Concert Halls • Theatres • Convention Centres • Cinemas • Arenas

Annual 2010

Raising the BardRaising the BardRaising the BardRoyal Shakespeare Company unveils revamped Stratford-upon-Avon theatre

Also inside:

Genexis Theatre, SingaporeGrand Canal Theatre, DublinAlternative Spaces: New AudiencesNew US PACs

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Where architecture embraces public realm.Designing cultural arts and public assembly venues that

expand and enrich the urban experience.

IMAGES ABOVE: CLEVELAND CONVENTION CENTER AND MEDICAL MART, CLEVELAND, OHIO

lmnarchitects.com

Media frenzy

T hroughout the 20th century, radio, records, film, TV and the web have changed how we experience the performing arts. Before these inventions, to enjoy music, drama,

opera and dance, audiences had to be in the same space as the performer.

However, something new and exciting has happened in the last decade – people are still watching TV (both on television sets and streaming through their computers), but they’re posting on Facebook and Twitter and blogging about what they experienced. So what does this recent explosion of social media and technology mean for the live performing arts?

Theatre Projects has been building broadcast capability into theatres for the past 30 years, allowing its clients to broadcast their performances. But these technologies have been expensive, and out of reach for many arts organisations and there have been concerns about the quality of the reproduction and the integrity of the experience. In the past few years, however, there have been two significant changes that are creating a whole new world of opportunities for the live performing arts. The first is technology – vastly improved video and audio reproduction quality combined with broadband capability and developments like Internet2 allow for unprecedented streaming and delivery of information. The second is cost – as these technologies become more mainstream and accessible, they become more affordable.

Live performance can now be shared and the arts community – especially arts educators – is embracing the change wholeheartedly. As the arts integrate new technologies into their creative work, they’re reaching their students and

audiences in ways no one imagined even a few years ago. Clients around the world are asking for spaces that support both live and long-distance learning and performance and incorporate new technologies in flexible, robust ways. Theatre Projects is rising to this challenge, adding layers to its services and finding new ways to design rooms and equipment that meet today’s needs and tomorrow’s dreams.

Musical exchangeOne of Theatre Projects’ clients is New World Symphony (NWS), a pioneer in distance learning and musical exchange. Theatre Projects is working with Gehry Partners and Nagata Acoustics on a new building for NWS in Miami Beach, Florida which will open in January. The facility will be one of the most advanced learning centres for music ever created. As theatre designer and planner for this project, Theatre Projects integrated Internet2 technology, advanced audio systems, and state-of-the-art video projection throughout the facility, as part of the programming for the building. It helped create a room design that supports live performance, nearly 360° projection, and worldwide connectivity, allowing NWS to push the boundaries of teaching, learning and performing.

For example, flexibility was provided with the design of a 10-lift system to transform the concert platform to accommodate 14 performance configurations. An extra-large control room accommodates the broadcast and video infrastructure, and there are video and audio suites for the staff. The infrastructure design also included seamless cable pathways to allow for external broadcast capabilities without the cables running through the auditorium.

Clockwise from top: New WorldSymphony’s performance space; Cleveland Institute of Music’s weekend guitar master class; Cleveland Institute of Music’s musicin movies

Theatre Projects has been busy furnishing performing arts centres with the latest technology and social media

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NWS already uses social networking media and technology as a springboard to open the entire world of music to its New World Fellows and vice versa. Artists and teachers whose commitments don’t allow for visits to Miami can lead real-time master-classes. Composers a continent away can ‘sit in’ on rehearsals of their work or talk to audiences before a performance. Fellows can share their virtuosity with young aspiring musicians in schools and conservatories from China to North Carolina.

On a smaller, but equally vibrant project, Theatre Projects took on the design and planning of a new addition to the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM) in Cleveland, Ohio. Working with architect Charles T. Young Architects and acoustician Akustiks, the result includes a 250-seat recital hall and an electronic media/distance learning centre. Both the recital hall and the distance learning studios support live broadcasts, allowing CIM to provide quality musical training and performance to a worldwide audience.

“The main challenge in using distance learning at the conservatory level was being able to accurately reproduce the audio,” says Greg Howe, director of Distance Learning at CIM. “Only recently has the available audio technology caught up with the video technology, allowing us to expand our programmes.”

Using videoconference technologies, the Distance Learning Department is able to train offsite music students ranging from primary school to conservatory level, facilitating connections to schools all over the world. The reach is broad, with a particularly high level of responses from New York and Alberta, Canada.

In addition, the Distance Learning Department provides professional musicians around the world with access to upper-level master-classes, seminars and performances. CIM also partners with other schools and advanced training programmes, including NWS. Just recently, Michael Tilson Thomas coached a student conductor of a small chamber orchestra at CIM from his office in Miami Beach.

These two institutions have forged a creative bond allowing musicians to teach long-distance while performing professionally. Many CIM faculty members perform with the Cleveland Orchestra, which is resident at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Florida, and are also adjunct faculty at NWS. When CIM faculty members are in Miami performing, they can give private lessons to their CIM students via video conferencing. When they’re in Cleveland, they can train the NWS Fellows in Miami the same way.

Social mediaKeeping ahead of the curve in social media, CIM is on Facebook, Twitter, Instant Encore and Vimeo, although the school continues to grapple with deciding which new social tools are here to stay and which are fads. School administrators and faculty are in constant conversation about how much of their unique, creative work should be “out there” beyond the school’s (and the artists’) influence and control. Regardless, CIM considers the Distance Learning Program a fantastic success and a great recruiting tool.

Faculty members at both institutions no longer have to choose between a professional performance career and a teaching career based on geography – and students gain extraordinary training with actively performing professionals.

Not knowing exactly what the future holds, we don’t know how far the combination of technology and artistic creativity will go. But at Theatre Projects, venues are designed to be both flexible and expandable for clients – creating spaces that enhance the great ideas they’ve already had, and which are ready to support the great ideas that they haven’t thought of yet. n

www.theatreprojects.com

The control room at theCleveland Institute of Music

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72 audiToria annual review 2010