NewImages launches its Hub: a year-round, international supportive networking for XR creators

Forum des images strengthens its connection to the field of XR through a new, year-round, international supportive networking program for creators and professionals. Spanning the creation, production, and distribution phases, NewImages Hub combines the recognized expertise of its festival – NewImages Festival, the positioning of the Forum des images, and the support from partners committed to the accessibility of immersive art for the public

NewImages Hub aims to secure the future of digital creation, ensure the lasting presence of XR works, and facilitate the structuring and opening of the sector in the long term.

Developing year-long activities

NewImages Hub’s approach is driven by the experience acquired through NewImages Festival, a festival which is dedicated to the discovery of the most innovative immersive works (through competition and focus sections) and a key event for XR industry players (including co-production and distribution markets).

The next edition of the festival takes place in Paris on April 5-9th, 2023. Each edition of the festival is followed by a reprogramming of its selection all over the world thanks to partners such as Institut Français. Additionally, year-long XR creation residencies (in Taiwan, Quito, Rome – Villa Medicis, and Morocco) have been integrated into NewImages Hub, establishing a network for creators, producers, and distributors to share resources.

NewImages Hub also relies on Forum des images’ missions and focus on public access. In addition to now including comic books, video games, and new images beyond cinema within its programs, Forum des images strengthens its role as a broadcaster of immersive art through the creation of a dedicated interactive space.

Forum des images’ public will be able to freely access a catalog of VR works from past editions of NewImages Festival and works from its partners in XR distribution, such as Diversion cinema, PXN, Astrea, Lucid Realities, etc.

NewImages Hub’s objectives

NewImages’ objectives are those of an immersive and digital art laboratory, focusing its activities and its expertise on the 3 essential steps of developing an XR project: creation, production, and distribution.

In the field of creation:

• Initiating international writing residencies with partners.
• Developing other residencies and bilateral exchanges, such as programs and workshops, in Latin America (LATAM), in Taiwan with the TAICCA, as well as in South Africa.
• Welcoming residency artists to Forum des images and Parisian partners to conceive unique projects that combine immersion with other artistic fields.

In the field of production and project development:

• Upholding the array of ecosystems in which French creators can develop their projects: the Farnese-Medicis XR residency in Rome, the UDLA – Quito Immersive Residency in Ecuador, and the Taiwan XR Residency in Taiwan.
• Facilitating exchanges in the XR industry between decision-makers and project leaders in coproduction through the XR Development Market
• Ensuring high quality and relevant professional meetings in the framework of exchange programs and workshops (such as Taiwan x France XR Day).

In the field of XR distribution and broadcasting:

• Unfolding the 2nd edition of XR Art Fair, supported by Creative Europe Media, by welcoming a large panel of distributors and by generating new broadcasting profiles in immersive art.
• Raising visibility and access to XR works selected in the next edition of the NewImages Festival by widening their broadcasting worldwide with Institut Français.
• Continually expanding Forum des images’ offer in its dedicated VR and video games space • Acclimating the actors from the cultural world to XR works and rendering them available to all.

NewImages Hub aims to encourage innovation and steer a community around close or competing events, with the goal of connecting and supporting all actors of creation and culture. NewImages Hub also intends to lead new propositions within national programs such as Futur@cinéma to accompany the evolution of cinema venues and their hybridization with other arts such as XR.

https://newimages-hub.com/en/