This Week’s Insights: There’s a theme in this week’s stories – the rising power of the audience. Whether it’s Rotten Tomatoes, Smithsonian fans raising a million dollars for conservation, or arts organizations getting more sophisticated in programming what its fans want, the audience is redefining the arts experience.
- Who Says People Don’t Read Reviews… the movie review website Rotten Tomatoes has become extraordinarily powerful in driving audiences. “As people are bombarded with more and more entertainment options, quality has become a determining factor for a movie’s success. And moviegoers use Rotten Tomatoes to select films the same way they turn to Yelp to determine what restaurants they visit.”
- Smithsonian Uses Kickstarter To Raise Money, And… in the process discovers a new legion of fans who haven’t previously had a relationship with “America’s Attic”. Raising money isn’t just about money, it’s about building relationships. When someone donates money, they’re making an investment not just of money but of their attention. That attention can be extraordinarily valuable.
- Want To Be Relevant To An Audience? Embrace “Now”: “Art needs to have social relevance,” Christian Măcelaru, the new director of California’s Cabrillo Festival insists. “It needs to have a now. Once an artist embraces that, then the connection to the audience is that much more relevant. To that extent I don’t think the art form (of classical music) is dying at all.”
- So What Is A “Chilled” Performance??? The Royal Shakespeare Company is producing what it calls a “chilled performance of Shakespeare. By chilled, the company means a more relaxed, informal performance at which more audience noise and movement is tolerated. “Chilled performances are aimed at people who feel more at ease knowing they are able to leave the auditorium at any time. These include people with dementia and people with babes in arms. They are similar to relaxed performances, which the RSC already runs. However, unlike relaxed performances they do not make any changes to the production, such as reducing sound volume, turning up the lights or providing break-out areas.” And what about the comfort of other audience members? Presumably such performances will also attract more tolerant people…
- Basic Audience Proposition: What’s In It For Me? Well, quite a lot, actually. A UK report says the arts are potentially of great medical benefit. “GPs prescribing arts activities to some patients could lead to a dramatic fall in hospital admissions and save the NHS money, according to a report into the subject of arts, health and wellbeing published after two years of evidence gathering. … [The] inquiry contends that the arts can keep people well, aid recovery from illness, help people live longer, better lives and save money in health and social services.”
Has the power of the audience really changed in the USA? Isn’t the mass media in the USA evidence that “the audience” and the popularity of their tastes always been the ruling paradigm of power? Is the presumed rising power of the audience in the high arts a manifestation of pandering market fundamentalism promoted by conservative economic theories? Do proponents of this sort of market fundamentalism in the arts unwittingly support a somewhat reactionary and excessively capitalistic development characteristic of American society?
Europe’s publicly funded orchestras and opera houses reach a far greater percentage of their societies than orchestras and opera companies in the USA. As a general rule, Europeans aim for about 85% attendance since that number allows for a good balance between popularity and innovation. Is it education, and the availability and affordability of the arts created by public funding, that truly empowers audiences?