This Week’s Insights: When your funder imposes impact measures… Do Billboard charts matter anymore?… Why working classes don’t go to theatre… Community pirate radio reigns in Brooklyn… Use Alexa to donate to NPR?
- Arts Funder Launches Audience Measurement Tool: Arts Council England has been working for some time to find ways to measure not just the numbers of people who come to performances but the impact of those performances. It’s a difficult lift. How do you evaluate what an arts experience meant to someone? This week ACE released a “tool kit” meant to tackle the impact question. And arts organizations are nervous, with good reason. When your government funder devices new measurements, no matter how well-intentioned, you have no choice but to pay attention. But ACE’s Nicholas Serota tries to reassure: “This is not about limiting risk or stopping organisations from putting on work that may be difficult and may tackle questions in unfamiliar ways. Rather, we want to understand what the impact of the work is. The best and most pioneering work often polarises opinion, and a positive response to risky work could strengthen an organisation, helping the leaders to shape the artistic direction confidently.”
- If Billboard Charts Don’t Measure Most Popular Music, Do We Still Care? Good question. For years, Billboard measured sales, with top sellers crowned as most successful. With the proliferation of platforms, streaming and subscriptions, the Billboard charts have lost their authority. Do music producers and artists care? Probably. They need ways to devine public taste so they can figure out what projects to back. Does the audience care? There’s a long cultural history of referring to pop artists and songs by their success on the charts. Still, the charts have never been a reliable measure of quality…
- Why Are The Working Classes Not Going To The Theatre? Short answer? Their stories aren’t often on the stage. From one theatre person: “If my family want entertainment, they are more likely to spend their money on a motorised ride-on esky scooter than a subscription to Sydney Theatre Company. My school friends only ever come to the theatre to see me. Other times, they feel alienated and unsafe in arts institutions, if they can ever afford to go. Some of them say theatre is for people more educated, but mostly they just think it’s boring. I want to tell them that they’d love it if they went. That it’s their stories on stage, their culture. But most of the time, I’d be lying.”
- Brooklyn’s Hot New Medium? Pirate Radio. It’s hyper-local taken to the airwaves. And it’s radio for the audience by the audience. “Transmitted from the roofs of churches and apartment buildings, unlicensed radio stations offer listeners spiritual sustenance, immigration information, and news from home.”
- Alexa, Give Money To My NPR Station: Talk about frictionless ways to make a donation. One of every five homes with wifi now has a smart speaker. So what could be easier than just saying – from the comfort of your kitchen or living room – “make a donation to public radio”? NPR and some local public radio stations are experimenting with ways to let listeners donate using their smart speakers. What could possibly go wrong with that?
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