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Although Adam Benjamin's research has greatly influenced contemporary dance in the UK and elsewhere through his development and advocacy of inclusive practice, this case study focuses on his impact on contemporary dance and disability culture in Ethiopia. By introducing integrated practice to Adugna Community Dance Company in Addis Ababa (in which able-bodied and disabled dancers perform together), and continuing to foster its development through his choreographic and mentoring work with its current Artistic Directors, he has helped to transform the lives of individual disabled performers as well as strongly contributing to the socially-driven nature, values and aesthetics of contemporary Ethiopian dance.
Until the Centre for Media and Culture in Small Nations was established in 2006, there was no coherent, multidisciplinary programme of research examining the creative industries through the distinct framework of small nations, including Wales. By drawing together researchers from diverse arts and media disciplines, the Centre has provided a thorough analysis of the creative industries in Wales and informed public debate on their artistic, social and economic contribution to the nation's civic life. Our original research has delivered new insights for organisations, and their users, including BBC Wales, National Theatre Wales, the Welsh Music Foundation and community radio.
`Anya 17 is not just an opera. It's a campaign' (cast member's blog, http://tinyurl.com/ne64uqt).
Anya 17 (an opera about human trafficking), first performed in March 2012, generated wide media and civil society attention. 13 UK and international anti-trafficking campaigning groups have endorsed the opera and used it to raise awareness and help leverage their agenda to change legislation. Third sector and media attention has taken the research to a wider community than just the original audience, winning recognition and enabling follow-through of various kinds. Collaboration, publicity and support from NGOs has enabled Anya17 to further its reach internationally, with performances in Romania, Germany, the UK and the USA in the near future creating opportunities for developing further impacts on opera audiences, campaigning organisations, wider civil society and government in Europe and America.
Exeter Drama's research in Applied Theatre has had impact in the improvement of community understandings of mental health, providing professional development for medics and teachers, and providing and informing training in applied and community theatre. This case study outlines the impact of last twenty years of research and performance practice in applied theatre, developed by Honorary Research Fellow (2005-) and former senior lecturer (1990-2005) John Somers, and continued in the work of Fiona MacBeth, Kerrie Schaefer, Sarah Goldingay, Anna Harpin, and Jane Milling. Somers developed new approaches to community theatre and has given presentations on this work internationally. Impact has also been achieved through Somers' founding of the applied theatre company Exstream (Exeter, 2001) and under his direction Exstream achieved a reputation for excellence through the development of interactive theatre, raising awareness of issues related to wellbeing, mental health, and creativity within the community.
This case study describes the impact of practice-led research in health and social care settings. There are three main areas of impact to this research:
This project achieved impact on cultural life through improved public understanding of domestic music making c. 1800; conserving, interpreting and presenting neglected musical sources in heritage properties and private collections; creating new public art works; influencing the practice of heritage curators, conservators, and volunteers at local and national levels; and enhancing heritage visitor experience. It achieved economic impact through concert, recording and film production and sales and by developing stimuli to national and international tourism. Beneficiaries include new national and international audiences such as heritage tourists and Austen fans, who do not generally listen to classical music or have knowledge of early music performance practice.
Research on the history, repertoires and performance cultures of brass instruments has reconfigured the international music community's understanding of how brass instruments have been played in the past and has unveiled new repertoires. The results are new understandings of performance techniques and instrumentation that continue to influence creative practice among leading professional performers. The findings from the research are recognised as major points of reference for professional and amateur performers, and have also contributed to work in the heritage industry and to that of print and broadcast media professionals. The research has also been translated for wider consumption in pivotal publications such as Grove Music Online, which features new entries on bands and individual brass instruments. The research also inspired Music in Words, the seminal textbook for teachers and students of music performance outside the higher education sector.
New techniques developed from research into verbatim theatre have (1) helped families affected by child sexual abuse by a) giving them new ways of `working through' the trauma of their experiences and b) improving communication and dialogue with the relevant agencies of care; (2) developed in social work professionals, through new training methods, a greater understanding of a) sexual abuse and its impact on families and b) how to train social workers in this field; (3) been extended and adapted for student nurses, to facilitate new approaches to training, empathic engagement and reflective approaches to practice.
Research by Taylor, Pratt and Burns Owen Partnership formed the basis of a new Framework for Cultural Statistics, published in 2009 by UNESCO. The direct route to impact can be evidenced by the extent to which UNESCO formally adopted the researcher's proposed recommendations and revisions to the 1986 Framework, including a new category "Performance and Celebration". The Framework, which monitors and measures cultural trends at national and international level, provides policy-relevant data for UNESCO and member states to conceptualise, categorise and analyse culture and to assess the impact and relevance of cultural policies and initiatives.
The research led by Professor Sita Popat with Scott Palmer enabled digital arts small-medium enterprise (SME) KMA Ltd to develop ground-breaking visual/kinetic ideas and permanently shift their creative product (and hence their income stream) from web design and popular music show projection to theatre and the cultural industries. Subsequent collaborative research and development workshops catalysed the design of a progressive digital projection for an international theatre company's production, influencing how audiences around the world received the work's political message.