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Why Music And The Concert Experience Are On The Front Lines Of Virtual Reality

September 14, 2016 by Douglas McLennan Leave a Comment

Following on my post from yesterday about anticipating the kinds of experiences people will want from concerts comes this article from Wired about virtual reality and music. Evidently creating content for virtual reality is proving to be a challenge and music is so far the best showcase for VR. Outside of games, music is almost certainly the most popular content type in VR right now, which makes … [Read more...]

The New York Philharmonic’s New Hall Is An Opportunity To Rethink The Orchestra Experience (And Amplify It)

September 13, 2016 by Douglas McLennan 2 Comments

Last week Michael Cooper made a plea in the NYT to the New York Philharmonic for some upgrades to the concert amenity experience when the orchestra overhauls Geffen Hall (formerly Avery Fisher) in 2019. His list of excellent suggestions includes comfier seats (why should movie theatres be more comfortable?) more legroom, more bathrooms, real glasses for the bar instead of plastic, more seamless … [Read more...]

What Happens When Critical Opinion Separates From The Audience?

August 28, 2016 by Douglas McLennan 2 Comments

Three stories this week get to the heart of the question. First, the BBC polled critics worldwide and asked them what were the best 100 movies made so far in the 21st Century. Look at the list and you see something striking - the top 10 films collectively took in $213 million, or, as Barry Hertz observed in The Globe & Mail, about $50 million less than Suicide Squad made in two and a half … [Read more...]

The Virtual Arts – Have It Your Way?

January 26, 2016 by Douglas McLennan 1 Comment

C-NET came away from this month's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas pronouncing that virtual reality is going to displace traditional porn. No surprise that the porn industry leads in technology. Because of all the money in the early days of the internet, porn invested heavily in technology and pioneered pop-ups, redirects, payment collection and more. Much of your everyday internet … [Read more...]

Playing For The Screens – Is Our Obsession With Video Changing The Live Arts Experience?

January 20, 2016 by Douglas McLennan 4 Comments

One weekend last November, the biggest box-office at movie theatres throughout the UK wasn't for the latest Hollywood blockbuster (the latest "Hunger Games" movie opened that Friday). It was for a live broadcast of  Kenneth Branagh’s production of  "The Winter’s Tale" which was streamed live to 520 theatres in the UK and 100 more internationally on November 26. Starring Branagh and Judi Dench, it … [Read more...]

Is Earning Making Money The New Audience-Building Strategy?

January 4, 2016 by Douglas McLennan 1 Comment

Maybe it's obvious, but in the for-profit world, making money is the point; profit defines success. In the non-profit world, the relationship between profit and success is more complicated. "Profit" (or balancing the books) is regarded as a hill to be climbed over rather than the objective. In the hyper-connected world of social media, profit is no longer simply about selling more product. More … [Read more...]

The Innovation Imperative (But Will It Get Us An Audience?)

December 7, 2015 by Douglas McLennan Leave a Comment

Recently, an orchestra manager told me that his orchestra was going to be "the most innovative orchestra in the world." I asked what he was doing that was so innovative, and he rattled off a list of initiatives - performing out in the community in unusual spaces, partnering with other artists and arts organizations on projects the orchestra had never considered, expanding repertoire to include … [Read more...]

Sorry, but I'll take experience over artistry

July 30, 2010 by Douglas McLennan 3 Comments

Professional sports has more money than God, and they spend more to attract and entertain fans than anyone else. So how does the NFL sell itself? Not by touting the quality of its games. They sell the contest. They sell the experience.And they have to work to keep making the experience better. How many perfectly functional stadiums were discarded in the 1990s/00's to be replaced by facilities with … [Read more...]

Douglas McLennan

I’m the founder and editor of ArtsJournal, which was founded in September 1999 and aggregates arts and culture news from all over the internet. The site is also home to some 60 arts bloggers. I’m a … [Read More...]

About diacritical

Our culture is undergoing profound changes. Our expectations for what culture can (or should) do for us are changing. Relationships between those who make and distribute culture and those who consume it are changing. And our definitions of what artists are, how they work, and how we access them and their work are changing. So... [Read more]

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