Classical Music meets 2010 Winter Olympics

Washington Performing Arts Society (WPAS) recently launched a new interactive online contest springing off of the excitement from the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.  

Participants who register can make their predictions on which classical music stars from the 2009-2010 WPAS season will win various Winter Game events.  The winners of each event are randomly selected, and those participants who had the most correct predictions become eligible to win such prizes as tickets to WPAS concerts, meet and greets with artists like Joshua Bell, spa packages and dinners at area restaurants.

Will Gustavo Dudamel one-up Michael Tilson Thomas in the Men’s Giant Slalom category?  Will Wynton Marsalis take the gold in the Snowboarding competition?  Naturally, these aren’t REAL events.  The agent relations alone would be a nightmare, to say the least.

What this contest DOES do, however, is create further awareness of WPAS as a brand. And, it provides an interactive way for WPAS fans to mix interests; sports and music.  Ideally, it will also build new interest and buzz around the WPAS name.

Full disclosure: I currently work for WPAS as a marketing intern.  You have to admit though, it is a pretty cool idea.

Posting to a passive reader: Technology in the Arts asks, “what’s the point?”

Technology in the Arts, hereafter referred to as Tech, a program within the Carnegie Mellon Center for Arts Management and Technology, recently posted an interesting question on their blog.  

 

 

After asking the followers on their LinkedIn group essentially ‘why are you here, what do you hope to use this group for, and what can you learn from it?’, the group’s followers were so intrigued that they received a whopping TWO responses, one of which was from me.  Understandably, the administrator for the post was perplexed. 

This lack luster response seemed to act as a catalyst for their blog posting about the lack of interaction occurring within arts groups on Facebook and LinkedIn.  In the posting on their blog, after referencing their lackluster response on LinkedIn, Tech posed the following questions:

So why do organizations have hundreds of passive fans? Why do groups have thousands of silent members? Are these people hoping to be spoon-fed information in the manner of an RSS reader (and if so, why are they not viewing news items)? Are they overwhelmed by irrelevant postings (e.g. the self-promotional posts that verge on spam)? Intimidated because they are actually not quite clear whether what they have to contribute will be judged as valuable or not? 

At the end of their posting they ask, what I feel, is the most important question of the whole post:

And what does this lack of interaction mean for the buzz about social media being a non-profit organization’s new best friend?

In addressing the first quote, I feel the passiveness encountered in online social media is a product of a number of things.  I will address a couple here. First, The majority of people are joining a group/cause or becoming a fan of something merely because they agree with it, or they are friends with the person who created it.  I am just as guilty of it.  I joined the Facebook group, “Save the Whales” because I mean, come on, who doesn’t wanna save the whales?  Am I passionate enough about it to engage in online discussions?  No.  That is probably why I ultimately, after the “feel good” feeling went away, I left the group.  I wasn’t REALLY committed to the cause in the way the group creator was.

Second, people generally want to be spoon-fed information.  It is easier, faster, and frankly less intellectually taxing. (That last one is not a compliment).  However, one can’t really blame people all that much.  We as a society are more bombarded than ever with constant demands for our attention.  I wouldn’t be surprised if, while reading this blog, many of you are also listening to music or watching television.  It’s okay, I do it too.  The point is, fewer and fewer people are effectively and proactively interacting in ways that amount to no more than a “thumbs up” or an “i like this”.  That is the extent of their thought process.  Bam! Done! On to the next thing.  Sorry, but that is not interacting or communicating.  That is voyeurism with a comment box.

At the end of Tech’s post, wherein they essentially ask the question, ‘what does this mean for social media being a non-profit’s new best friend?”,  I found myself thinking just that.  What does this mean for non-profits hoping to gain both supporters and their coveted charitable dollars via online platforms such as Facebook’s “Causes” application?  What does this mean for arts groups who hope to use Facebook and Twitter as an effective means to gain new fans, and more importantly, patrons?  

The Bach Festival Society of Winter Park has 273 fans on its Facebook page.  I wonder how many of those fans have actually attended a concert, and of those who have attended, who have attended more than once.  It’s a curious question, but an important one if we are to determine the effectiveness of using social networking for the purposes of sustaining arts organizations and non-profits alike.

To get a full picture of what Tech is trying to say, I recommend reading the entire posting.  I have chosen to comment on select paragraphs that I think are important.

If you’ve made it this far, CONGRATULATIONS!  Now, show me how much you’ve learned, and tell me your thoughts… please?

Thanks to Chris Foley and “The Collaborative Piano Blog” for the promo!

I wanted to take the time to thank a fellow musician and arts blogger, Chris Foley, who took the time to promote me on his blog,“The Collaborative Piano Blog”.

In is posting he says regarding my decision to start a blog:

In spite of recent commentary on the difficulties faced by start-up bloggers, it’s refreshing to see new arts blogs popping up (such as this one) at a time when support for traditional media is perceived to be on the wane.

Chris, I appreciate your support and hope to not become another failed blogger statistic.  

Some number of weeks ago I inquired with Chris as to how best start a blog.  I liked what he had done with his and thought he would be a knowledgeable person to ask.  What he said I am now realizing will surely be the case.  He said,

“pre-write some copy and get ready for the long haul.”

The long haul has indeed begun.

The situation we face…

Getting started on a blog is not an easy undertaking.  The time commitment alone is enough to make me ask myself, “should I be getting paid for this?”  Well, maybe someday.

This blog will be about many things artistic, but it will also be a commentary on the arts culture in general. Frankly, let’s face it, the artistic culture in America is facing some serious problems.  Not only is it in trouble financially, as are most non-profit organizations these days, but it is in my opinion also going through an identity crisis of sorts.

The way we as a society communicate and share information today is significantly different than even just ten years ago. Here is a perfect example of how simply watching television has changed.  Newspapers are failing, the major networks are re-structuring, and statistics show that more and more people are turning to blogs and other various online media sites to get information.  The days of old-fashioned marketing and print media are coming to an end.  How will arts organizations transition successfully and seamlessly as possible into the 21st century way of communicating?  This is where we come back to the notion of an identity crisis.

The Road to Change

 

 

The identity crisis comes in the form of artistic organizations determining how to navigate through a new, seemingly ubiquitous cultural shift that pervades the American and world cultures. That new culture is social networking and online media sites.  How will opera companies, symphonies, choral societies, ballet companies, museums, and any other medium of classical art, connect to a new generation of potential art lovers?  I believe the answer lies in the realms of cyberspace.

Sites like Facebook , Twitter  and especially Youtube hold immense potential if only used properly.  The key words are “if only used properly.”  Most arts websites I visit are still using the internet like it was used ten years ago.  They are simply creating a website, throwing a bunch of information on there, and hoping that the viewer will be interested enough to come check out their artistic product.  Websites can no longer act as bulletin boards of information.  They must now be interactive as well as engaging and informative.  A leading voice in the classical arts community who’s opinion I immensely respect, Greg Sandow, thankfully understands the importance of this cultural shift.

Here are a few examples, in my opinion, of arts organizations who understand the cultural shift taking place and who have adapted accordingly: London Symphony, Seattle Opera, and The Metropolitan Opera .  As I discover more I will be sure to add them. 

So, this is the situation we face.  It may appear to be a daunting task, and to some, a useless waste of time.  However, it is happening and it WILL happen, whether we choose to recognize its importance or not.  Luckily, I am at an advantage as I have pretty much lived my entire life with computers and thus have easily adapted with the changes in technology.  Some are not so fortunate, but they can’t be blamed for not understanding the importance of it.

This is of course merely my opinion, but it seems to be the general consensus of the arts community.  In any of posts from here on, if you think I am off-base, wrong, or just plain wacky, tell me.  I love dissenting viewpoints.  It helps me to refine my own. 

Now, let’s get to work…