ARTSblog

Our society has changed – dramatically – over the past few decades.  We talk about it all the time in the context of business (flattening), government and politics (opening) and community (connecting).

What about arts and culture?

Arts and culture organizations are always hunting for new ways to effectively engage their target audience and to drive the kind of action (donations, sales, and sponsorship) necessary to thrive–especially in challenging economic times.  Today’s organizations have more than enough communication tools to get the job done, yet the combination of rapid technological innovation and continuous social shifts has left many organizations struggling to stay focused and execute their ideas.

To survive, let alone thrive, arts and culture organizations need to understand a few important things.

1) Big things are afoot. The public is more engaged than ever before, more capable of collecting and sharing information with a wider audience–for free–than at any point in our history.  This drives greater interest in arts and culture, and the creation of a more diverse and interesting society.  This isn’t just about having more people sharing stories, showing off their talent, building a following because the barriers to entry are lower.  This isn’t just about finding hidden talent far down the long tail of media and elevating them to the status of super celebrity because the institutional structures that once controlled everything are breaking down.  The impact of technology and the internet on arts and culture is profound.  This is the beginning of a shift that will redefine every aspect of our society.

2) Think bigger. We must resist the desire to define or contain this new, emerging way of operating too quickly, to focus our attention on finding ways to marketing and monetize it above all. We should be thinking bigger.  What is the potential for technology and the internet to redefine arts and culture, and what say do we want to have in that?  What must we change, or adapt, within our society to support arts and culture flourishing in the future? Our information experiences have changed and our focus and goals in terms of arts and culture should change as well.

3) Lots of stories to tell. There are an infinite number of stories about how technology and the internet are impacting arts and culture, about the arts and culture that are being created with new technologies, or that are emerging because these new tools and channels exist.  No single publication, channel or service has the ability to cover the full range of arts and culture happenings — so they don’t, leaving huge gaps in what is covered.  Arts and culture groups should be seizing the opportunity to create that coverage, to tell those stories, and to elevate the discussion to the level we (and the rest of the audience) desire.

4) More! The very idea of art and culture, of media in general, should be bigger – more voices, more access to information, more collaboration. Fueled by technology, we all have the ability to learn or discuss whatever we believe is relevant, to produce and distribute information so that it reaches audiences any time, any place, with a more diverse (and deeply invested) audience, and through any device. Instead of a few companies, distributors, creators, or similar, there should be millions.  Everyone is a gatekeeper and a storyteller now. Every person with a blog or cell-phone-enabled camera can create media.  Every person with a computer and an internet connection can demonstrate their creativity to the world.  It is happening every day.  But we spend too much time trying to contain art and culture, to define it and channel it.  Instead, we should be looking to support and enhance it, to create more and better art and culture.

5) Know the new audience. It is easy to forget what life is like for people who don’t spend all their time online, buried in newspapers, reviewing blog posts, creating media, living backstage.  There are reasons why people engage with organizations, with issues, why they spend time watching, listening, reading and experience various forms of art and different cultural experiences.  There are reasons why people log on to the various platforms we build and buy the products we sell. The reasons are personal, they are powerful, and they must be understood if you want to understand the potential for media and arts in the future.  We spend so much time talking about business models and monetization strategies.  We obsess about the most effective and compelling ways to push information.  But how much time do we really spend listening to, and hearing from, the audience – what they want, what they value, and how we can help?  You must know the audience if you want to reach them – because what tools they use, when, and how will define that.  You must know the audience if you want to create something they will help to promote or share – because the benefit they receive or the relationship they have with their community will define that.  It is easy to forget.  But it is also easy to watch and understand, and then adapt what are you doing to meet the audience’s needs.

While the audience used to consume art and culture; now we are in the middle of it.  The production, promotion, consumption, and sharing of all kinds of media is happening more, and faster than ever before. And that is not only changing the world of art and culture organizations, its changing everything. Lets go figure out how.

Brian Reich is a presenter at the 2009 National Arts Marketing Project Conference in Providence, Rhode Island from October 30 through November 2. For more information on CollaborAction: Arts Marketing, Sponsorship and Fundraising Strategies that Work, visit the Conference site.

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