News Archive 2015
"Musical Crossings: Music Mediation in Conflict Transformation"
Supervisors:
Professor Fiona Magowan (School of History and Anthropology and ISCTSJ Research Fellow); Professor Pedro Rebelo (Creative Arts, Music)
Closing Date for Applications: 27 February 2015
http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/isctsj/Study/PhDScholarshipOpportunities2015/DELPhDScholarshipOpportunities2015/
Extraction of Spatial Audio Formats from Simulated Sound Fields
Principal Supervisor: Dr Maarten van Walstijn
Deadline for Submission of Applications is 27 February 2015
http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/eeecs/StudyattheSchool/PhDProgrammes/PhDStudentships/PhD2015-10/
REVIEW: Traditional Music and Irish Society: Historical Perspectives by Martin Dowling
Dr Martin Downling, a lecturer in traditional Irish music at the School of Creative Arts, has been featured in the Irish Times with a review of his recent book "Traditional Music and Irish Society: Historical Perspectives by Martin Dowling".
Between the jigs and the reels, says Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, this is a skilful, sustained trawl through traditional music’s evolution...
See the full article here: http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/review-traditional-music-and-irish-society-historical-perspectives-by-martin-dowling-1.2058905
Apply for the MA in Sonic Arts
ARE YOU A RECENT QUEEN’S GRADUATE?
DO YOU INTEND TO TRAVEL TO NORTH AMERICA IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR PROGRAMME OF STUDY FOR AT LEAST EIGHT WEEKS?
IF SO, YOU COULD BE IN LINE TO RECEIVE A HELEN RAMSEY TURTLE SCHOLARSHIP, WHICH WILL NORMALLY BE AWARDED TO ONE RECIPIENT ONLY AND WILL BE OF AT LEAST £800 IN VALUE.
The selection panel will expect you to outline clearly what you hope to gain personally from your experience in North America, and how you intend to use this experience to benefit the wider community upon your return to Northern Ireland.
Application forms are available online or by request (Email: aascholarships@qub.ac.uk).
They must be typed or word-processed and returned to aascholarships@qub.ac.uk or Student Guidance Centre (University Road, Belfast, BT7 1NN) by the deadline of 4.30 pm on Tuesday 5 May 2015.
Other Funding opportunitues
Invitation: Visit of the Warwick Commission on the Future of Cultural Value
Tuesday 19 May at 3pm
0G/074 Lanyon Building, Queen’s University Belfast
How is culture valued and undervalued?
How important is creative education to the development of talent and participation in culture?
The Cultural and Creative Industries are the fastest growing industry in the UK. The Gross Value Added of the sector was estimated as £76.9 billion in 2013, representing 5% of the UK economy. Yet the articulation of the value of our culture and creativity is in danger of being reduced to a very restrictive definition of “cultural value”.
Taking this challenge as a point of inspiration, in November 2013 the University of Warwick launched a one-year Commission to undertake a comprehensive and holistic investigation into the future of cultural value. A diverse group of cultural leaders were invited to gather together the evidence and arguments to create a blueprint for the future of investment and engagement in our cultural lives. The Commission’s report Enriching Britain: Culture, Creativity and Growth brings together the findings of a series of public and private meetings with artists, creative and cultural professionals, economists, business leaders and other stakeholders, backed up by targeted research.
The Commission makes a range of recommendations as to how we can ensure everyone has access to a rich cultural education and the opportunity to live a creative life. Warwick’s ambition is that the Commission will offer an authoritative and constructive contribution to public debates and government policy in relation to arts and culture in the UK.
Two of the researchers supporting the Commission, Dr. Eleonora Belfiore and Dr. Catriona Firth join us to present their findings and to discuss the implications for policy makers, arts managers and artists in the cultural sector.
This event is being hosted in partnership with Tourism, Culture and Arts, Belfast City Council.
Places at this event are strictly limited. Please RSVP by 5pm Friday 15 May to joy.eakin@qub.ac.uk
Further information on The Warwick Commission:
www.warwick.ac.uk/culturalvalue
Link to download the full report:
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/research/warwickcommission/futureculture/finalreport/warwic k_commission_final_report.pdf
School of Creative Arts Teaching Assistants 2015-16
The School of Creative Arts wishes to engage the services of a number of Teaching Assistants to help in the delivery of modules on the BA Film, BA Drama, BMus and BSc Music Technology & Sonic Arts pathways during the academic year 2015-16.
The minimum requirement for someone wishing to act as a Teaching Assistant is a second-class undergraduate degree in the relevant subject (or equivalent) and previous experience of undergraduate teaching in that subject is desirable. If you wish to be considered for this opportunity, please complete and return the application form by 5.00pm on 12 June 2015. Late applications will not be accepted. Those who have previously acted as Teaching Assistants in the School must also complete and return the form, if they wish to be considered for opportunities in the academic year 2015-16.
The School will contact successful applicants with details of module teaching being offered. Those who are not selected for teaching assistance in 2015-16, but who meet the minimum requirement, will have their forms retained should future opportunities arise. Those who do not meet the minimum requirement will be informed that they cannot be considered for any opportunities. Please note that in the allocation of teaching assistance duties, priority may be given to full-time PhD students in the School who are entering the second year of their studies.
Teaching Assistants will be paid at the rate of £34 per hour: this hourly rate includes marking support, where required. Those who are offered teaching opportunities will be expected to undertake a short training course in October 2015.
Modules for which teaching assistance may be required include:
BSc Music Technology and Sonic Arts
MTE1004 Listening and Repertory
MTE1018 Fundamentals of Sound
MTE1022 Composition (Sonic Arts)
MTE2004 Electroacoustic Composition 1
MTE2005 Acoustics and Perception
MTE2015 Sound Design for Film
MTE2040 Designing Digital Music and Interactions
MTE3003 Electroacoustic Composition 2
MTE3020 Designing Technologically Mediated Performance
BMus
MUS1013 Fundamental Harmony
MUS1041 Repertory 1: History of Western Music (1750 to the present)
MUS2001 Early 20th Century Technique and Style
MUS2015 Classical Analysis
MUS2041 Repertory C (Western Music: Medieval to 1750)
BA Film Studies
FLM1001 Introduction to Film Studies 1
FLM1002 Introduction to Film Studies 2
FLM1004 Introduction to Film Practice
FLM1005 Introduction to Visual Studies
FLM1007 Film Editing
FLM2001 Hollywood Cinema 1
FLM2015 Cinema and Modernism
FLM2019 Introduction to Screenwriting
FLM2027 Experimental Practice
FLM3018 Contemporary Cinema
FLM3019 Hollywood Cinema 2
FLM3024 Film and Music: Theory and Criticism
FLM3031 Cinema and Postmodernism
BA Drama Studies
DRA1001 Drama 1: Performance Analysis
DRA1002 Drama 2: Classical Theatre
DRA2001 Drama 3: Renaissance to Romanticism
DRA2002 Drama 4: Modernist Theatre
DRA3001 Drama 5: Postmodern Performance
Application:
To apply, please return a completed application form, together with a recent CV, in electronic copy to Kirk Shilliday, School Manager – k.shilliday@qub.ac.uk
Film Studies student secures internship at Northern Ireland Screen
Third year film studies student Lauren L’Estrange has secured an exciting year-long internship at Northern Ireland Screen. As well as graduating this summer, Lauren will also be working at Ka-Boom Post Productions in Belfast as part of her employment with NI Screen and is being trained as an editor.
Despite the request for at least two month’s experience, Lauren saw the position advertised on NI Screen's twitter and decided to apply. After securing the position, she said ‘One of the reasons I got the job was my experience in using AVID. I am learning about the business from the ground up as I am learning how everything works before the first cut is even made.’
Film Studies Lecturer, Declan Keeney commented, "Film Studies and The School of Creative Arts continues to invest in world class postproduction facilities. Industry standard software instruction is embedded into Lauren’s course through our Avid Learning Partner status and we are delighted to see this proving invaluable to Lauren as she now moves from Queen’s into the film and television industry”.
Instrumental Music Tutors (Flute/Strings) in the School of Creative Arts
The School of Creative Arts at Queen's University Belfast would like to appoint instrumental music tutors (flute and strings) to guide undergraduate students in classical music performance.
Applicants should:
- Have extensive experience in instrumental teaching
- Be willing to work with a diverse range of students
- Be flexible in terms of working hours
- Have a university degree in Music or equivalent professional experience
Some prior experience in instrumental teaching at university level is highly desirable
The post is subject to renewal on an annual basis and the remuneration is £34/hour.
Interviews will be held around late September 2015 with shortlisted candidates and the position would commence in October 2015.
To apply, please submit a current CV and the application formby 1 September 2015 to Audrey Smyth: audrey.smyth@qub.ac.uk
Film studies graduate secures position at the MAC theatre.
Congratulations to Film Studies graduate Conn Mc Kermott who has secured a one-year internship with the MAC theatre in Belfast funded by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation. The Jerwood Foundation was set up to help people who are not in the position to work for free or volunteer to gain experience after their degrees. The role is designed to help develop graduates into producers or Creative Arts managers.
Conn will begin work in September as Arts Development Manager for for Prime Cut Productions’ theatre company at the MAC. The job involves working with the theatre's creative team and the MAC's marketing team and help develop PR strategies along with digital and media advertising initiatives. Conn explains, “I work alongside and answer to the Executive Producer, basically like an assistant producer for film. My job is to help promote, advertise, market, find new partners and funding for three major productions, which also include community projects taking place within the next year.”
Conn considers that modules taken as part of his degree helped him secure this prestigious opportunity. “The Film Studies course helped prepare me for this role and my final year at Queens really shaped my career pathway. In my final year I chose to study documentary film-making practice and also to undertake a work placement. The fact that I had to produce, direct, write, edit and shoot my own short documentary film meant I could successfully multi-task in all aspects of film media production and manage my time to successfully produce a production”
“My work experience as an assistant producer at Below the Radar productions also helped develop my skills in production management working closely with one of the Executive Producers, Mary Curry. I also developed skills in the business side of film making: budgeting, copyright laws, scheduling, funding and commissioning.”
“Producing, directing, studio management and even lighting for film/TV media are all transferable skills that can be applied to theatre production which is why I applied for this position. I felt learning to become a producer within theatre after having a film degree would be a strong combination to possess and hopefully allow me to develop into a successful producer in either medium.
Professor Cahal McLaughlin added: “We are always pleased when our students find work that is stimulating and relevant to their interests. In Conn’s case, the range of critical and creative skills that he developed on our Film Studies course has prepared him for a career in the creative industries. We wish him the very best in the future and hope he can return at some point to pass on his experiences to our current students, who benefit from the mix of academic and professional input our School offers.’
We are recruiting a Studio Assistant
The School of Creative Arts is recruiting a Studio Assistant to help with the audio, visual and computer resources in the school.
Full details and how to apply are here.
Closing date: 9th October 2015
Call for Proposals: Queer at Queen's 2015
HIV and AIDS: Politics, Memory, Performance.
Brian Friel Theatre, Queen’s University, Belfast,
November 15th and 16th
The event is free to attend and open to the public.
Outburst Queer Arts Festival and Drama Studies at Queen’s University Belfast are proud to present Queer at Queen’s, a two-day event bringing academics, artists, and activists together with the public. This year’s event will develop the theme of social justice discussed at Queer at Queen’s 2013, focusing in particular on HIV and AIDS. Through an interdisciplinary program of talks, theatre workshops, panel discussions, and social spaces, participants will address a diverse range of issues including: HIV/AIDS-related stigma and its effects on queer communities, particularly in terms of rising HIV diagnoses; local and global support networks and HIV activism; and the representation, both political and aesthetic, of those whose lives are affected by HIV/AIDS, as well as representations and understandings of the disease itself.
Queer at Queens endeavours to move beyond the traditional format of the academic conference and therefore, as well as academic papers, we welcome and encourage proposals from creative writers, activists, artists, performers, indeed any and all makers of culture and art, and community organisers and health care workers.
We are now accepting proposals for: talks, panels, workshops, presentations of art works, and creative writing such as poetry, fiction, or prose.
Topics can include, but are not limited to, the following:
- HIV/AIDS in art, writing, and performance: in Ireland, north and south, as well as in international contexts
- HIV/AIDS and social justice: community support, and access to healthcare services
- HIV-related stigma and its impact on rising infection rates.
- Populist and political understandings, myths, and misconceptions of HIV/AIDS.
- Marginalised bodies: Women, transwomen, migrants, and HIV/AIDS
- HIV/AIDS in specific populations, for example Ireland’s emigrant generation
- The history of AIDS activism: Reclamation, Revisionism, and AIDS Nostalgia.
- The ‘sanitization’ of homosexuality and HIV/AIDS discourses
- Shaming and the negation of sex, the ideology of ‘clean’
- New treatment options, particularly PrEP.
- Challenging discourses of ‘risk’: condomless sex, barebacking, chemsex, PrEP
- Representations of HIV/AIDS in social networks and digital media.
Proposals of roughly 300 words, plus a ‘presenter biography’ should be forwarded to Cormac O'Brien (cormac.obrien@ucd.ie) and Trish McTighe (pmc.mctighe@gmail.com) by 9th October 2015.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Queens past graduates collaborate on a professional theatre production
Job Opportunity at Camlin Technologies: Junior Video and Content Editor
Camlin Technologies based in Lisburn, Northern Ireland have extended the deadline for applications to 7th December for a Junior Video and Content Editor to provide film and photography support on a part time casual basis.
AHRC & Connecting Communities festival 2015 - Arts for All WW1 Mural Launch
We were delighted to support the project, and the official launch of the mural, and so too, were the local residents of the area. The venue, Duncairn Community Centre, hosted an interested, local audience, and the event began with a 30 min performance from 'Medal in the Drawer', a play written by Dr. Winter-Palmer, on the legacy of her Uncle's war medals in a difficult, post-war setting.
Following the performance, the actors, who have been trained in drama facilitation, answered questions whilst in character. The audience participated enthusiastically, and some vibrant discussion took place around the Unionist-Nationalist readings of the War.
We then gathered outside, where historian Phillip Orr provided some context on the mural, and explained that it provided a more nuanced portrayal of what the War meant to those in Belfast, and moved beyond militaristic commemorations, as is often the case.
Deputy Lord Mayor Guy Spence then formally launched the mural, and we highly recommend you visit the area in order to see it. A mural depicting the Belfast Blitz is situated just around the corner.
Northern Visions NvTv recorded a short extract "Focal Point Monday 29 June 2015" from on the night (skipped to 19 minutes)
SoCA Film Graduate Directs BBCNI's 'True North Shorts'
The film focuses on a Funeral Director/Art Dealer called Alan, who provides an insight into his life and work and communicates the importance of breaking down taboos around one of life’s inevitabilities.
MA student, Soléne Guichard, has film, 'Pictures of Me', selected for the Los Angeles Cinefest short film festival
Pictures of Me is a short movie about eating disorders.
The director and another ex-sufferer share their experience with eating disorders during a photo shoot.
This short movie is a documentary shot in a very intimate atmosphere. It doesn’t contain scientific or historical explanations. The aim of “Pictures of Me” is to make people aware of the sensitivity of eating disorders.
By giving this disease a voice, this film breaks some taboos and faces what current people may think or say about eating disorders, such as “but there are people dying in the world, and you are wasting food”.
Link to film: https://vimeo.com/115630849
If you like Soléne's film, please vote at http://lacinefest.weebly.com/october.html
In the final weeks of June the cast of the First World War play Medal in the Drawer, written by Drama Lecturer Brenda Winter-Palmer, assembled once more to move on to the next stage of the project, now renamed the Medals all Around Community Drama Initiative . Since its first performances in the Brian Friel Theatre in May 2014 the cast of the play have been engaged in travelling all over Northern Ireland to perform scenes from the play in community and civic venues, schools, libraries, and museums. So far the play and its accompanying workshop, in which the characters are 'hot-seated' in role by the audience, has played to 1250 people. Response to this outreach programme has been overwhelmingly positive and has further convinced us that there is a real role for the play, and drama methods in general, in stimulating community groups to research, create and stage their own stories.
Touring the original full length drama, with its realistic reconstruction of a trench was always out of the question. It would have been far too expensive and would not have fitted into to the kind of community venues which we wanted to reach. Accordingly the mission was on to formulate a 35 minute long, pared down production which could play in all kinds of venues. It was surprisingly easy to transform the 90 minutes of the original script into a portable 'pop-up' performance which conveyed the personal journeys of 4 young Belfast Men who went to fight in 1915. But both writer and cast were unsure if it would maintain the emotional impact of the original promenade production. We were fortunate to have two prestigious invitations to perform at the end of June which would let us see how well the concept worked both in a community and theatre settings.
Our first outing was in helping to launch a new First World War Mural in the Tiger's Bay area of North Belfast as part of the Arts and Humanities Research Council Connected Communities Festival. The rapt attention of the audience and the lively debate provoked in the after-show discussion indicated that the potted version of the performance had its own strength in providing a more intense and intimate experience for the audience. The passion of the engagement between actors and audience in the hot-seating exercise confirmed two things: firstly, that in areas designated as predominantly Protestant/Unionist/Loyalist in Northern Ireland the heritage of the First World War is current, vital and deeply-revered, and that secondly, this audience was totally prepared to suspend disbelief and question the actors in role as if they were real Belfast Tommies re-embodied in the room.
Two days later Medal headed south for its first foray over the border. The invitation to perform at the prestigious Hay Literary Festival in Kells County Meath meant that we would be sharing a platform with luminaries such as the poet Paul Durcan, musician and writer Paul Eno, television dramatist, Lynda La Plante, historian Diarmuid Ferriter and Booker Prize Winner Ben Okri. No pressure there then! We were also a bit worried about whether the very Northern Irish focus of the play would resonate with a predominantly Southern audience.
There was no need to worry! The play was received very warmly and the post-show discussion revealed amongst the audience an enduring consciousness of the service of relatives who fought in the First World War, despite over ninety years of the Republic's state-condoned erasure of such histories. Audience members spoke movingly of grand-fathers and great-uncles whose service, up until recent years, could only be mentioned in whispers for fear of the censure of neighbours horrified by any military association with the departed British colonial power. The willingness of those present to finally name and own these histories was palpable. By the end of the event it was clear that the emotional attachment to the memory of these men and women was as deeply felt in rural, Meath as it was in the PUL heartlands of Belfast's Tiger's Bay.
These two events in their different, yet interrelated ways, suggest that on the island of Ireland there is the interest and will within local and community groups to reclaim and tell their own stories of the First World War. It is hoped that Medal in the Drawer and can help to spear- head and support such initiatives through the medium of drama during the remainder of the Centenary and beyond.
Myles Dungan, of the Hay Festival Kells Committee writes:
Medal in the Drawer was invited to the 2015 Hay/Kells Festival as an element of our 'Reconciliation Strand' which was part- funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs Reconciliation Fund. So the play became an integral part of four events which also included a debate involving Jeffrey Donaldson MP and Mitchel McLaughlin MLA, and talks by East Belfast Irish language teacher Linda Ervine and Glencree Reconciliation Director Eamon Rafter.
The play was a reminder of the historical and commemorative context of the strand and played to an enthusiastic and engaged audience. The script and performances were of the highest calibre and the reaction to the play itself was extremely positive. The question and answer session that followed the show demonstrated the level of engagement of the audience and their clear enjoyment of the poignant drama they had just witnessed. In this context Medal in the Drawer is a hugely valuable addition to the Decade of Commemoration and a reminder to Southern Irish nationalists of one of the many bases of the culture of Northern unionism, just as it undoubtedly serves as a reminder to Northern Unionists that their nationalist compatriots played a vital part in the tragedy that was the Great War.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON MEDAL IN THE DRAWER SEE www.medalinthedrawer.com
We are delighted to announce an exciting new initiative known as the All-Island Cultural Policy Research Network. This network has been funded under the Irish Research Council New Foundations Scheme 2015 andaims to create an all island research network in Ireland that will grow, connect, and platform academic research regarding the practices and policies of the cultural sector in Ireland.
Developed through a partnership between Kerry McCall, Lecturer (Humanities and Arts Management) at The Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) and Dr. Victoria Durrer, Lecturer in Arts Management and Cultural Policy at Queen’s University Belfast, the network will connect individuals carrying out research relating to the various ways in which arts and culture interact with the social, economic and political realms, including the cultural practices and values apparent in governments, institutions, communities and individuals.
The All-Island Cultural Policy Research Network will be of interest to thosewhose work considers and explores the meaning, value, impact and functions of arts and cultural policies, both implicit and explicit, in the island of Ireland.The first phase of the network will bring together academic researchers from across the island to collate existing research, develop plans to exchange ideas and knowledge with cultural producers, practitioners and policy makers. We will draw on both the Republic of Ireland’s and Northern Ireland’s ‘unique...social and structural similarities and difference’ and aim to provide a resource for those interested in research regarding the practices and policies of arts and culture.
For further information, please contact:
Republic of Ireland:
Kerry McCall, Lecturer (Humanities and Arts Management), Institute of Art, Design & Technology, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, E: Kerry.McCall@iadt.ie.
Northern Ireland:
Dr. Victoria Durrer, Lecturer in Arts Management and Cultural Policy, Queen’s University Belfast, E: v.durrer@qub.ac.uk.
Shaun Blaney takes the Best Male Performance at the 2015 International Academy of Web Television Awards
BMus graduate, Graeme Stewart (2004), has won the 2014 Reel Awards prize in the Best Score – Drama category for his soundtrack to the film A Nightingale Falling. According to the Reel Awards website:
‘Graeme Stewart’s score for Garret Daly & Martina McGlynn’s historical drama A Nightingale Falling, set in Ireland during the War of Independence of 1919-1921 is a beautiful little score and worthy winner of the Drama catergory [sic]. Tender woodwind solos are among the highlights of some wonderfully evocative thematic material that’s given a strong outing by The Ulster Orchestra (currently at risk from UK finding cuts). The overriding emotion is one of sadness reflecting those caught up in the conflict but Stewart’s score turns up the drama when required to give a strong and varied soundtrack.’
Congratulations to Graeme! You can read more about the awards athttps://reelmusic.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/2014-reel-music-awards-the-winners-2/.
Film studies students in the school of Creative Arts are keeping everything crossed for the success of short film Boogaloo and Graham which has just been nominated for an Oscar. Directed by Michael Lennox and produced by Brian Falconer and Out of Orbit productions, the film has been nominated in the live action short category.
Third year film studies students Rebecca Kelly and Rebekah Davis worked on the short film as assistant producer and runner respectively and are hoping for a good result from the Hollywood awards ceremony which takes place on Sunday 22 February.
Davis commented about the experience, “I basically got involved because I've worked with Michael Lennox on lots of other Cinemagic projects. He asked me to be a runner but I ended up doing lots of bits and pieces during the four days such as location managing and taking actors to and from the unit base to the set.
Michael knows I'm interested in the camera side of things and he made sure I was able to see what was being shot on the monitor so I had a real close up look at what was happening.
It was so exciting that I was able to see the workings of an Oscar and BAFTA nominated set, and to realise that it is possible for people like me and the rest of my class to make material like this. Northern Ireland is going places!”
The QUB students are pictured here with the young stars Riley Hamilton and Aaron Lynch.
Congratulations all!