future Places event in Oporto, Portugal in October. We were really pleased to be asked to supply content for the station. We sent over seven pieces of work that were a mixture of Knowledge Transfer Fellowship work between BCU and the Birmingham Music Archive and other partners Sam has worked with as part of the AHRC project.

Future Places is explores Digital Media and Local Culture and is six days of exhibitions and events addressing the potential and the impact of digital media on local cultures and took place October 13-17, 2009 and is a project of the UT Austin|Portugal Program

http://colab.ic2.utexas.edu/futureplaces/

Radio Futura

Radiofutura broadcast 24/7 via RadioZero and from 91.5 FM Frequency during futureplaces 2009. A full webstream of the programme is now in the works.

FuturePlaces 2009 presents RADIO FUTURA

The official FuturePlaces radio station

Broadcasting live during FuturePlaces 2009 digital media festival.

October 14-17, 2009 – Porto, Portugal

A joint venture between Future Places and Rádio Zero.

LIVE EVENTS. SONGS. RANTS. FIELD RECORDINGS. SOUND POETRY. MUSIC. EXPERIMENTAL. HOT TOPICS. PURE WEIRDNESS.

Check the broadcasting schedule here. Contact: radiofutura2009 @ gmail.com

Portuguese radio jingle here. English radio jingle here.

The two pieces that Radio Futura ran were the Birmingham Popular Music Archive Phil Lynott documentary which also aired on BBC WM, Absolute and Spin FM and Music in Moseley.

This was another example of the Fellowship work in practice and the wide ranging ways of disseminating that work to audiences, in this case internationally.

To listen to the above pieces and other work by Sam follow the link: Sam Coley Vimeo

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1.9MB)

Birmingham Music Archive on Midlands Today

Posted on June 26, 2009 by Jez Collins

Many thanks to Jon Bounds for recording and then uploading the video.

Music As Culture

Posted on April 30, 2009 by Jez Collins

An Invitation to discuss at Un-Convention Manchester, 4th – 6th June 2009

Recently an organisation called Featured Artists Coalition was formed to give a lobbying voice to performing artists wishing to protect and advance their rights in the music industries. We find this a positive, admirable and understandable move for musicians.

We believe that most musicians create primarily for artistic and cultural reasons, and that while the commercial benefits are critically important (and we do understand the imperative for music to create economic reward), this is not the purpose of music. Moreover, music as culture is not represented at any policy level and so important decisions are being made without consideration for the cultural aspect of music itself. Continue reading →

How to make collaborations (in) work

Posted on February 25, 2009 by Jez Collins

The internet, mobile phones, Twitter. It is said that it has never been easier to communicate. But is this true?

While the aforementioned have opened up new ways for individuals to communicate with each other, and for companies to communicate directly with consumers, people in large organisations are still finding it hard to communicate internally and haven’t grasped the opportunities these tools could have for their benefit in connecting different people, departments, areas of excellence to encourageand foster collaborations, discussions and new ways of working.
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New Approaches to Developing Professional Studies Through Research and Dissemination Using Online Technologies

Posted on February 9, 2009 by Jez Collins

A rather lengthy title for an exciting project that the Interactive Cultures team are currently undertaking!

Andrew Dubber and Jez Collins are leading on a project that uses research and industry knowledge skills and how, as lecturers and academics, we can transfer that knowledge back into the classroom and use innovative approaches to teaching and learning by using online technologies to enhance student studies and professional understanding of the creative sector in Birmingham.