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This case study focuses on impact derived from Ildiko Rippel's practice-based research in contemporary performance, resulting in the presentation of Blueprint (2012), a performance involving interaction of performers with their mothers, who are present within the work via real-time video links. Blueprint continues to be performed at festivals and in venues in the UK. Impact, to date, has comprised: opportunities for public engagement with contemporary performance practice and furtherance of public understanding of it; the work's contribution to public performance programming in the UK; its contribution to development of contemporary theatre practices through experience and discussion of it amongst theatre/performance practitioners, promoters and critics; contribution to the vibrancy of publicly available contemporary arts culture in the UK.
Anne Featherstone's ongoing, scholarly research into neglected popular performance practices of the 19th Century has had public impacts well beyond the borders of academia. Popular media interest in her initial, academic publications prompted Featherstone to explore the popular historical novel as an alternative form for the dissemination of her historical research. Her two fiction-based outputs to date have translated original, historical research into the transnational domain of murder mystery fiction, and have been published in French, Italian and (soon) Portuguese versions, as well as in English. Growing recognition of Featherstone's historical expertise has led to numerous public speaking appearances and to the development of ongoing relationships with broadcasters including BBC Radio and TV, who have utilised her research as a means of re-visualising the significance of popular performance cultures for the general public.
John Butt's research has played a leading role in bringing historically informed music performance to professional and public audiences across the world. His recording of Messiah (2006) achieved critical acclaim and was presented with the Classic FM/Gramophone Baroque Vocal Album and the Marché International du Disque et de l'Edition Musicale Award. The recording also achieved commercial success for independent record producer, Linn Records with sales of over 20,000, and had a significant impact on Scotland's leading baroque ensemble, the Dunedin Consort, with seven more recordings of works by Bach and Handel, substantial royalty income, increased funding (including new subsidies) and new touring opportunities. This success has also enabled an active education outreach programme to develop both professional training and broader public interest.
Performance Research is an independent journal/book series championing artistic-led research at the interface between the academy and the profession. Published by Routledge for ARC a division of the Centre for Performance Research (CPR)[1]. Founded as a cultural and publishing partnership (1995) with Dartington it has developed an identity and frame of intellectual/artistic reference distinct from CPR, forging many developments with partners outwith the academy. CPR's relocation to Falmouth enables both to extend this relationship. PR provides print and on-line platforms for practitioners, arts organisations and researchers. Interdisciplinary in vision, international in scope; it emphasises contemporary performance arts within changing cultures.
Since 2005, Dr Quick has created a series of practice-as-research projects and educational workshops to increase understanding of how new media-based performance is created and understood. Key beneficiaries have been young people, teachers, theatre practitioners, mixed media artists, and cultural organisations. Five new works have impacted through the introduction of innovative practice performance to new audiences, nationally and internationally (including central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Brazil and Taiwan); pioneering new uses of digital technology as creative practice, and sharing such innovation with both established and new theatres and groups.
Misa de Corpus Christi, a choral-orchestral composition by Agustín Fernández, has been of seminal benefit to Instituto Laredo, a specialist music school in Cochabamba, and of key significance to the wider community in Bolivia. As the focal point of a major music-educational project developing instrumental, vocal, choral and orchestral practice, the composition has had a direct influence on the personal and professional development of 220 students and teachers from the school. Performances of the piece to several capacity audiences in large (1000+) venues were received with enthusiasm and acclaim. Misa is viewed as an emblem of both Instituto Laredo's success and Cochabamba's musical achievements, and represents a pertinent example of the role of musicking in the articulation of cultural identity.
Dr Tomlin has applied the findings of her theoretical research to the rehearsal room both by working dramaturgically with companies such as Point Blank, Tin Box, Nodding Dog, Little Earthquake and Shooting Fish and through her own creative practice as playwright in collaboration with other professional artists. Her research has helped to transform the processes of devising work, and has disseminated new ways of working to the artists involved, and, through their subsequent work, to their audiences in turn.
This impact is demonstrated here through a site-specific production to which Dr Tomlin contributed in 2012, in which she developed new forms of creative practice which influenced the working processes and artistic methodologies of professional artists and enabled them to deliver innovative and politically relevant theatre to the general public. The primary impact benefitted the companies and professional artists with whom she collaborated; the secondary impact benefitted audiences of the performances, which numbered approximately 450 across 5 intimate venues throughout the UK.
This impact is not merely a one-way dissemination of theoretical analysis to a receptive body of professional artists, but a practice-based research process undertaken in collaboration with the professional artists in question, thus forming a feedback loop: research — impact/application to practice — further research and experimentation — impact/application to practice. Practice-based research, in this sense, conducts both research and impact activity simultaneously.
Zoe Svendsen's 3rd Ring Out: Rehearsing the Future (3RO; 2010-2011) enhanced public understanding of and engagement with one of the most important social issues of our times through novel modes of performance and communication both live and online. This practice-as-research performance project had significant impact on a broad range of audience-participants, including policy-makers, local authorities, climate change communicators, other artists working in the field of art and climate change, children of school age and the general public. The project continues to attract requests for talks, policy meetings and/or further performances. The impact to date includes altering perceptions of both art and climate change, and of the relationship between them.
The Unforgotten Coat, winner of the 2012 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and German Children's Book Award 2013, has been praised for highlighting the plight of young asylum seekers. It remains a core text for the Reader Organisation (RO) reading groups in the community and in prison. It was launched on World Book Day 2011, distributed to approximately 50,000 disenfranchised children and has been translated into several languages, receiving worldwide acclaim. The subject matter, and creative process underpinning it, fed directly into important learning initiatives and materials for schools in the North West, workshops at Liverpool's Bluecoat Arts Centre and for Merseyside's the Haven Project. The international reach of the book is reflected in its victory in the aforementioned Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis 2013 and a further nomination for the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) for the prestigious 2014 IBBY international Honours List in Mexico 2014, a nomination based on its highlighting of the lives of today's young asylum seekers.
Professor Lois Weaver joined QMUL Drama in 1997. Her research-led practice as artist, curator and activist has had substantial impact within two areas. First, within the cultural world of live art she has influenced the practice of both emerging and established artists, and the programming and curation of performance. She has facilitated, mentored and directed a range of artists; opened up new spaces for performance's production and presentation; and actively supported other curators in the expansion of live art programming, especially in London. Second, Weaver's research into forms of public dialogue — her `Public Address Systems' — has had impact in the wider social field, leading to events and projects around the world in which citizens of diverse perspectives and backgrounds, often excluded from public discourse on grounds of age, class, gender and sexuality, have been able to contribute meaningfully to discussions of urgent social issues, including human rights, sexuality, aging and new technologies.