PROTOTYPING SUPPORT PROGRAM AT LAB7
Performing Arts and Technology
LAB7, the 7 Fingers technology lab, opens a call for projects for its prototyping support program in collaboration with the Société des Arts Technologiques (SAT) and with the support of the Centre de recherche, d'innovation et de transfert en arts du cirque (CRITAC) and the Petit Théâtre du Vieux Noranda. This project is made possible with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
We'll be supporting three projects that bring the performing arts and technological arts together around the theme of human movement. Whether you're a NPO a collective or an individual artist, this program offers you two weeks (10 days) of work in a studio at the 7 Fingers’s Creation Centre in Montreal, as well as personalized coaching, with the support of our partners. We'll also support you when getting ready, with the help of SAT and on their premises.
This program will help you identify and get comfortable with the technological tools relevant to your project, understand their limits and possibilities, and carry out a prototyping stage. It will also equip you with effective working methods for combining the performing arts and the technological arts, and thus improve the collaborative processes between professionals in these two sectors.
Eligibility Requirements
Who can apply?
- Canadian project owners (citizens or permanent residents)
- Artists, creators, collectives and companies or NPO-based companies creative organizations...
- From the performing arts: circus, dance, theater, music ...
- And/or from technological arts: video, 3D, robotics, GenAI, XR, interactivity, sound...
For which projects?
- Projects at the prototyping stage, in order to validate technological choices, develop practices or explore the feasibility and possibilities of certain tools or devices.
- Projects combining performing arts and technological arts
- Projects using data from human movement and the performing arts to create a collective experience in real time.
We place particular emphasis on these themes:
- Real time and live performance;
- Data from human movement, particularly in the performing arts;
- Motion capture, markerless detection, computer vision...
- Collective immersion and interactivity;
- Multi-user experiences,
- Interactive scenography, interaction between artists or with the audience.
This list is not exhaustive: if your project is different but involves an exploration of human movement and combines performing art and technology, please feel free to apply!
Program Objectives
- Support creation and innovation merging performing arts and technology.
- Encourage research, exploration and prototyping in creative projects at an early stage.
- Develop and share working methods that encourage collaboration between the performing arts and technology communities.
- Create open, sustainable toolkits and design training programs to consolidate these communities and the bonds between them.
How to
What's included?
- Preparatory meetings
- Access to SAT research space and equipment for a few days during the prep phase – as required and availability
- Access to a 7 Fingers studio from Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for 10 days
- Equipment (stage, circus, technological) - as required and available
- Technical and support team - as required and available
- Project documentation: photos, video teaser, technical plan, etc.
- Presentation in front of a select number of guests
When?
Three periods are offered. Participants must choose the period(s) that suit them and indicate them on the registration form.
All participants must be available for a first meeting in November or December 2024.
- Winter: preparation December 2024 - January 2025; studio work in February 2025
- Spring: preparation February-March 2025; studio work in April 2025
- Summer: preparation May-June 2025; studio work June 2025
Subject to change according to project needs and availability.
Where?
7 Fingers Creation Center
2111, boul. Montreal, Quebec H2X 2T5
Participants will have access to a vast rehearsal space that can be used as a black box, with plenty of hanging space and high ceilings.
Size example (Studio 2):
Area: 4,095 ft2 / 372 m2
Dimensions: 91 ft x 45 ft / 27.7 m x 13.8 m
Height: 29 ft / 8.8 m
SAT prototyping space or interactive studio
1201 Saint-Laurent Boulevard, Montreal, Quebec H2X 2S6
Participants will have access to the SAT innovation department's experimentation and exploration areas: interactive studio and prototyping space.
The dome is not included in the experimental spaces available.
Application
Evaluation guidelines:
Projects will be selected by a committee composed of members of 7 Fingers and SAT: artistic direction, research, innovation and business development, technical and technological direction, production.
The criteria to be evaluated are :
- Consistency with the themes of the call for projects
- Quality of artistic approach
- Technological and artistic innovation
- Relevance of the disciplines and technologies chosen to serve the concept
- Skills and previous achievements of team members
- Project feasibility
- Impact of program on project development
How to apply :
- Fill in the application form
- Prepare your attachments:
- CVs and bios of team members and collaborators
- Project technical reader
- Photos, videos, web links relevant to the evaluation of your project
- Budget, schedule and availability (according to our template)
- Send to the e-mail address indicated in the guide. Feel free to use your Drive or Dropbox if your attachments are too large. Please avoid using WeTransfer or any other tool with a short download time.
Please note that selected participants will be required to provide compulsory liability 2M$ insurance.
Two one-hour online information sessions will be held on Thursday, September 12, 2024: In French at 1pm or In English at 2:30pm
FAQ
Yes, we encourage artists who wish to develop their practice through merging performing arts and technology to apply. Above all, we seek to support innovative projects with a strong, promising concept.
A certain degree of autonomy is required to participate, but individual artists are eligible. You can also apply with one or two collaborators, without forming a collective or company. If your team is missing an essential resource, please mention it on the application form. We'll take this into account when evaluating your application, and may be able to put you in touch with a suitable resource.
Yes, all spaces are accessible for people with reduced mobility.
Applicants from across Canada are eligible if they are citizens or permanent residents. Preparatory meetings can be held remotely, but active project members must travel to Montreal for the two weeks of studio work.
This program aims at helping you achieve a prototyping stage for your project, not a production stage. If your work matches the overall vision and strategies of 7 Fingers or SAT, discussions may take place regarding a possible subsequent production phase, but no promises are made in this regard.
No, the artist or collective owns the intellectual property of their project. However, 7 Fingers and SAT reserve a right of first refusal as producer or co-producer for production, distribution or broadcast. This means that you will be expected to offer 7 Fingers and SAT the possibility of producing, co-producing or broadcasting your work in due course.
The terms and conditions of this right of first refusal will be stipulated in the contract between the artist or collective and Les 7 Doigts and SAT.
Yes, selected project leaders will have to sign a letter of agreement with 7 Fingers and SAT, setting out the terms and conditions of support.
SAT's R&D approach is based on developing and making available a technological and methodological toolbox that is sustainable, ethical and open source. Your participation in the project may lead to the development of certain features of the SAT toolbox. These functionalities will remain in open-source code for the benefit of the digital creation community. Original assemblies specific to artistic concepts may be protected by copyright. Together, we will determine which elements can be used as use cases for the development of new functionalities or extensions to the toolbox, and which remain specifically and uniquely part of your project.
LAB7 is 7 Fingers’ technological lab. Founded in 2021, LAB7's mission is to promote the integration of technology in performing arts. This prototyping studio is open to the community and acts as a technological facilitator through its research, knowledge-sharing and technological showcase activities. - Find out more
SAT's public research center supports experimentation in the creation of collective experiences through a collaborative research and development approach.
Its research axes are immersion, co-creation and collective interaction.
In an ongoing dialogue with artists and drawing on research-creation methodologies, they are developing an open, accessible and interoperable technological toolbox for the creation of collective experiences in technological arts.
Don't miss this unique opportunity to develop your project in an inspiring and professional setting.
We look forward to welcoming you!
We thank the Canada Council for the Arts for its support.
Partners
