Ryerson University issued the following announcement on April 9.

A scene from REFLEKT, a Cirque du Soleil exclusive event, created and produced by 45 DEGREES and designed exclusively for Expo 2017 Astana International in Kazakhstan. Photo by Yevgeniya Gorobets.

Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group (CDSEG) through its innovation lab, Nextasy, and FCAD, Ryerson’s Faculty of Communication and Design, have come together to launch The Future of Live Entertainment Lab (FOL!E), dedicated to innovation research in the live entertainment industry.

This powerful initiative combines Ryerson University’s strength as Canada’s leader in innovative, career-oriented education, with CDSEG’s expertise as a live entertainment global leader, to create a laboratory that will focus on using technology to enhance human performances, developing methodologies for live audience analytics, and generating deep insights into social and economic paradigms shaping the industry.

“We’ve always invested internally to push the boundaries of our own creations and creative minds, but FOL!E is our first official step to open up our research and development initiatives to the outside world. There is no doubt this academic partnership will contribute in pushing the live entertainment industry to the next frontier,” says Diane Quinn, chief creation officer at Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group.

“We are thrilled to have found a partner who has at heart as much as we do, the training of the next generation of live entertainment leaders,” says Charles Falzon, dean of FCAD. “FCAD‘s research is at the intersection of technology and creative storytelling and who better to partner with than Cirque du Soleil, the biggest and best Canadian cultural export who has raised the bar of innovation in those fields for the last three decades.”

Housed in the Catalyst at FCAD, a new interdisciplinary research hub home to 20 labs and centres, FOL!E will bring together faculty and students from FCAD’s nine creative schools to develop projects in high-interest areas for academic and field-based research.

Under the leadership of Louis-Etienne Dubois, faculty member in the School of Creative Industries and newly appointed Director of FOL!E, researchers will also have access to CDSEG's expertise and audience insights coming from its facilities worldwide including its international headquarters in Montreal.

Through a unique interdisciplinary approach that blends technology and creativity, CDSEG has committed funding and expertise to tackle questions like the ongoing changes in audience preferences and how emerging technologies and shifting economic conditions are creating new possibilities for the live entertainment’s industry.

FOL!E’s initiatives and findings on the potential social, educational, and commercial impacts will be disseminated through academic conferences, journals, an annual showcase event and through Nextasy’s online platform that shares trends and insights in live entertainment and creative innovation.

Original source: https://www.ryerson.ca/news-events/news/2019/04/ryerson-unveils-live-entertainment-research-lab/