Happy Monday, everyone. Rush Seats is my occasional series of shorter posts sharing a quick observation, a resource, a timely topic or in-process idea. Check out the first post here. Here's a TikTok video from opera singer Mary Rice* about a concert in a canyon at the Moab Music Festival. It is definitely on the all-in experience end of the spectrum - the concert itself was about 90 minutes (with the best acoustics Mary says she's ever heard), but the whole experience was six hours end to … [Read more...] about Rush Seats: Mary Rice on the pure enjoyment of classical music
Engagement
Nonprofit theater is in crisis. Want to know what the “dropped out” audience thinks? Read the comments
Theater leaders, Board members, and arts marketing experts have been the featured characters in the recent flurry of articles and opinion pieces about the crisis in the American nonprofit theater*. This makes sense, since these articles focus on how the theater institutions are responding to reduced audience demand and the resulting financial pressures. How can we find out what the audience thinks? There’s one source right at our fingertips: the comments section. These three pieces**: 1) … [Read more...] about Nonprofit theater is in crisis. Want to know what the “dropped out” audience thinks? Read the comments
Forgetting Taylor Swift
For all the anticipation and excitement around Taylor Swift’s Eras tour this summer, fans have been reporting something strange. They can’t remember the show. Time and Psychology Today wrote articles about the phenomenon of Taylor Swift fans forgetting the experience of attending the concert itself. In the Time article, Ewan McNay, a psychology professor at SUNY Albany, attributes the phenomenon to the fans’ brains producing too much norepinephrine, as happens when we get too emotionally … [Read more...] about Forgetting Taylor Swift
Rush Seats Series: Arts Explainers on TikTok
New Series I’m starting a new occasional series with this post: Rush Seats. These will be short posts sharing something I think you’ll find interesting and useful. I can see a few different types of posts fitting in this series: Let me know what you’d like to read in the Rush Seats series in the comments. First up in Rush Seats is a collection of people I’m following on TikTok sharing explainers that are friendly for new arts audiences and arts insiders alike. What I like about each … [Read more...] about Rush Seats Series: Arts Explainers on TikTok
A Wordle Allegory: We Can’t Wait
Row X blog by Hannah Grannemann I’m not immune to clickbait, and I like to play Wordle, so of course I clicked on an article from Lifehacker that promised valuable Wordle news. Lifehacker told me that Wordle’s daily word are no longer randomly generated, but are now chosen by an editor, and may be themed. OK, no big deal, I thought. I enjoy whimsy. But I’m a relaxed Wordle player and I know there are some not-so-laid-back players. So I scrolled down to the comments. Which brings me to the … [Read more...] about A Wordle Allegory: We Can’t Wait