Project description
Opera takes centre stage for social connection in virtual worlds
As people spend more time in virtual worlds, there is still limited understanding of how these environments may affect culture, social cohesion, well-being and participation in the arts. There is also no framework to help the cultural sector create inclusive, ethical and participatory artistic experiences in persistent virtual spaces. With this in mind, the EU-funded VOPUS project will create Operaland. It is a virtual world where European opera houses and citizens can co-create and experience participatory opera. Through pilots, long-term research and user data, the project will study how virtual arts participation can support social connection and well-being. It will also develop a toolkit and infrastructure for cultural production in virtual worlds.
Objective
VOPUS: Virtual World Opera for Participation, Unity, and Social Cohesion research project investigates the long-term impacts on culture when citizens spend more time in virtual worlds. As the domain of art and culture and its virtualisation is very broad, we propose building Operaland, a persistent, accessible, research-grade virtual world prototype aligned with human-centric practices to host pilots co-created with European opera houses. VOPUS hypothesises that making opera participatory and socially connective in virtual worlds provides a transferable model to study virtual worlds’ impact on social cohesion and wellbeing through arts participation and production. The project investigates the impact on skills development for the future workforce producing artistic content into virtual worlds. VOPUS delivers 1) new research on forms of individual and collective artistic production and participation in the virtual world domain, and 2) a research platform in the form of an accessible virtual world that enables collecting both quantitative and qualitative data about audience participation and collaborative processes.
Methodologically, VOPUS combines a longitudinal mixed-methods SSH programme (ethnography; surveys/interviews/focus groups; accessibility audits; usage telemetry and selected physiological measures) with inquiry into changing skills requirements, workflows and artistic integrity in virtual production. VOPUS will deliver: (1) a pan-European evidence base on arts participation in persistent virtual worlds; (2) a Responsible Innovation toolkit for arts participation (equity, inclusion, data ethics, transparency, fair labour/IP); (3) a European skills framework for cultural virtual-world production; and (4) Operaland as reusable R&D infrastructure. Target outcomes include 3,000 audience participants across six or more countries, 2,000 registered test users and eight open-access publications, ensuring generalisable insights and policy relevance.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities arts
- social sciences sociology anthropology social anthropology
- social sciences economics and business business and management employment
You need to log in or register to use this function
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.2.2 - Culture, creativity and inclusive society
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme -
HORIZON.2.2.2 - Cultural Heritage
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-CL2-2025-01
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
02150 Espoo
Finland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.