[Upstage-list] Our 10th Anniversary Year comes to an end ...

[UpStage <in...@up...>]

Dear friends,
as we come to the end of 2014, the year that marked a decade of UpStage,
we would like to thank everyone who has played a part in the activities
this year and wish you all the best for the coming year.

In January, we celebrated the official 10th birthday of UpStage - the
platform was first launched on 9 January 2004 - with a mini festival
comprising three cyberformances, a symposium on remote collaboration, a
planning meeting for the future of UpStage and the launch of UpStage v3.
Read more here <http://upstage.org.nz/blog/?page_id=6032>.

With the release of the third version of the UpStage software, we made
the decision that this will be the last version; during the ten years
since UpStage was first developed, by Douglas Bagnall, there have been
significant technological advances and many other developers have been
involved in the project, bringing new ideas and approaches. We have now
begun to plan the development of a new platform that will retain the
best features of UpStage while taking advantage of many new
possibilities and improvements in technologies. The initial research and
planning is being undertaken by the ongoing AUT student teams, and we
welcome the involvement of other open source developers. Read the
developers' blog here <http://upstage.org.nz/blog/?page_id=1553>.

During 2014 we had an additional student team working on the development
of a new web site; this has been completed, and in the coming months we
will transfer the content from the current site to the new. A feature of
the new site will be changing banners, to show the diversity of the
UpStage community and the breadth of creativity; everyone is welcome to
contribute your own image of UpStage. Read more here
<http://upstage.org.nz/blog/?p=6199>.

As usual, there have been many performances, presentations and open
walkthroughs <http://upstage.org.nz/blog/?cat=13> throughout the year,
and publications <http://upstage.org.nz/blog/?page_id=1291> discussing
UpStage. Most recently was the launch of "CyPosium - the book", with a
live performance on Waterwheel Tap of excerpts from the book, by many of
those involved in the CyPosium. A recording of the performance is
available here <http://upstage.org.nz/blog/?p=6326> and the book can be
purchased or downloaded (free) here
<http://linkeditions.tumblr.com/cyposium>.

Heartfelt thanks to everyone who has donated their time & money to make
2014 a very special year in the story of UpStage, and supported the
continuation the project despite it being completely unfunded at this
time (we welcome donations at any time of the year
<http://upstage.org.nz/blog/?page_id=278>!).

We look forward to continuing this adventure with you in 2015, and wish
you all a happy and peaceful new year.

helen & vicki :)
-- 
vicki smith & helen varley jamieson
UpStage festival architects
in...@up...
www.upstage.org.nz

*Ten Years of UpStage! 9-10 January 2014 <http://upstage.org.nz/blog/>*

**