IMZ Academy 2017: Re-imagining Opera for the Digital Age

28-29 September 2017
in the course of the International Television Festival Golden Prague, Prague /Czech Republic

This edition of the IMZ Academy 2017 focused on opera in the digital age, looking in particular at the opportunities of online and social media. Expert speakers from renowned institutions elaborated on creative ways of communicating with opera audiences and examined possibilities in performance capture and streaming in order to reach and engage new audiences in an innovative manner.

Presentations and discussions covered artistic, as well as technical and financial challenges and examined best practice in performance capture, streaming, editorial curation and audience impact.

An additional benefit of this IMZ Academy edition was that it was held in the course of the International Television Festival Golden Prague hence participants did not only have the opportunity to engage with the IMZ and IMZ Academy community but also to meet members of the European Broadcasting Union and other industry representatives at the ITF Golden Prague.

24 participants that joined from 19 institutions from 13 different countries took part in the IMZ Academy for Opera in the Digital Age experienced hands-on insights and worked together on practical, real-life challenges.

The course was led by IMZ Academy director Peter Maniura (Head of Digital Development for BBC Arts) together with top-level industry guest speakers David Collins (Director of External Affairs at Opera North), Agnieszka Kłopocka (Project Leader of "The Opera Platform" at the Polish National Opera) and François Roussillon (Producer & TV Director at François Roussillon et Associés).