I’m in Dublin Castle at the moment, diving into a day-long conference on new technology and new audiences. Early on should be an interesting debate/discussion between Charles Leadbeater (he of ”we think” and the transformative power of collaborative expression) and Andrew Keen (he of ”cult of the amateur” and the negative impact of such expression on true culture). Should be fun.
I’m presenting later in the afternoon on the topic described below. The organizers suggest that all presentations will be recorded and posted on-line, so I’ll keep you posted on that posting (post-conference).
THE METAPHORS WE MANAGE BY
The present-day operating model for sustainable arts initiatives is built on the idea of a boundary. Whether containing art within a compact disc, a museum, a theater, or a concert hall, we’ve collected our money at the gate, and built our business at the boundary between art and audience. But digital communications technologies have an insidious way of redrawing or erasing those boundaries, and forging new paths among arts, artists, and audiences. What might this fundamental shift mean to how we manage, fund, foster, and sustain cultural endeavors? How might it effect boundary-dependent concepts such as excellence, professionalism, and curation? And how must we change the metaphors we manage by to advance the art forms we love? Come join your colleagues in an open and interactive discussion, facilitated by author, educator, blogger, and arts consultant Andrew Taylor.
How interesting. I never thought of the arts as being within boundaries, but of course it’s true. And as someone dipping their toe into the cyber waters, how interesting to think of digital communications taking those boundaries away. Thanks for the thoughts.
I feel like such a Luddite when I read these ideas, because I always get this sinking feeling along with the question “how do you pay for professional art without a boundary and little or no state funding?” Given the philanthrocapitalist sentiments sweeping away our financing models and cyberspace sweeping away our production models, what are we to do?
I’m sure I’m simply wont of imagination, but are there resources that take these ideas to the next level and address the nitty gritty of how to create content and support a class of professional artists with no capital resources and giving the art away for free to all and sundry? Aside from augmentation and marketing of the real substance of art, what does the internet have to offer to the hands-on, personal experience of the intrinsic art as a creator and appreciator?
There are two worlds operating in separate vacuums right now – the folks developing the concepts and exploring the rapidly changing cultural landscape and market place; and the world of the day-to-day arts managers who have to plan and implement the next season or the next concert and work with boards who are usually struggling to grasp the basics of marketing and nonprofit financial structures.
The resource I’m looking for is the technical and financial capacity to implement any of these new ideas without imperiling my payroll. Creating Facebook and Youtube experiments uses valuable and scarce time to create projects that simply have no short-to-mid- term ROI, and possibly no significant ROI in the long term. Yes, they help my stakeholders create the experience and build the brand with our company, but there is a fundamental disconnect between something like live theatre and an electronic form of communication that lacks even the person-to-person interaction of a long-distance phone call.