Health & Fitness
Audience Reformation in the Arts
There's a revolution happening right now, and it's time for arts administrators to embrace the change. The Couch should no longer be viewed as the enemy. We need to change our perception.
First of all, check out this video which inspired this post from the Executive Director of the Mauldin Cultural Center, George McLeer:
The Couch. For many it is a refuge. It is a best friend who won't wake you up from a nap with a text message. It is a family magnet, and a family pet magnet. It is a crucial part of our lives. But to some in the arts industry - it is the enemy. It sucks up potential income like a desert sucks up a spilled 24 ounce Dasani bottle. It eats our patrons and steals our product. It may be soft and warm on the outside, but on the inside it is cushioning your bottom with our cash.
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Who would want to face traffic, parking, noise, the sun, the rain, getting dressed, or even (gasp) other people when you could just sit on The Couch and instead watch other people deal with the outside world while you revel in the happiness that is Orville Redenbacher Butter Popcorn or Mayfield Moose Track Ice Cream. And who would want to go see an opera when you can watch false hopes wilt away on "American Idol." This was/is a good thing right? Now you can interact with your family via email or Facebook, check up on the local news after it airs, read the newspaper, watch the football game - all within the comfort of your own home. This reality though has made an overwhelmingly large dent in ticket sales to performing arts groups across the world.
The Couch in fact is one of the biggest enemies for those in administrative positions in the arts. How can one defeat the lure of comfort? Embrace it.
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The fact is that the arts industry has to realize that the world is in the middle of an audience development reformation. Our audiences are changing, evolving. The technology that is available to them should not be viewed as our enemy. As the video above points out - "The means of artistic production have been democratized for the first time in human history." People not only have access to a large number of outlets that display art (television, Netflix, DVR, YouTube, etc) but they also now have access to the means by which to create that art. You can now record a movie on your iPhone, upload it to YouTube and become a star. You used only be able to do the same thing if you worked with Warner Bros.
There has to be a change in the arts industry. We have to embrace the technology we once thought robbed us and make it work for us. There are ways to do that - we just have to be willing to change. We have to.
George Patrick McLeer, Jr
Executive Director, Mauldin Cultural Center