Day: December 5, 2013

LEA open round six of AIR land grants

Posted on by Inara Pey

On December 1st, the Linden Endowment for the Arts committee announced the opening of the next round of land grants is now open in the Artists in Residence (AIR) programme. For artists not familiar with the LEA or the land grant process, the following is taken from the formal announcement:

The LEA Land Grant program seeks to promote and nurture the arts in Second Life, through a five-month land grant to recipients. Recipients can be individuals or groups interested in creating or curating art, or proposing cultural projects which would require/utilise a full-sim build and can be completed within the allotted time frame. The LEA is able to offer land grants through the generosity of Linden Lab.

Moving Islands [Rafts], a round 5 AIR entrant curated by Eupalinos Ugajin
Moving Islands [Rafts], a round 5 AIR entrant curated by Eupalinos Ugajin
Twenty regions, donated by Linden Lab and managed by the LEA, are generally offered under the land grant programme, and successful applicants will be given the use of one full region for a period of five months. The region may then be used on an individual or group basis for such diverse activities as:

  • Full sim exhibitions and / or immersive installations
  • Curated projects, especially those which have a connection to physical exhibitions and events (mixed reality).

Artists should take no more than 3 months to execute their build, so that they have opened to the public for at least the last 2 months of their grant. However, artists may also open their installation ahead of the three-month build deadline, and many artists in the past have used their land to have multiple exhibits. What is important is that any project accepted into the programme must be ready within 3 months from the date the land is granted, and this time-frame should be considered (and reflected) in all applications.

Musiclandia by Livio Oak Korobase
Musiclandia by Livio Oak Korobase

The announcement goes on to state:

Criteria

We feel one of the strengths of the LEA committee is that we come from different backgrounds – artists, architects, curators, historians, etc. – all of whom have different ideas on what makes virtual art great. We share a passion for this project, emboldened by differing viewpoints. What this means for the LEA Land Grant applicants is that there is no one ‘right’ project. Some committee members like immersive builds, others enjoy highly technical and scripted work, still others look for projects embracing collaborative, curatorial, or education projects. Some might wish to select those who have a history of successful exhibits in SL, while others are passionate about providing experiences to new and emerging artists. This is great news for applicants, as it means that ANYONE has a chance at getting sim, provided you show us you have an idea for a great project (even if it isn’t completely thought through, and we realise that this will most likely change in your working process).

APPLICATION TIMELINE

(Dates subject to change by LEA in the event of unforeseen circumstances.)

  • Applications open – December 1, 2013
  • Application deadline – December 30, 2013
  • Final Decision Committee Deadline – Mid-January, 2014
  • Notification period, and selection of alternates if need be – Around January 18, 2014.
  • Sim handover and public announcement – January 31, 2014
  • End of round – July 1, 2014

HOW TO APPLY?

Applicants should complete the form at the end of the LEA blog entry, taking care to provide as much information about the proposal as possible and include relevant SLurls and web links to their work (if possible) in order to help the LEA committee make an informed decision.

2,557 days

Posted on by Inara Pey

Two thousand, five hundred and fifty-seven days; that’s a tad over 365 weeks, or around 84 months. Or to put it another way, seven years.

That’s how long I’ve been involved in SL in this incarnation. Even when you take into account the fact that I’m not actually here 24 / 7 (although back in the early days, it certainly felt that way!), that’s still a pretty long time. Not as long as some have been here, I know; but it still boggles my little brain.

Pey time: over the years from then (top left) to now (main)
Pey time: over the years from then (top left) to now (main)

When writing on the occasion of my last rez day, I focused on a couple of the ways in which SL had changed for me as a result of exploring and discovering new pastimes; I also wondered, albeit idly,  as to what 2013 would bring, given it marked SL’s tenth anniversary.

As I suspected (and no tea-leaf gazing was required to reach the conclusion at the time), SL is still here, still moving forward and still with the same worries: tier, users, retention and so on (something I’ll have a lot more to say about shortly, trust me 🙂 ).

We’ve seen the 10th anniversary celebrations come and go, marked by events big and small. Those longing to SL in the media once more got their wash granted, with Rod Humble fairly bouncing around interview-wise, even if the message was a little confined – something I encountered when asked to interview him for Prim Perfect magazine in June (although the interview didn’t appear in print until August). Even so, there were some very good articles on Second Life to be found, as well as the expected lazy journalism on the part of others, as I also had a poke at.

Flying in SL is something I really enjoy - region crossings and all. Erick Gregan generously presented my with a Spitfire Mark IX in 2012; it's a true joy to fly
Flying in SL is something I really enjoy – region crossings and all. Erick Gregan generously presented me with a Spitfire Mark IX in 2013; it’s a true joy to fly

The year has, of course, seen a lot of LL’s projects on the platform come to fruition. We’ve had Server-side appearance arrive in while is quite possibly one of the most complex updates / deployments to the platform in its entire history, and certainly the most successful first-time deployment on record for a change so far-reaching in extent and potential impact had anything gone wrong. With it, one of the longest-running (and most oft-complained about) banes of Second Life was almost completely eradicated: that of bake fail. For this project alone, the Lab does deserve a decent hat tip of recognition and a word or six of thanks.

We’ve also seen the viewer release process improved, allowing the Lab to push through fixes and updates a lot more quickly than before, as well as learning from the issues of a year ago when viewer updates were badly bunged-up for over two months by a series of recalcitrant bugs. Then there is Monty Linden’s work on the viewer / server communications front, Andrew Linden’s work (with others) on interest lists, Baker Linden’s tweaks, nips, tucks and all with various projects, and lots more besides. All of which add-up to an overall improvement in the user experience in SL, even if some of the work has yet to be completely polished-up. Nyx and his team are working to ease things on the inventory side of the fence, and of course we’ve had, or are in the process of getting, further new toys to play with – materials, the upcoming experience tools / keys, many improvements to the viewer and so on.

My other pastime is boating, particularly in Lady of Calas, my E-Tech Sparrow 2
My other pastime is boating, particularly in Lady of Calas, my E-Tech Sparrow 2

Yes, there are still bugs and issues and worries and upsets (dare I say … T…O…S?), but overall, 12 months on, we’re all still here and the world hasn’t blown up. For my part, I’ve continued exploring SL (as per my travelogue pieces), and flying and boating still feature in my in-world activities. Admittedly, I’ve now graduated onto something  bigger than a Warbug (as featured in last year’s post) for the flying, and have swapped the sailboat for an E-Tech Sparrow 2, which I’ve named Lady of Calas after Ty and Truck bestowed that honorific  upon me earlier in the year, something which touched me quite deeply.

While I remain a Premium member, regulars here will be aware that my interest in boating and flying has led me back into renting land in SL, rather than living within my little Linden Home (which I still have, given it is in a rather nice location). As I noted yesterday, the “new” place has been undergoing a re-vamp over the last 24 hours, and even now, I’m just finishing that off and refining things.

It’s been a fairly fun year, complete with a few ups and downs, but nothing to complain about. There is a lot still to come where Second Life is concerned, and 2014 already looks like it is shaping up to be an interesting year, with things like Oculus Rift and Leap Motion hopefully making their debut as well as various other things the Lab has up its collective sleeve.

Who knows? I may even blog about it! 😉

Sun and a little wine at home. If only every day, real or virtual could be this way!
Sun and a little wine at home. If only every day, real or virtual could be this way!