I’m a bit late blogging about this, since it was all announced last week, but I just wanted to take a moment to talk about a wonderful programme that I’m involved with, on behalf of NTW, called Recife: The Playable City a UK/Brazil cultural exchange led by Bristol’s Watershed, in partnership with the British Council and Brazilian technology park Porto Digital.

Some of you may be aware of Hello Lamppost, which was the rather wonderful citywide experience that happened recently in Bristol. This was the first of (hopefully many) projects around Watershed’s idea of a 'Playable City'. Recife: The Playable City is the next in this series of Playable City initiatives.

Inspired by Bristol’s playful approach to public spaces; its drive to get residents and visitors engaged with the city, its creative and cultural future as well as its encouragement of everything from street art to street games, Watershed coined the term ‘Playable city’, imagined as a counterpoint to a Smart City, where hospitality, fun and openness beat surveillance, efficiency and order.

Between January and April 2014, Recife: The Playable City will enable a select group of artists, producers and creative technologists to participate in a creative lab process spanning Bristol and Recife. I’ll be taking part, on behalf of NTW, to help develop new ideas that use art and technology to engage and inspire audiences, demonstrating how playful ideas can empower citizens and tackle the challenges our future cities face. This brand new initiative is part of the British Council’s Transform programme and is supported by Arts Council England.

A really super bunch of people are involved: 

Leo Falcão is creative director of the Scriptoscope, a content design research and creation group. His work spans film, theatre, literature, TV, and games.

George Lovett is an architect exploring relational and social art practice with the public and in shared places.

Fábio Florencio is a games designer. He currently works at C.E.S.A.R, owns a freelance sound design outsourcing company and is a Master Degree student.

Rosie Poebright is founder and lead designer at Splash & Ripple: "Architects of Extraordinary Adventures", whose work includes citywide theatrical street games and installed adventures in castles and museums. 

H.D. Mabuse develops projects focused on collaboration, emergent behaviours, and the remix of visual arts, design and music. He is also currently a design consultant at C.E.S.A.R.

Laura Kriefman is a choreographer, creative technologist and Fellow of the Clore Cultural Leadership Programme. 

Filipe Calegario is a doctorate student in computing at UFPE’s Computer Lab Centre and develops projects that bring together computing, music and visual arts. He is interested in finding new ways of interacting with the computer, demystifying technology, thus showing that the world is a platform that can be hacked by anybody.

Helder Aragão de Melo is an animator, script writer, TV director, musician and DJ. He was integral to the development of Recife's Manguebeat scene and interested in what he believes to be an inseparable combination, art and technology.

Eduardo Araujo Oliveira is a systems engineer for C.E.S.A.R, experienced in the area of Smart Cities and Artificial Intelligence. He holds a Master and Doctorate in Computer Science and is also a teacher of Digital Games.

Tine Bech is an artist and researcher working with interactive sculpture and public art, which aims to create experiences of immersion and play.

Camila Bandeira is co-founder and director of Proa, a company specialised in cultural marketing. She is a qualified Business Manager and has over 10 years experience of producing events and cultural projects in both Brazil and California (USA).

Isabelle Croissant is Creative Industries Programme Manager at Cornerhouse in Manchester, programming and delivering the organisation's Creative and Digital Programme.

Thaís Vidal was born in Recife and is the youngest of our producers at 22 years old. She has degree in journalism and has worked as a cultural producer of cinema and music since 2010.

Katherine Jewkes is Digital Associate at National Theatre Wales, where she helps people to playfully integrate digital technology into their creative practice.

Germana Uchôa is a creative entrepreneur and consultant for the Fashion and Design Market.

Daniel de Hora has been Associate Creative Director of DH,LO Creative Boutique since 2010 and was appointed one of the "Ten most influential creatives in Brazil in 2009" by AdvertLatina.

Alongside NTW, there’s also a whole host of other associate organisations in the UK and Pernambuco are also helping with delivery of the programme, these include: Lighthouse, Cornerhouse and Site Gallery (UK), the Secretary of Economic Development, UFPE (Pernambuco’s Federal University), the Gilberto Freyre Foundation, Recife’s City Council, Delta ZERO, Fundaj, and CESAR (Recife Centre for Advanced Studies and Systems) (BR). These industry experts will also participate in the programme, mentoring in the development of ideas and potential routes to market.

After a really brilliant week on the Digital Producers Labs (which happened last week- a blog will soon be posted after I’ve digested all that happened, but in the mean time, here’s the storify), which was delivered by NTW in collaboration with Watershed, I’m really excited to be heading back there in the new year to work on such a brilliant concept in collaboration with such awesome people. Expect plenty of blogs from me along the way!

To find out more about the programme, please visit: http://wshd.to/recifeplayablecity