NEWS FLASH: Antiochia Inaugural Festivities A Great Hit

From 10 am slt to 10 pm slt, Antiochia hosted SecondLife denizens from all corners of the grid. A long line-up of artists, performers, academics, and students shared their craft and stories with their audiences and, at times, filled the sim to its limits.

But before sharing with you the details of this exciting day, we would like to let you know that two of the artists who helped make last Sunday such a success will be back for repeat performances this Sunday, January 18, in Antiochia’s Forum Valentis: Maximillion Kleene from noon to 1 pm slt, followed by Joaquin Gustav, from 1 pm to 2 pm slt. Come join us to party and have fun with two of SL’s best showmen!

Hours before the events started, the Antiochia team was still working hard to put the last touches to their City and complete the remaining details required to provide tourists with a meaningful experience –such as the 45 notecards describing in detail the various points of interest of Antiochia and relating them to historical places and events.

At 10 am, Sandia Beaumont started the events with a virtuoso visual and musical performance, with her Exuberant Improvisations (literally!) on her double grand piano, artfully set up by her assistant, Alem Theas. She was followed by Georges Kabalan, an Antiochia Scholarships Trust Scholar in real life, who shared his story of being the youngest entrepreneur in Iraq to open and manage a western franchise restaurant (SecondCup), an his dream of coming to study in Canada, where he was accepted into a Master’s program at Royal Roads University, Victoria. He was followed by Antiochia Chief Architect, Alexia Carnell, who shared her vision of building this historical city, and by Antiochia Scholarship Trust representatives Bromo Ivory and AlexOlteanu Unplugged, who talked about AST’s vision of helping students from the Greater Middle East realize their dream of pursuing their post-secondary studies in Canada, and how they plan to use SL as an ideal platform to make this actually come true. For more information on AST, please visit their website, at http://home.antiochiatrust.org, or contact AlexOlteanu Unplugged inworld or in real life by e-mail at alex@antiochiatrust.org.

By the time Maximillion Kleene was rocking the Forum Valentis, we had reached the sim’s limit of 60 visitors and had to raise the ceiling to 70, which was almost reached by the time he sang Cohen’s “Hallelujah!”. 

In the afternoon, the crowd moved to the Acropolis Fortress and AST Square, where David Orban gave a thoughtful and highly topical speech on emergent new technologies and the changing nature of both public service and private commercial institutions, and the need for participation and democratic networks of governance to ensure such developments would work for, rather than against, the maintenance and promotion of key values such as equal dignity and respect for all individuals, wherever they may live.  The presentation was videotaped and will soon be available on YouTube for those who did not have the chance to be there “in person”.

He was followed by Joaquin Gustav’s marvelous guitar, then by a fascinating discussion panel and open debate with the audience on the theme of Ten Years of Real Governance in a Virtual World. Stephen Xootfly, a real-life professor at US university, shared his experiences of teaching university-level courses in SL, an Gwyn Llewelyn, a graduate student from Portugal and partner in SLs biggest sim development services company, discussed her views of developing participative structures of governance in virtual environment.

The last five hours were a non-stop party back in the Forum Valentis, where DJ Wally played rock and country for two hours to a hip audience, rock and blues star performer Komuso Tokugawa let his electric guitar speak all the way from Tokyo, and jazz, soul, and blues artist Gweeb delighted his audience with his own songs. The evening ended on a mellow note, with Joaquin Gustav returning for an encore performance under the stars of Antiochia, with Brazilian and Argentinian dances and guitar melodies.

And so, twelve hours after Sandia Beaumont’s first piano notes launched these inaugural festivities, Antiochia went quiet again after a truly successful launch in SecondLife. A special thank you is owed to all artists, academics, volunteers, and architects who made this all possible – and especially the visitors who came to participate in our events and made this day so much fun.

Stay tuned for up-coming events in Antiochia – the adventure is just beginning!