Workshops @ The Workshop

Description

The Workshop hosts a series of interactive workshops about various creative technologies that can support your personal and academic projects.

To receive a link to join the sessions, please register using the links below. For questions or accommodations, please contact Multimedia Teaching and Learning Librarian Oscar Keyes at keyesok@vcu.edu.

Upcoming Sessions:

Editing and Recording with Your Smartphone
Thursday, Sept. 21, 1-2 p.m.
Online - Registration Link
Facilitated by Oscar Keyes, The Workshop in partnership with the FILL

Learn how to unlock the full potential of your smartphone for video and audio recording and editing. We’ll cover techniques, equipment, and apps that can help you get the most out of these powerful personal devices we carry in our pockets everyday.

Blender Basics: Getting Started with 3D Modeling
Friday, Sept. 29, 3-4 p.m.
In-person @ The Workshop - Registration Link
Facilitated by Victor Romanko

Learn the basics of Blender, a free and open-source 3D computer graphics software tool set used for creating 3D models, animations, motion graphics, virtual reality, and so much more! This session is aimed at beginners but anyone is welcome.

Upcoming Series of Sessions:

Series 1: Workshops @ The Workshop: Generative AI series

This slate of workshops explores methods for collaborating with generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools for the purposes of synthesizing media. Participants will learn the art of crafting prompts and exploiting errors within these GenAI systems for creating graphic narratives, poetry, and music.

Storytelling with Generative AI: a graphic narrative workshop
Friday, Sept. 15, 3:30-4:30 p.m.
Online - Registration Link
Facilitated by Ye Sul Park, Pennsylvania State University

Join us for a special session on using GenAI in a thoughtful and meaningful way to generate images for a graphic narrative. Whether you’re interested in graphic novels, comic books, or single-panel comics, this workshop explores how AI can be used in a collaborative way to tell visual stories. This workshop is aimed at beginners but is open to anyone.

About the facilitator: Ye Sul Park (she/her) is a PhD student in Art Education at Penn State University, who has been fortunate enough to take on several artistic identities including artist, educator, curator, and researcher. She is interested in how new media and emerging technologies are reshaping pedagogical approaches in art education and aims to help students navigate through the evolving media environment creatively and critically.

Dreaming with Generative AI: a poetry workshop
Wednesday, Oct 4, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Online - Registration Link
Facilitated by Gregory Kimbrell, Brown University

This workshop will explore the creative possibilities of ChatGPT as a collaborator. This session will include different prompting techniques for generating surreal and other-worldly text which can be used for brainstorming ideas, inspiring new directions, or surprising you altogether. During the session, the facilitator will use ChatGPT, audience suggestions, and a little dash of Jungian dream analysis to synthesize a collective dream in the form of a poem.

About the facilitator: Gregory Kimbrell (he/him) is a writer who uses multimedia compositional strategies such as generative text, word collage, and erasure to create ambiguous, surreal worlds populated with animal-headed men, robot doppelgängers, demonic avatars, and doomed wanderers.

Jamming with Generative AI: a music workshop
Thursday, Oct. 26, 1-2 p.m.
Location: Online - Registration Link
Facilitator: Eli Owens in partnership with Grimalkin Records and the Department of Music

Music generators can create some of the spookiest, dissonant sounds. So come join us for a special Halloween-themed jam session, where the facilitator will compose a song from samples generated using MusicLM, Google’s AI music generator. Participants will learn some of the tricks and limits of music generators and how these samples can be assembled into a track using Ableton Live.

About the facilitator: (Eli)zabeth Owens (they/them) is a nonbinary songwriter/artist based in Richmond, Virginia using music & video as a vehicle for brave and vulnerable self-uncovering. For the last five years, Eli has also been passionately pursuing music education, teaching both private lessons and K-12. In what little free time they have, they also help run Grimalkin Records, a nonprofit record label and collective that supports marginalized artists.

Series 2: Data, Design, and Dissemination: A research communications workshop series

Research communication is important - As professional and general audiences get information from an increasingly diverse set of sources, researchers benefit from an understanding of approaches that take advantage of the multimedia world we’re in. This series will equip you with tools and know-how to communicate your research effectively through visual communication and thoughtful decisions about ways to reach your audience.

Part 1: Data (Eric Johnson)
Tuesday, Sept. 26, noon – 12:45 p.m.
Online - Registration Link

Learn the simple principles of data visualization that help you present effective charts and graphs so your audience can better understand your quantitative information. We will cover ways you can draw viewer attention to the point you want to make, choices you can make to declutter your visualization, discuss tool options, and more.

Part 2: Design (Oscar Keyes)
Wednesday, Sept. 27, noon – 12:45 p.m.
Online - Registration Link

Participants will learn how to create their own figures through design principles and accessibility guidelines in this interactive workshop. We demonstrate a few different tools and leave time for participants to create their own simple figures.

Part 3: Dissemination (Hillary Miller)
Thursday, Sept. 28, noon – 12:45pm
Online - Registration Link

Participants will learn about the art of disseminating their research to maximize impact in their fields. We will cover where and how to share your research in order to meaningfully connect with audiences and access scholarly networking.

Previous Sessions:

Intro to Virtual World Building in Unity (Part 1 of 2)
Thursday, Aug. 24, 10 a.m.-noon
Online - Registration Link

This two-part workshop guides participants through designing a virtual environment in Unity, a popular real-time gaming engine. This part focuses on the terrain building tools and navigating first-person controllers. Participants do not have to attend the first part to attend the second part.

Intro to Interactive Encounters in Unity (Part 2 of 2)
Tuesday, Aug. 29, 10 a.m.-noon
Online - Registration Link

This two-part workshop guides participants through designing a virtual environment in Unity, a popular real-time gaming engine. This part focuses more on learning the basics of programming in C#, which is the language used for writing code in Unity. Participants do not have to attend the first part to attend the second part.

Adobe Premiere for Artists
Wednesday, Sept. 13, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
Online - Registration Link
Facilitated by Oscar Keyes, The Workshop

We will be doing a basic overview of Adobe Premiere, with a focus on the parts of the software that can be the most useful for creative expression. This will be in conversation with The Workshop's resource Adobe Premiere Exercises - Maya Deren Remix Series, which was designed for Art Foundation students and faculty but is open to everyone.

Adobe Premiere for Artists
Thursday, Sept. 14, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
Online - Registration Link
Facilitated by Oscar Keyes, The Workshop

Videos, Podcasts, Infographics, oh my! – Getting Started with Creative Digital Projects
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 1-2 p.m.
Online - Registration Link
Facilitated by Oscar Keyes, The Workshop in partnership with the FILL

Have you been assigned a creative project involving digital technologies and don’t know where to start? This workshop will provide you with an overview of the different tools available and how to get started with making digital creative works and research projects.

For special accommodations, or to register offline, please contact Ryan Pander, event manager, rbpander@vcu.edu or 804-828-0593.