Google as an arts organisation

Found through a post by Tim Roberts on Admit 2.0 which was in turn, Tim tells us, passed to him by Vicki Allpress Hill from a presenter she met at the recent Tessitura Conference...aka an example of the wonderful world of people pass on great things...as Tim did I'm posing this in full.

Erik Gensler of Capacity Interactive Inc.

Google is governed by the following: openness, sharing, aggregation and capturing customer data. The more customer data you have the more you learn and the more you can improve. So inspired by Jeff Jarvis' book What Would Google Do?, I thought about the following: If Google were a performing arts organization it would...

...aggregate all critical reviews and share them to help people decide if they want to attend a performance

...survey ticket buyers after each performance and send them to a forum where they could comment on performances they've seen

...allow people to vote on future rep

...put all production designs on line for people to examine and comment upon

...have 100% flexible exchange policies

...video and share rehearsals and other behind-the-scenes footage

...promote all other arts organizations

...encourage all management and artistic leadership to blog

Is your organization doing any of these things?

Why not?

Power to the Pixel

Power to the Pixel...you ask? Well yes, another of these wonderful conference/forums/summit thingys that pop up. Attending moi? Well not unless anyone has a spare plane ticket lying around? But reading and interested...oui. A few tidbits that caught my eye...

Why audiences are the key to cross media creation

The democratisation of digital tools enables audiences to push-button publish, upload audio and video, and provides the opportunity for amateurs to pursue larger audiences than that of their professional counterparts. A new generation is coming of age in a connected world. With the advent of more screens, more media and ultimately more competition for people’s time, storytellers must consider the behaviour of the audiences they hope to engage.

In a free world how can we make content pay

How do we entice people to pay for content they can get for nothing? The key is recognising that in the digital world, there are new ways to measure value. The old model was one of scarcity, but in a digital world it is easy to make a copy, so there’s no scarcity and therefore less value in each copy.

How Demand for Digital Experiences Is Transforming Our Physical Spaces

Much as been written about the You Tube Symphony...you know when musicians where 'crowdsourced' from audition You Tube videos and came together to play, but that (as I am quickly learning) is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the interaction of 'digital technologies' and 'the arts' (or *cough* design/entertainment/reason to get out of bed in the morning). Thankfully some people think about this much more often than I do...so here's a post by an agency man called Garrick who neatly summarises some great examples...there's money in this I'm sure.

Behind Ballet wrap

“Social media sites offer exposure into another world that one may normally never get access to” says Kate. And that is the intention of Behind Ballet. “We were always coming across these great stories that we wanted to share with everyone.”

This is from Kate Scott, Marketing and Communications Manager at the Australian Ballet. The Behind Ballet blog is beautiful and beautiful in the way that anything about Ballet can be beautiful, yes I agree, ballerinas (and boys) are usually far more photogenic than most other stage performers. The genius in all of this however, is that link between content the AB has and an audience eager to view and interact. And it's not all 'dear reader, today we opened in Sydney...'. The Behind Ballet blog covers questions, to trips down memory lane, to fashion and movies...and for me a query about the Disney movie Sleeping Beauty had me instantly as a I read and sought to answer the query I had..'will it be like the movie?'.

I'm sure I could find about 10 stories right now from the place of toil that we weren't able to share with everyone, and give me a room full of eager people who love the artform and we could probably come up with 50 ideas about our art and its links. Surely, this is what it is about...using a medium that can allow a voice, an interaction, a transparency and a digital record of just what we do with tax payer's money and its relevance to every day life. Beautiful yes. Smart, even more so.

Arts Hub on Behind Ballet

http://www.behindballet.com/

Research round up: Engaging Audiences

I'm always a little wary of organisations such as this pushing their research. Those old testaments of reliability and validity rear their head and then I start asking questions about whose agenda this is pushing (who paid for the research?)..but nevertheless if the shoe fits when reading examples, surely it's worth a look?

Again, pushed to me through the magic of twitter, and there's so many reports to have a look at! Here's just one...

Engaging Audiences - Wallace Foundation

"In the midst of hard economic times, it is clearly more challenging for arts organizations to take the long view and continue to devote time and effort to building new audiences. But this report on a recent gathering of representatives from more than 50 Wallace-funded arts organizations in six cities concludes that participation-building efforts and the resulting lessons are more vital than ever to the long-term health of arts organizations and the entire arts sector. Especially in hard times, the report says, it’s essential for leaders of arts organization to take careful stock of the long-term influences and challenges affecting the arts sector such as demographic shifts and new technologies that are creating entire new “spaces” for people to come together and experience the arts. The report describes how organizations are responding creatively to those challenges using such means as market research, re-branding, and drawing audience-building lessons from other sectors such as professional sports."

Arts Attracting Attention and Support

New audiences and new dollars, here's a listing of some unique and not so unique ways of attracting new audiences and support. Found via Rae Bassett and the Ning site Admit 2.0

For those playing at home Admit 2.0 is an open discussion about the future of arts and entertainment marketing in the digital and social media age run by Rae Bassett, Audience Development Manager from QPAC.

Wotopera Rocks! ...and here's the proof

I love when there are stats and research that back up a program's success. Not that anyone who was in the audience last year for Wotopera* wouldn't of felt the energy in the room these kids were creating...future creators and ticket buyers...to opera...who knows...but open to arts participation? Oui.

The link is to a piece by San Diego Opera’s general and artistic director Ian Campbell on the findings of a study that followed 15 symphony orchestras over the decade from 1994 to 2004. Ian suggests the findings could be applied to opera audiences as well. The findings as Campbell summarises them are:

a) There is no evidence that exposure programs for children — especially the large concert format offerings for school children — will turn them into ticket buyers as adults.

b) There is growing evidence that participatory music education — primarily instrumental lessons, ensemble and choral programs — will turn people into ticket buyers later in life.

Interesting! More here

*For those playing at home Wotopera is a school-based education imitative of OA where high school students working with music educators write an opera 'from page to stage' in a few weeks and then perform it in front of an audience. The program is sponsored by Graeme Wood of Wotif fame. The project was expanded into QLD earlier this year and the next Wotopera project in Sydney talks place in September 09...watch this space.

Museum Next blog

I've written about Jim Richardson before, but this week's blog posting from Museum Next has been, well, particularly inspired. Here's a few snippets....

"Should art be experienced in quiet contemplation or could a little theatre break through the polite chatter of a private view and make for a more participatory experience? Is a gallery only a space to experience the work on the walls or can it also be a stage for creative interaction?"

Jim also writes about a 'crowd sourced exhibition / competition' he is working on, while other contributors reference the work of Nina Simon on 'participatory design'...just reading of this ground breaking approach to exhibition design and conception is inspiring, wonder if that will be in my reading kit for uni? Somehow me thinks not.

Another great take away this week was the question we dare not ask..'Are museums and galleries intimidating?'

Didn't someone tell this man we never talk about the elephant in the corner...bravo Jim, keep it up!

More at http://www.museumnext.org/blog/

A date with Clover and her vision

I'm not really a fan of Clover Moore, a product of living, working and voting in her two constituencies and being on the receiving end of more City of Sydney propaganda via mailbox than really even I care to have...and I love junk mail! But as I'm a firm believer in not bagging out things entirely before you at least give them a go, I conned two others to accompanying me to see our beloved Lord Mayor speak on Sustainability and the Arts at a recent SAMAG (Sydney Arts Management Advisory Group) special event.

Now I must admit I haven't read the whole Sustainable Sydney 2030 policy...it's even a bit long for me...but I did flip through the policy in regards to arts very quickly a few weeks before this rescheduled talk where I found it hidden between all the nice city of villages rhetoric. So, what was I wanting from this experience? Well to be inspired I guess...and the verdict?

• She admits the policy document is 'a bit cheeky' aka. they don't have the power to enforce it, or budget to make it happen
• There seemed to be some consultation with arts industry leaders an 'art and design advisory panel' was mentioned as was a 'cultural round table'...note to self, have a look who is on that?
• Clover spoke about the need to sell the 'intrinsic value of the arts'....if she knows how to do that, there's some of us who would love to here that!
• She believes the wider community does engagement with the arts when given a chance and sites the large festival events as examples...but as audience members asked...is that sustainable?
• She commented that the role of the arts is to 'reflect back to us who we are' and that it 'lifts people's spirits', her belief is that arts events should make people feel good about being in the city...

But where does that leave us? Sadly the event didn't really hit the mark by engaging with the arts workers in the room and providing the tools for us to go back to our respective institutions and rally others into this 'cheeky' plan...all in all...I'm sorry Clover I would of rather had one of your pamphlets shoved in the letterbox.

But here's a big thumbs up for SAMAG, the crowd was a smattering of familiar industry faces and even my uni supervisor...I must be onto something!

Wikimedia: Conference seeks open cultural content

Stealing a headline here, but following on from yesterday's mention of cultural institutions using Wikis to gather and share planning and policy...here's another one, but only about 100 times bigger!

It will be interesting to see the outtakes from this conference and its many notable speakers. Here's hoping the content is captured and shared just as they are aiming to do with Australia's (and NZ's) cultural content....although one question...er, what about the other arts?

Wikimedia: Conference seeks open cultural content

'In a world-first conference, the Wikimedia Australia community will this week sit down with more than 170 senior executives from the nation’s largest cultural institutions – from the National Gallery to the Parliamentary Library – to devise strategies to better share Australia's cultural heritage.

Called ‘GLAM-WIKI: Finding Common Ground,’ the event at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on August 6-7 brings together Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums (GLAM) with Wikimedia Australia, the all-volunteer force that brings Australian content to the Wikipedia site.

GLAM-WIKI convener and Wikimedia Australia vice-president Liam Wyatt says the conference aims to increase the availability of Australian and New Zealand cultural content through Wikipedia in a sustainable way through collaboration and the open source treatment of cultural items.'

To visit the official wiki of GLAM-Wiki see here

Firehoses and Ladders

Ha! I knew there would be name for it! It's the same old ladder of loyalty again just with a new name and a new channel...and oh, don't forget the 'they' the ones you are after, are oh so much closer in this new space...sending out love to Jim Richardson again.

More here Creating a social media plan for a museum

and yet another digital hero!

Jim Richardson is a new one for me, found through the power of the web 2.0 tools that he talks and writes about so well. I thought the below, which is a posting of a talk he gave a year or so ago, was a great summary of what web 2.0 is and how we as cultural institutions are perfect for exploiting (er, I mean utilising) the content we have, in what really is, just another channel. However, the key of course is the old standard, what museums know about, but we don't speak its name... 'engagement'.

This bit is especially thought-provoking...

'While much is said about the social network and the desire of these people to be hyper-connected, the time that these individuals spend ‘curating’ their online space is often overlooked. It has become a new hobby and a seriously-considered creative outlet'.

More here

Arts Council (UK) Digital Content Snapshot

MUST READ!!!

These lot know their stuff...wonder if Ozco will catch up?

About the digital research programme

Digital opportunities is one of the Arts Council's four priorities for 2008-2011. Part of the programme is a three year research programme. The research will perform three key functions:


• Generating in depth knowledge of the way digital technology is changing the context in which artists, arts organisations and the Arts Council are operating


• Providing a clear understanding of the opportunities and challenges that this changing context creates for artists, arts organisations and the public


• Identifying where the Arts Council could intervene in order to create most public value

Issues to be investigated include:

• the impact of digital technology on how the public perceive, understand and engage with the arts


• how digital technology is transforming art and artistic practice


• the implications for content creation, distribution and ownership

Nina Simon love...

I really get inspired by almost everything Nina Simon writes...always something of interest that just piques the grey matter...

Here's another great post...

self-identification-and-status-updates

"I've become convinced that successful paths to participation in museums start with self-identification. If you want visitors to share stories or personal expression in your institution, you need to respect them as individuals who have something of value to contribute. The easiest way to do that is to acknowledge their uniqueness and validate their ability to connect with the museum on their own terms. What am I talking about? I'm talking about personal profiles.

Who is the "me" in the museum experience? Museums are surprisingly poor at allowing visitors--even members--to self-identify and relating to them based on their unique identities. Asserting personal identity with respect to an institution is something we do daily in other environments. When I walk into my climbing gym, the staff member at the desk greets me by name. When he looks me up in the computer, he sees how often I come, what classes I’ve taken, and any major safety infractions on record. In short, he knows me by my actions relative to the gym, and he can offer me custom information based on my past behavior. I have a relationship with the institution, mediated by a computer and a smiling face."

Virtuous circle – from visitor to speaker

Here's the type of stat that I would love to see more of. This could be the clincher on how to do it all. But again, it takes significant man hours from your organisation to make these type of connections, or does it? Isn't it merely a refocus of resources? Isn't it a means to unlock content that is not in the format of your usual supply, or to extend the life of the content you have? Is not this what they teach us all in marketing classes....Ladder of Loyalty anyone. I'm sure there's a communication-based model similar...and also a learning/engagement one...(wonder where those notes are?) but for me, it's simple...and as Seb Chan offers up....it works. One connection at a time. Bravo Powerhouse!

Virtuous circle – from visitor to speaker

This short post is for everyone who naively asks about the “ROI of social media” and whether “websites can be proven to result in museum visitation”.

Two years ago Bob Meade wasn’t a regular visitor to the Museum (despite being directly in one of our “target demographics”) let alone a user of our website.

Then we released a bunch of photographs to the Commons on Flickr. These peaked Bob’s interest and reminded him that the Museum existed in his very own home town. (You can read more about that in an interview with Bob from last year – part one, part two.)

Now he’s speaking at one of our weekend talks!

Bob is blogging the prospective content (and museum favourites) of his talk over at his own blog.

It is important to understand that this wasn’t the result of a “marketing strategy” – it was the result of making valuable museum content broadly available and then engaging our communities in honest, personal conversations.

If you are in Sydney, then come along and hear him speak on September 6.