Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TICP (Technological Innovations in Costume Practice (TICP): Enabling the adoption of new manufacturing technologies by live performance costume professionals)
Reporting period: 2024-11-15 to 2025-12-14
Theatre costume production faces a particular problem: whilst digital innovations have transformed other performance production areas like staging, lighting, sound and projection, costume work remains perceived as technologically stagnant, reliant on tools such as the sewing machine that are so familiar they are no longer recognised as technologies. This perception has limited investment in the costume sector, which is notably feminised, potentially contributing to reduced technological investment in the field.
However, costume practitioners demonstrate acute problem-solving orientations and learning capabilities, evidenced through increasing uptake of digital technologies offering substantial opportunities for costume work. Technologies including 3D printing and digital patternmaking are being implemented globally across the EU and locally in Finland, yet adoption remains constrained by systematic and attitudinal barriers. This project explores the diffusion of these innovations and their implications for theatre practice, drawing on practitioner experiences worldwide to develop theoretical models and practical industry-focused resources. The research addresses both practical and attitudinal factors hindering or facilitating adoption of new manufacturing technologies into professional costume practice.
Through interviews with over 30 international costume practitioners who are early adopters of 3D printing or digital patternmaking, alongside non-users, the research examines first experiences, adoption challenges, how new technologies complement or substitute existing practices, and how practitioners inscribe technologies with personal meaning. Early findings reveal that costume professionals embracing these technologies often discover productivity, cost, sustainability and creativity benefits beyond simple digitisation. Digital patternmaking enables prototypes that reduce material waste whilst allowing greater creative experimentation. 3D printing opens possibilities for accessories and structural elements impossible through traditional methods. Both tools offer efficiency gains for chorus lines or multiples.'A second phase convenes diverse costume industry practitioners in workshops to advise on designing an industry toolkit guiding adoption of new technologies. These outcomes enable practitioners to engage more deliberately, effectively and empowered with new manufacturing technologies, addressing the identified gap between technological potential and sector-wide implementation.
However, costume practitioners demonstrate acute problem-solving orientations and learning capabilities, evidenced through increasing uptake of digital technologies offering substantial opportunities for costume work. Technologies including 3D printing and digital patternmaking are being implemented globally across the EU and locally in Finland, yet adoption remains constrained by systematic and attitudinal barriers. This project explores the diffusion of these innovations and their implications for theatre practice, drawing on practitioner experiences worldwide to develop theoretical models and practical industry-focused resources. The research addresses both practical and attitudinal factors hindering or facilitating adoption of new manufacturing technologies into professional costume practice.
Through interviews with over 30 international costume practitioners who are early adopters of 3D printing or digital patternmaking, alongside non-users, the research examines first experiences, adoption challenges, how new technologies complement or substitute existing practices, and how practitioners inscribe technologies with personal meaning. Early findings reveal that costume professionals embracing these technologies often discover productivity, cost, sustainability and creativity benefits beyond simple digitisation. Digital patternmaking enables prototypes that reduce material waste whilst allowing greater creative experimentation. 3D printing opens possibilities for accessories and structural elements impossible through traditional methods. Both tools offer efficiency gains for chorus lines or multiples.'A second phase convenes diverse costume industry practitioners in workshops to advise on designing an industry toolkit guiding adoption of new technologies. These outcomes enable practitioners to engage more deliberately, effectively and empowered with new manufacturing technologies, addressing the identified gap between technological potential and sector-wide implementation.
The project remains aligned with its three core scientific impact objectives, which originally were to generate new knowledge for the field via applying theories of technological adoption to theatre production; centring costume discipline in this arena, and the methodological innovation of using digital ethnography to explore performance-making practices.
The first objective, generating significant new knowledge and models for multidisciplinary performance practice research through application of technological adoption theories, is being fulfilled through peer-reviewed publications that establish frameworks and findings for technology adoption in costume and theatre broadly. The second objective, centring costume in technology conversations, is evidenced across the many interdisciplinary publication venues and conference presentations sought out for this project, rather than limiting dissemination to costume specific arenas. The third objective, methodological innovation, shifted with the project development, as I recognised that the overall research design, rather than the specific data collection methods, was of great novelty and value to the field. As such the emphasis in dissemination and promotion shifted to this. Progress in this objective is demonstrated through direct dissemination of the approach to research communities, measurable engagement with methodological resources, and through the establishment of an international peer feedback circle of researchers using STS theories to research theatre production.
Quantifiable Progress Summary
• Publication outputs: 1 published, 2 in advanced preparation stages
• Methodological dissemination events: 2 presentations dedicated to sharing methodology, reaching total of 50 researchers.
• Research resources accessed: 30+ downloads of Data Management Plan via Zenodo
The first objective, generating significant new knowledge and models for multidisciplinary performance practice research through application of technological adoption theories, is being fulfilled through peer-reviewed publications that establish frameworks and findings for technology adoption in costume and theatre broadly. The second objective, centring costume in technology conversations, is evidenced across the many interdisciplinary publication venues and conference presentations sought out for this project, rather than limiting dissemination to costume specific arenas. The third objective, methodological innovation, shifted with the project development, as I recognised that the overall research design, rather than the specific data collection methods, was of great novelty and value to the field. As such the emphasis in dissemination and promotion shifted to this. Progress in this objective is demonstrated through direct dissemination of the approach to research communities, measurable engagement with methodological resources, and through the establishment of an international peer feedback circle of researchers using STS theories to research theatre production.
Quantifiable Progress Summary
• Publication outputs: 1 published, 2 in advanced preparation stages
• Methodological dissemination events: 2 presentations dedicated to sharing methodology, reaching total of 50 researchers.
• Research resources accessed: 30+ downloads of Data Management Plan via Zenodo
The project’s original societal impact objectives centred on advancing recognition of costume practice's complexity and the gendered dynamics within technical innovation adoption. The project delivers immediate educational value as theatre institutions navigate Industry 4.0 technologies. The toolkit and research outputs enable informed, effective technology evaluation, supporting creative practitioners to make confident adoption decisions. A second objective on longer-term environmental impact flows from supporting informed technology adoption that enables sustainable manufacturing, via wirtual sampling and prototyping capabilities. By clarifying adoption barriers and enablers, the project removes obstacles to sustainable technology deployment within costume production. This knowledge extends beyond costume to other artisanal and creative practitioners grappling with Industry 4.0 technologies. For example, I am now having discussions with Finnish fashion researchers about how the projects findings can be of use to fashion practitioners and students. This multiplier effect aligns the project with Horizon Europe Cluster 2 objectives by demonstrating how culture and creativity sectors can model inclusive, informed approaches to technological transition whilst supporting worker recognition and environmental sustainability.
The project has generated tangible outputs directly addressing its economic impact objectives: enabling theatre organisations to make informed technology investments that reduce equipment waste and establishing an evidence base for costume practitioners' advocacy regarding pay parity within production hierarchies.
The primary economic output is a PDF toolkit workbook designed to enable costume professionals to evaluate and adopt digital tools. This industry-facing resource directly addresses the original objective of helping theatre companies—typically operating under constrained budgets—target equipment investment strategically and reduce the likelihood of expensive technology remaining underutilised. Early feedback from co-design workshops (conducted in Helsinki and Athens with costume practitioners) informed toolkit design. This toolkit will be disseminated through trade journals, professional newsletters, and social media channels targeting costume professionals and live performance institutions.
The research findings establish an empirical foundation for costume practitioners' advocacy regarding wage parity. By documenting fact that costumers are consistently self funding tech advancements for the field, and highlighting this as an issue, the project generates data that practitioners can mobilise in pay negotiation and institutional advocacy contexts. Presentations delivered to theatre industry professionals directly disseminate findings to audiences positioned to advance pay parity discussions within their professional networks and organisations.
The project has generated tangible outputs directly addressing its economic impact objectives: enabling theatre organisations to make informed technology investments that reduce equipment waste and establishing an evidence base for costume practitioners' advocacy regarding pay parity within production hierarchies.
The primary economic output is a PDF toolkit workbook designed to enable costume professionals to evaluate and adopt digital tools. This industry-facing resource directly addresses the original objective of helping theatre companies—typically operating under constrained budgets—target equipment investment strategically and reduce the likelihood of expensive technology remaining underutilised. Early feedback from co-design workshops (conducted in Helsinki and Athens with costume practitioners) informed toolkit design. This toolkit will be disseminated through trade journals, professional newsletters, and social media channels targeting costume professionals and live performance institutions.
The research findings establish an empirical foundation for costume practitioners' advocacy regarding wage parity. By documenting fact that costumers are consistently self funding tech advancements for the field, and highlighting this as an issue, the project generates data that practitioners can mobilise in pay negotiation and institutional advocacy contexts. Presentations delivered to theatre industry professionals directly disseminate findings to audiences positioned to advance pay parity discussions within their professional networks and organisations.