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A research programme is setting out to evaluate how digital technologies could be used to support remote learning in performing arts.

A multidisciplinary research team, led by Queen Mary University of London, will be investigating the potential for AI to train skills at home, including refined movements, synchrony and self-evaluation, which are normally difficult to teach in remote settings.

They will also be developing AI tools that will give dancers individual and immediate feedback on their movement in the absence of in-person teaching.

The project will bring together scientific experts and leading dance schools including English National Ballet School and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Students participating in the project will be taught remotely by choreographer and dance teacher Erico Montes.

Data-driven algorithms will be used to compare the movements of a student with those of the choreographer, to identify what they are doing differently and what they need to do to correct their performance. The aim is to use the algorithm to evaluate movement, such as whether a student is moving early or late, and how they articulate limbs and other parts of the body.

The involvement of the University’s Centre for Sports and Exercise Medicine will share knowledge more widely to offer benefits to distance learning in sports and physiotherapy.

Professor Andrea Cavallaro, Professor of Multimedia Signal Processing at Queen Mary University of London and Director of the Centre for Intelligent Sensing, said: “Often we think of the arts and technology being in competition, but through this project we hope to show how technology, and specifically AI, could actually be used to enhance the arts.”

Academics from Northumbria and Brunel Universities are to work with resilience planners from UK cities to explore how art and performance could be used to establish successful social distancing strategies.

As compliance with social distancing regulations declines, new ideas are being sought to keep people engaged and ensure they adhere to guidelines. The research aims to understand how the arts have played a part in the public’s response to Covid-19, and how artistic practice and research could inform future hazard mitigation planning in UK cities.

Funding of more than £120,000 will be awarded by the Economic and Social Research Council as part of UK Research and Innovation’s rapid response to Covid-19 fund, which was set up to support projects that contribute to our understanding of, and response to, the Covid-19 pandemic and its impacts.

Dr Patrick Duggan, Associate Professor of Performance and Culture at Northumbria University, said: “In terms of social distancing, techniques such as using arrows and signs only have limited success – there’s a real need for imaginative ideas, creative practices and new thinking in the ways we’re responding to the pandemic.”

Dr Stuart Andrews, Lecturer in Theatre at Brunel University, added: “The arts are often used when it comes to the messaging element of public health campaigns such as social distancing, for example designing graphics or logos, but they are seldom used in actually developing the strategy behind such campaigns.

“This project will explore how the arts could provide new models for understanding and practising city life, helping people cope with social distancing in the long term.”

Both academics will work with strategic decision-makers in hazard mitigation, sustainability and resilience from Bristol, Glasgow and Newcastle City Councils, as well as with artists and arts organisations.

They will also explore performance practices which have helped people through lockdown and social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic, such as Spanish dancer Albert Garcia who, when unable to dance freely during Spain’s national lockdown, performed for his neighbours each night when taking out his rubbish.

A £16.5m commitment to the creative and visitor sectors in Tees Valley will be supporting long-term recovery by attracting new events to the region, growing local festivals, encouraging business development and boosting the region’s profile as a visitor destination.

The investment pledge has been made by The Tees Valley Combined Authority Cabinet in response to a projected 48% loss to Tees Valley’s visitor economy in 2020. 44% of creative, culture, tourism and hospitality businesses have reported that their businesses may have to permanently close, compared with 28% across all sectors.

Five local authorities are set to gain from the investment: Darlington, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar & Cleveland and Stockton-on-Tees. A task force, chaired by Annabel Turpin, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of ARC Stockton arts centre, will be providing sector-led advice and insight into the challenges and opportunities that businesses in these areas face. She said: “By working collaboratively we can make an even more valuable contribution to our local economy. Our creative and visitor economies in the Tees Valley are tightly linked so it’s fantastic that this new programme recognises and celebrates that.”

The National Theatre is making its archive of filmed plays available on subscription or for a one-off payment through ‘National Theatre At Home’, a new streaming service. This includes plays that have previously been shown in cinemas or were streamed for free at the start of the pandemic.

Plays that haven’t previously been screened will also be available and new titles will be added each month.

Executive director Lisa Burger said the service will continue “as long as it is needed”.