14 November 2014
On 4 November 2014, the Ministry of Culture announced the name list of the first batch of the accredited key laboratories. The Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA), with its digital performance and entertainment integrated innovation laboratory, was among the first batch of six accredit key laboratories, together with the National Library of China, Centre for Ethnic and Folk Literature and Art Development, China Art Science and Technology Institute, Communication University of China and Nanjing Museum. This was a new achievement and important progress in the development of the Shanghai Theatre Academy.
The Ministry of Cultures commenced the submission for the key laboratory accreditation in June 2014. The STA formed a consortium led by its Virtual Studio and also comprising its Media Art Image Centre, Lighting Studio, STA Theatre and Digital Theatre Museum as the joint candidate and submitted the application report on 30 June.
On 11 September, the STA passed successfully the preliminary expert assessment organized by the Ministry of Culture. On 15 October, an expert group of the Department of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Culture visited the STA for an on-site inspection of the candidate laboratory in terms of its research capacity, research achievements, research conditions, and laboratory space and team development. During the visit, the leaders and experts listened to the reports and inspected the relevant venues including the Virtual Studio, Media Image Art Centre, STA Theatre and Lighting Studio. They fully acknowledged STA’s efforts and achievements over the past many years in the following areas: integrated innovation projects of culture, science and technology; creation and production of new media performing art works; cultivation of multi-skilled performing talents; collaborative innovation between the university (with its research and creation) and entertainment industry. On 23 October, the Ministry of Culture publicized the name list of the first batch of the accredited key laboratories on its official website to solicit comments from the public. On 4 November, the Ministry of Culture officially announced the name list of the accredited key laboratories.
Under the guiding principle of “integrated innovation”, STA’s digital performance and entertainment integrated innovation laboratory accredited by the Ministry of Culture aims to develop the integrated innovation of culture, science and technology, explore the application of new technologies in the artistic creation and production of performances and promote the experiment in the creation of new performance products and cultivation of new performance talents, in the meantime, bring together the teaching and experiment resources of the whole university to provide a shared platform to serve the teaching and research needs of all colleges and departments of the university, as well as cooperate with external organizations and enterprises to drive the collaborative innovation between the university (with its research and creation) entertainment industry and enhanced the joint development of culture, science and technology.
STA will further explore and optimize the system and mechanism development of the laboratory, compile and implement the relevant policies, regulations and manuals to strengthen the standardized management and avoid the unnecessary duplication of investment. STA will capitalize on the opportunity of the key laboratory accreditation to take its discipline and specialty development and creation experiment to a new height.
