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(ELECTRONIC MUSIC)

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Hello. My name is Susannah Fraser.

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I'm white with thick, brown, curly hair
in a bun on top of my head.

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I’m wearing a blue jumper and
I'm sitting in old farmhouse with exposed wooden beams.

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I’m here to talk
about the TRACTION project.

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A project focused on the opera
and social inclusion.

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The opera has often been seen as an art form
reserved specifically for the elite and

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Traction hopes to change that
by using co-creation methodology

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and working with groups
at risk of social exclusion in society.

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We will be running trial experiments
in three different European locations.

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The first will take place
in a youth prison in Portugal.

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The second
in rural communities of Ireland,

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where people will be accessing
the opera with virtual reality headsets.

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And the third will be
at the opera house in Barcelona,

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involving work with the local community
of the Raval neighborhood

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and immigrants from there.

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The short-term goal
of the TRACTION project

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will be to galvanize and improve
relationships between opera professionals

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and these local communities,

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and revitalize it as an art form.

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The long-term goals will really be
to act as a catalyst for social change

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and transformation in society
using art as a tool

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to help build
cultural identity with these groups.

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The consortium comprises 9 different
partners from 5 different European countries,

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with a combination of academic,

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technological and artistic expertise.

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We hope to create
a society that's more cohesive,

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and one in which people
feel that they can belong.

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Hello. My name is Mar.

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I'm white, with short, black, messy hair

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and I have a fringe.

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Today I would say that
I look more or less like Patti Smith

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in the cover of her album Horses.

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I'm wearing a dark green floral shirt
and I'm sitting on my bed.

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On the wall, there's a poster
of the movie Three Colours: Blue.

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I'm starting now my PhD in Translation
and Intercultural Studies

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at the Universitat
Autònoma de Barcelona.

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The dissertation
will be built in relation to

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the beautiful
European project called TRACTION,

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which my partner Susie talked about.

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In relation to the project, my PhD

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will focus on making virtual reality
representations accesible,

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always applied into the opera context.

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The study has
Media Accessibility as its heart

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and it will benefit not only persons
with disabilities but also other groups

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such as the elderly, migrants,

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foreign language speakers
and language minorities.

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By making immersive media accessible,

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we are getting closer to a society
which ensures human rights

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and where everybody
will be able to participate

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in the cultural life of the community.