£360,000 award
NESTA, The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, has awarded £360,000 to Muzantiks, a proposal for an interactive music and science education website devised by Sinfonia 21, Imperials resident orchestra.
Muzantiks will enable children to explore sound as an artistic and scientific phenomenon. Devised with internet design company Forma Communications Ltd, Muzantiks embodies three defining characteristics; music, science (the notation µ) and playfulness (antics). Users will be able to compose online, as well as accessing information about the physiology of hearing and the physics of sound.
Sinfonia 21 chief executive, Oliver Rivers, said: "This is an extremely generous grant. It is the largest award NESTA has made this year and is a considerable tribute to the ingenuity of our idea.
"The website enables us to fufill our aim to unify arts and science, which is also the ideal which motivates the Sinfonia 21 residency at Imperial. Without this original impetus, Muzantiks would never have taken shape, so we are very grateful for our continued relationship with the College."
An independent company, Muzantiks Ltd, has been set up to develop the website. Muzantiks is a direct product of the extensive education outreach programme the orchestra runs at Imperial.
Entitled MaST (Music and Science/Technology), this explores the relationships between music and science and takes two forms: the annual MaST Fair, at Imperial in March, and the year-round programme, MaST in Schools.
*** © Imperial College 2001. This article originally appeared in IC Reporter, the staff newspaper of Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine. Please contact the editor Tanya Reed (Email: icreporter@imperial.ac.uk, Telephone: +44 20 7594 6697) for permission to re-use any or all parts of this article.***
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