Funding to the tune of €517,000 (£432,500) has been awarded to De Montfort University Leicester’s (DMU) Music, Technology and Innovation Research Centre (MTIRC) to make innovative new music accessible to a wide range of audiences.
The work is part of a €3.8 (£3.2) million project called Interfaces, hosted by the Onassis Cultural Centre in Athens and joined by eight other European partners from Romania, Cyprus, Belgium, France, Austria and Germany.
Funded by Creative Europe, the European Commission’s scheme to support culture and media, the project will run for three and a half years, with DMU’s MITRC leading on technology-based research and engagement in the UK.
Areas covered by the MITRC will range from electroacoustic music and DIY approaches, to sound art and telematic performance, where network technology is used to enable live musicians to perform in two or more locations.
Children, young people, community groups and creative professionals will take part through educational and outreach workshops, festivals, exhibitions, and other cultural events.
These will be held in innovative spaces across DMU’s campus, Leicester’s Phoenix Square Arts Centre, the city of Leicester and nationally.
Research hubs will be set up for academics and researchers exploring international initiatives in community music and how new music is received by different audiences.
This particular strand of work will include an academic conference in 2018 to explore the latest research and good practice from across Europe.
The project builds on existing work by DMU’s MITRC such as EARS 2, an initiative introducing secondary school children and their teachers to making music with sounds, and Compose with Sounds, a creative software platform that forms part of the EARS 2 initiative supporting composers of all ages.
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Leading the work is director of the MITRC, Professor Leigh Landy, who said: “This is a hugely exciting opportunity for DMU and something that will get people talking locally, nationally and internationally.
“The project’s ambitious vision and spirit of inclusivity encompasses everything our university stands for.
“As just one of two higher education institutions amongst the nine European partners, our students will be completely integrated within the project, having the chance to take part in events, undertake research, work with professional artists, lead workshops and much more.”
Posted on Monday 4 July 2016