January ushered in a new year with sweeping disruptions in media, journalism, and public humanities. Technology-driven partnerships, staff cuts, and mergers have redefined the online media landscape kicking-off 2025, calling into question journalism’s position in an age of generative AI. Read the highlights below.
The grant narrative has become one of the most high-stakes tools of communication in the nonprofit fundraising space, driving more than $150 billion in global expenditures. As grant writers adapt their appeals in response to changing funder values, this narrative network gives shape to the nonprofit ecosystem in which many arts organizations operate.
Exposure to nature can positively influence one’s mental well-being. As VR technology seeks to recreate elements of life, its developers and prospective adopters must keep asking one very important question: how deeply can VR impact us? And, what might the implications be for museums?
It is always fun to take a moment as we close out a year to compare our favorite content to the popularity contest of the web. AI, Sustainability, and Preservation with technology led the charge. Keep reading for the most popular articles and podcasts.
As AI continues to integrate into our everyday lives, how does it impact our creativity? Many researchers and scholars agree that the technology may promote significant opportunities in this space. By introducing novel ideas and opportunities to users, it may be most effective as a tool to augment, rather than replace, human creativity.
Recently, museums are utilizing Artificial Intelligence Technology to engage audiences and personalize visitor experiences. Before doing any further research, it is important to understand what the AI technologies are that are used for audience engagement. How are they implemented into museums? And are there any challenges or problems?
The National Comedy Center is the '“first non-profit institution and national-scale visitors experience dedicated to the art of comedy,” but it does the genre justice appealing to both fans and non-fans (Variety). The museum opened in 2018 and has already been praised as one of the best museum experiences in the country, holding a 5 star ranking on trip advisor.
Technologically enhanced theatre experiences can extend beyond the use of cutting edge performance light and sound tech. Today’s technology allows theaters to reach audiences outside of their physical space through livestreaming performances in Virtual Reality (VR) with VR being defined as an artificial environment which is experienced through sensory stimuli (such as sights and sounds) provided by a computer and in which one's actions partially determine what happens in the environment. Furthermore, livestreaming, defined as when a person or organization “transmit[s] or receive live video and audio coverage of (an event) over the Internet” is becoming a routine part of standard social network experience. Livestreaming through VR, while still a relatively new concept, may allow the virtual audience watching the livestream to feel much more present at the performance than ever before and therefore a theater’s potential audience engagement opportunities.
As time goes on, it’s clear that artificial intelligence will continue to find its place in the arts. Using AI to build connections with audiences, in particular, is an interesting and developing sector of arts and technology. The performing arts are primed for a technology jumpstart and a reassessment of audience engagement tactics. Now, more than ever, the opportunities for the integration of artificial intelligence and audience engagement in the performing arts are ripe for exploration.
In a time where we can build and access a wealth of geographic information through our mobile devices and online, digital tools are being leveraged to make these kinds of civically engaged connections. Digital maps, in particular, have been built to service archival needs as well as transform the public’s interaction with art and archeological sites. By examining how organizations have deployed various digital map technologies in their work, we can also see how these tools have practical value and the potential to more broadly advance the cultural fields.
As museums seek to increase engagement in both the physical museum space and across digital platforms, many are striving to create more personalized experiences that differentiate the museum visit and increase engagement with the institution and its collection. These two case studies—the Museum of Old and New Art in Tasmania, Australia, and the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York—are examples of hybrid museums that successfully demonstrate how bridging the physical and virtual in the museum visitor experience can increase the length, breadth and depth of engagement with the institution and its collection.
This is part 1 in a two-part series examining hybrid museums that successfully demonstrate how bridging the physical and virtual in the museum visitor experience can increase the length, breadth and depth of engagement with the institution and its collection. Part 1 explores the Museum of Old and New Art in Tasmania.
A summer long weekend in Philadelphia is inspiring by the many art experiences the city has to offer. Of the museums I visited I was most impressed by both the collection and quality of experience at the Barnes Foundation. The museum has a noteworthy collection of impressionist, post-impressionist, and early modernist artwork, which includes the world’s largest holdings of paintings by Renoir and Cézanne.
NY Live Arts hosted the Arts + AI Symposium, Saturday May 11, 2019. The Symposium was part of Live Arts, their annual humanities festival of arts and ideas. The 2019 Festival AI: Are You Brave Enough for The Brave New World? pondered a future with artificial intelligence, a technology that promises to revolutionize human existence. The festival headliner was a performance by discrete figures. Other activities included a hacking camp for teens and panel discussion on the Future of Work.
The Art + AI Symposium offered the sold-out crowd a speed dating style share-out from panel participants. As the manager in the group, I provided a perspective on AI focusing on how institutions will begin connecting the art to the audience using emerging technologies. The following article provides a summary of the frameworks and solutions I presented.
Artificial intelligence continues to make its way into the main stream and into multiple industry sectors. The arts are no exception. Over the past few years we have begun to see a wave of organizations use artificial intelligence as a method to both enhance the audience experience and generate new creative expression.
Shifting audience interests towards interactive and shareable experiences has led many museums to explore the potential of digital engagement tools. Given the costs and changes typically required for successful digital integration, museum staff must first ask themselves why their institution should consider investing in emerging technologies and what they hope to achieve from such an investment.
Immersive Experiences (AR, VR, and mixed reality) are emerging in the performing arts world. Let’s take a close look to gain a better understanding of the reasons why performing arts organizations implement these kinds of technology and discover whether it was worth the investment at this time in the technology’s development.
There are a lot of options for how people may choose to allocate their time, attention, and financial resources. To an extent there is competition in the cultural sector between museums, theaters, and other similar organizations, but external options, such as other forms of entertainment or educational technology, present a plethora of choices for the consumer. With that in mind, as we start the year let’s take a brief scan of what was hot in the tech world through the 2018 holiday season, and what appears to be on the horizon.
Technical innovations are increasing opportunities for patrons who have low or no vision to engage with the arts. There are four dominant approaches for serving these members of the community: seeing through touch tours, beacon technology, audio description, and applications on personal devices.
Image credit: National Park Service
Artificial Intelligence is opening up a new world of possibilities for arts organizations in terms of programmatic offerings, guest services, and management. A recent convening of the American Alliance of Museums, hosted by the Perez Art Museum Miami, and sponsored by The Knight Foundation and Alley Interactive, brought together museum professionals, technologists, and futurists to discuss how AI is, and can be used in museums.
This is the first of a series on orchestras streaming their performances. This installment centers around the audience. Orchestras have done a lot of research on who their audience is, and there is a lot of data on who streams music. This article talks through both sets of observations and find the overlap between the two.
Cataloging is one of the most labor intensive responsibilities for collections management, requiring the expertise of many art-specialists. It typically is also the most encountered feature of a collection, especially when the actual object is restricted with respect to: preservation, accessibility, and engagement. Digitizing collections challenges traditional paradigms for audience interaction, and one private organization leading the progression is ARTMYN.
