Celebrating Success: Jonathan Sapsed

Jonathan Sapsed, Professor of Innovation, won Best Developmental Paper Award on Innovation at the British Academy of Management conference at Aston University, Birmingham, with his co-author Dr Christina Vasiliou, now at Northumbria University.

 The paper ‘The Craft in Stagecraft: Implications for organising and digital technology adoption’ was the result of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership between the Northern Stage theatre company, NUBS and Dr Tom Schofield of Culture Lab. The paper was praised for its novel methodology showing how the team mapped the processes of making a major show in Northern Stage, noting opportunities for digital technology adoption as well as barriers. The study highlights the craft sensibility of performance arts and stresses how this must be acknowledged by policy aimed at encouraging arts organisations to adopt new technologies. It contributes to theories of sociomateriality in the organisation literature.  

Following the KTP Jonathan and the team won a Partnership Development Grant from AHRC to continue to research innovation in theatre exploring potential partnerships in China. In March Jonathan led a delegation to Shanghai including Northern Stage, the arts-tech company 59 Productions, PROTO, the Digital Catapult Centre and Shaun Allan of PerceptionVR. The delegation met with the Shanghai Media Group, Shanghai Theatre Academy and companies TUStar, Crystal and Ma Hua Fun and were also received by the Mayor of Suzhou, outside Shanghai, for a special performance of Chinese opera in the city’s famous gardens. The intersection of technology and performance arts is a promising research agenda with local partners and international interest.