Breaking through barriers
TYA must work hard to compete with the wide range of other cultural offers aimed at young people. This is particularly serious in the digitalised world, where new attractive products appear every day. We will use this appeal of digital technology to excite young people by developing ConnectApp. This smart-phone based digital application plays a crucial role in the implementation of our goals.
The connectup partner Theatr Gen Theatr, the Welsh National Theatre, is using an app, which translates its plays into English or Welsh on the smartphone (spoken and as written text). “Sibrwd” – Welsh for “whisper” – is an app in its beta stage. connectup wants to build on the experiences of Theatr Gen with “Sibrwd” and develop it into ConnectApp.
ConnectApp, as a very practicable tool,
- has an impact on each connectup production: Spoken or written text on stage can be followed in the respective translations either spoken (with earphones) or written
- makes productions in foreign language understandable for young people and reduces prejudices among teachers (internationalization of festivals as a new business model)
- provides innovative solutions to existing barriers such as blindness or deafness (strengthens the “missionary approach”)
- allows young people to engage with theatre on an immediate, personal level in their social media groups (marketing support) and to give direct feedback such as smiley-based evaluation etc.
- allows direct communication with young people (without any detour via teachers)
- provides theatres with a reliable evaluation module (which will also be used for research purposes by the two universities).
Through practical experimentation, research and trialling ConnectApp will lead to an international market readiness during the project period. As ConnectApp it will be internet-based and thus be expanded as a marketing and research tool. For sure theatre makers from the whole of Europe will discover new ways to use the full potential of the App and make it an integral part of new productions.