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Solar Bear is an award winning multi discipline theatre company based in Glasgow.

Established in 2002 their aim is to produce inclusive theatre that is exciting, pioneering and accessible to performers and audiences alike.

As well as producing and delivering unique stage productions Solar Bear also offer several tailored training and creative learning programmes aimed at young people, adults, schools, local authorities and arts organisations across Scotland. So far they have delivered over 500 workshops nationwide and in January 2008 launched Scotland’s first Deaf Youth Theatre integrating audio description and British Sign Language into on-stage performances and workshops.

Challenge
To build on the success of their existing training programme, and to increase engagement in their newly formed Deaf Youth Theatre, Solar Bear approached the Royal Conservatoire Scotland to create a partnership project that would promote access and engagement opportunities for individuals who are deaf and wish to pursue a career in the performing arts.

Solution
Through RCS, Solar Bear applied for Scottish Funding Council Innovation Voucher funding which was administered by Interface. The funding allowed Solar Bear to create a 10 week pilot to test the concept of a deaf theatre short course. The success of this pilot led to the creation of a full short course and summer school programme. Now in its second year the short courses run 40 weeks of the year and now have 9 regular student participants.

Due to the success of this pilot, and the subsequent short courses and summer school programmes, RCS and Solar Bear continued their partnership increasing their scope to investigate the possibility of creating a full time BA Degree Course.

According to Gerry Ramage, Artistic Director, Solar Bear Theatre Company, “Solar Bear is delighted and proud to be working with our partners at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to establish formal pathways into the profession for young deaf actors. Our pilot training programme, has already resulted in new and ground-breaking opportunities for a new generation of deaf actors and audiences alike. Our shared vision will reflect and celebrate Scotland’s cultural diversity by ensuring that talented young deaf people have access to quality training opportunities at the highest level.”

As part of the extended partnership Solar Bear received further funding from RCS to create an apprentice programme designed to help RCS shape the course by providing a greater understanding of the needs of deaf students; the needs of deaf audiences and ultimately to understand the employability opportunities for newly graduated deaf actors.

The three apprentices conducting the research found that interest in visual theatre is becoming increasingly prevalent and audience numbers are continuing to rise. There is also more and more demand from other main stream theatre companies who are looking to bridge international language gaps by incorporating visual theatre into their programmes.

The apprenticeship programme is due to finish in August 2014 but it is ready evident that there is a desire for and from visual performers and therefore the new course has been agreed and is due to launch in September 2015.

Gerry says, “British sign language is beautiful, visual and accessible and with increased interest from more traditional theatres for deaf actors we are confident that demand for visual theatre will continue to increase. Thanks to the initial Innovation Voucher funding we know that the new BA Degree course will give deaf actors the skills and confidence to succeed in what is a very competitive market.”

Please note that Interface administers the Innovation Voucher Scheme on behalf of the Scottish Funding Council. All funding applications are reviewed on a case by case basis by the Scottish Funding Council, guidelines can be found here.

Scottish Ballet is Scotland’s national dance company and one of five national performing companies in Scotland. It is a registered charity, employing 36 professional dancers, a dedicated support staff, and a freelance orchestra of up to 70 musicians.

The mission of Scottish Ballet is to produce world-class dance and learning opportunities designed to engage and excite diverse audiences in Scotland, the UK and internationally. This is achieved by presenting modern work and unique interpretations of the classics, making them relevant to audiences today. In support of this, Scottish Ballet designs and creates costumes, sets and unique dance environments, together with a focus upon education initiatives centered around dance.

Challenge
Widening access to the arts is both a national priority and a challenge and capable of being addressed by employing novel applications of technology and “new to the field” innovations.  The company approached Interface to establish a collaboration to evaluate the potential of using augmented reality in a dance context.   This innovative project combines dance with novel technological approaches to choreograph, produce and capture in 3D a “movie” of bespoke dance sequences to widen public dissemination and participation in the arts.

Solution
A pilot project with the renowned Digital Design Studio (DDS) at Glasgow School of Art was brokered which sought to demonstrate that the use of visualisation and presentation technologies can enthuse existing and new audiences to engage with the arts. The core aim of the collaborative project is to create a high definition film which will show dancers in a short choreography, mixed in with the motion capture data “vapour trail”. This initial project tested the idea in the promotion of Scottish Ballet’s input to the 2013 Edinburgh International Festival.

Outcome
The collaboration and product development journey jointly taken by the partners has resulted in a better mutual understanding of each other’s area of expertise and has opened wider dialogue around future collaborations of this nature. The production of the unique HD film has allowed dance to be viewed in a novel way, creating a new method through which wider audiences can engage with the arts.  The impact for DDS is that it now has a potential new market within which to develop new techniques and products, for example, to use its expertise to promote the visual and acoustic arts. This is likely to lead to new project with Scottish Ballet and others including ventures into data capture and live streaming of events. For Scottish Ballet, the main impact relates to the development of a novel way to showcase their performances, reach new audiences and explore further new ways to use interactive digital technologies to supplement traditional promotional methods.

Highland Galvanizers was formed in 1978 to provide a galvanizing service across Scotland and has developed a reputation for quality and reliability of service.

In order to provide a better service, in 2002 a second plant was opened in Cumbernauld operating under the name of Highland Colour Coaters, thus introducing a quality means of having colour on galvanized steel. Developing this process extensively, the Company now offers its unique Colourgalv process to those who want both decorative and corrosion protective coatings on all manner of metalworks.

Challenge

This Colourgalv process runs into an occasional problem called pinholing where the galvanized steel appears to evolve some gas during the curing of the powder through the hardening powder-coating causing small craters or pinholes.

Solution

Interface identified expertise within six universities across Scotland and the company opted to work with Glasgow Caledonian University.

“We were delighted with the responses we received from the universities. Glasgow Caledonian was clearly able to demonstrate expertise in this area,” commented Geoff Crowley, Managing Director, Highland Colour Coaters

“We have reduced the rate of re-works from 4% to less than 1%, saving between £70,000 and £100,000 per annum to our business…For researching a problem that we don’t have the people, time or resources to do ourselves, this KTP was great for us”

Following discussions between the partners, a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) was identified as the most beneficial mechanism for managing the research for the company.

Benefits

Jackie combines entrepreneurial experience with strategic insight to support businesses across Scotland in unlocking innovation and driving growth. Having founded and scaled award-winning food and drink brands, she brings a deep understanding of the challenges faced by SMEs along with practical expertise in accelerators, start-up mentoring, and commercial collaboration.

A former Interface client herself, Jackie is a strong advocate for the power of business-academic partnerships. She’s also a founding board member of the Glasgow Basket Brigade, a volunteer-led initiative providing support to families in need across the city.

Jackie is passionate about helping Scottish businesses realise their potential through the right support, connections, and creative thinking.