Creators Project in San Francisco

Last weekend the Creator's Project garnered significant attention from national media.  From the mission statement on the website "The Creators Project is a global celebration of art and technology." and "The Creators Project is a new kind of arts and culture channel for a new kind of world."   As an intersection between art and tech it seems appropriate that the blog weigh in and take a look at what they did, how they did it, and the implications.  The Creator's Project has major sponsorship from Intel Corp and VICE with significant online free content focusing on mostly short form interview of Creator associated artists.  This Project offers similar promise to other ventures to offering culture and arts online to ideas such as On The Boards TV and Jacob's Pillow Virtual Pillow but is already operating on a much larger scale than either of these.

The Creators Project offers arts and culture online at a scale that is extraordinary for such a young institution.  The levels of participation on information sharing that is happening through their website looks unparalleled and should be looked towards as a model for successful integration of technology and the arts.   The Creators Project was started in May of 2010 by VICE and seems to have two major interfaces with the public.  There is a exhibit/show that has toured around the world each year and an expanding web presence that now counts video downloads in the millions.  The content is broken out into six different categories:  Music, Film, Art, Design, Gaming, and Fashion and has engaged with artists from all of these areas to provide content online and for the annual festival.  They will be rolling out content collected from the event last weekend (March 17-19, 2012) in the coming weeks.

Current content on the website is a mind blowing array of new directions taken by artists in each of the fields.  One of the standout artists at the event last weekend was a new work from visual multidisciplinary artist Chris Milk.  The installation called the Treachery of Sanctuary incorporated user interaction with digital transformation to look at elements of flight.  Visuals of this can be found here.

Anther fascinating example that was found on the Creator's Project website was the Electronic Shadow from France.  Electronic Shadow uses imaging technology and software to generate interactive 3D maps of people places and objects.  These images then can be used and manipulated in artistic fashions.  The implication for this technology would, for instance, be a game changing one for other art forms such as dance.

Exchange of ideas such as Creator's Project bring together the bleeding edge of Technology and the Arts and as such should be a point of engagement for institutions that are looking to modernize and include new audiences (and younger audiences).  The artists involved have obviously successfully engaged these audiences already and by following the lead of these success stories arts leaders at more conventional organizations can find hope in a new direction in reshaping structure and content to address the demands of a more complex world.

Pinterest 101 for Arts Organizations [mini-nar]

Pinterest is the latest and greatest in social media, we've talked about it before, and it just reached 10 million unique hits in a month, the fastest independent website to ever attain this lofty title. Every blogger with access to a data set out there is looking at the demographics of Pinterest, but what can a visually based social media do for your organization? This Mini-Nar is going to take a look at some of the basic functions of Pinterest, as well as how some arts organizations are maintaining and utilizing their Pinterest accounts. http://youtu.be/JZKgsWlU6Uk

Check out these Pinterests from the video: the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Ballet, the Arts and Business Council of Greater Philadelphia, and Lionsgate Be Fit. Some of the demographic data I referred to came from Tech Crunch.

What do you think? Is Pinterest something you'll consider using - or do you already utilize it? Comment on this post and let us know!

Telemarketing is Dead - and I killed it

Fundraising for nonprofit organizations is considered an art, not a perfect science, and it's clear that techniques must be tailored to each individual organization. One of the common pieces of wisdom is that “telephone appeals” (read: telemarketing) consistently work as a fundraising tool for nonprofit arts organizations. I’m not saying random cold calls, but calling people who have funded you before, have a history with your organization and would likely donate again. Nearly one out of every five people will respond and donate to your organization calling and asking for money. As a Millennial consumer, I cannot fathom this.

I, and perhaps you, dear Reader, belong to a generation simply called “Millennials”. Spell check doesn’t know that word yet, but soon it will. We are defined not by high technological competency, which is given to the generation directly before us, but by technological connectedness. I've had a series of experiences which have lead me to create these conclusions about the relationship between Millennials and telemarketing. Millennials, who by the way love to donate, have been raised in a society where everything is connected electronically.

With that connectedness comes with a degree of anonymity. While relationships formed over the web can become as close and as intimate as the penpals of old, they take time. They are cultivated with mutual respect and friendship and while our messages may travel instantly from one to the other, the relationship is built up more slowly.

In this age of instant communication, I think the telemarketing approach is dead to those arts organizations that wish to solicit donations from Millennials. My telephone is reserved for my parents and my grandma, and for calling Renee to let her know I’m outside her building and would she please let me in.

I have had organizations, which I have supported in the past, call me on the phone and ask for donations. It never works.

They always follow a certain pattern. The telemarketer introduces themselves, and asks your name - here again, trying to build up a relationship. But I, the Millennial consumer, am used to long exchanges on Tumblr before ever learning anything than the other person’s username, so that tactic falls short. I thrive in the anonymity of the internet, and this direct and sudden confrontation with a stranger frightens me like a deer in headlights.

Then the telemarketer will try to tell me about the organizations hardships this year; how an economic recession has set them back, or how government legislation has made their work more difficult, could I please help with their annual fund? I, the Millennial consumer, just watched a video of the violence in Syria this morning - you’re trying to tell me you have problems? The problems I care about are the ones involving life and death - and I will negate your ask at every turn.

Finally, the telemarketer has been instructed to ask three times before respectfully hanging up. Are you kidding me? I, the Millennial consumer, tweet, reblog, and share on Facebook all while drinking my caramel latte and finishing an accounting assignment. Your long phone call is wasting my time. Why didn’t you understand when I first said ‘no’? Are you trying to guilt me into this? This is ridiculous. I will never give to this organization again, and their number is now blocked on my phone.

In truth, this all could have been avoided if this organization, who clearly have a record on me, had just emailed me their ask with a direct link, explaining that they need help with their annual fund. The anonymity is intact, I no longer have an individual I don’t know trying to force me into the intimate donor relationship. They haven’t insulted me with blowing their issues into hyperboles (while important to the organization, meaningless to me). And it took all of two seconds to click the link and another to type in my credit card number.

What I’m saying here is, if you’re catering to a mature audience, use telemarketing. Statistically, it works. And probably you’re already using online direct asks in some form, whether its email or otherwise. What I’m hoping you’ll do is pay more attention to who gets what message. If you’re reaching for the Millennials, those fun-loving young kids, maybe tweet them. Email them. Ask them when they attend your next party.

For the love of art, though, do not call.

Solve for X

Try not to have horrible flashbacks of high school algebra! In this case, Solve for <X> is a new Google initiative, defined as “a forum to encourage and amplify technology-based moon-shot thinking and teamwork”, and <X> is defined by as the intersections of “huge problem”, “radical solution”, and “breakthrough technology”. http://youtu.be/uDDy7QSdt6A

While the website is fairly vague, Solve for <X> sounds like a hub for crowdsourced solutions with a focus on innovative thinking and technologies. The website already has some brilliant talks online – as a visual person, I found Mary Lou Jepsen’s discussion on “Imaging the Mind’s Eye” fascinating.

http://youtu.be/SjbSEjOJL3U

Solve for <X> has a Google+ page to encourage and facilitate discussion; anyone with a relevant talk is invited to share it on the page as long as it meets the criteria (huge problem, radical solution, and breakthrough technology). Solve for <X> even hosted a conference in the beginning of February to bring together innovators to discuss major problems and solutions of the modern world. There’s a YouTube channel with more videos from the site and their conference, with presumably more on the way.

Crowdsource thinking like Solve for <X> and the TED talks certainly provide an interesting set of viewpoints on a wide range of topics. You can bet we’ll be watching to see how Solve for <X> has an affect on culture and the world of art.

Cultivating a More Diverse Audience: The Future of Museums

A 2010 report published by the Center for the Future of Museums, an initiative of American Association of Museums, forecasts the changing face of the United States over the next four decades and the future of museums in light of an increasingly diverse population and “majority minority” society. The report, “Demographic Transformation and the Future of Museums” is a must-read for museum managers and administration- if only for the graphics and statistics projecting the upcoming drastic and rapid shift in demographics in the United States. A concise report, complete with graphics, a call to action, and a list of online resources for demographic information and socio-economic indicators, the American Association of Museums (AAM) analyzes the data on patterns of museum use and trends in societal growth to answer the questions

How will people use museums in the future? And which people will use them?

The forecasted demographic transformation directly affects the museum audience and museum professionals as today’s typical museum goer, a 45-54 year old non-Hispanic white adult, is no longer an accurate reflection of the American public.

Below is a summary of the report’s key findings, surprising statistics, focus group outcomes and suggestions on how to cultivate a diverse, museum audience that’s users reflect the diverse, 'majority minority' communities of America’s future.

Sometime between 2040 and 2050, depending on which projection model is employed, the current U.S. minority groups- African Americans, Latinos (of any race), Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and others, including those identify as multiracial- will collectively become the new majority in the United States. The proportion of non-Hispanic whites will fall below 50 percent for the first time since the country was founded.

The future of American society is one of “majority minority” in which disparate groups and minorities constitute the collective majority of the population. This compares to the data collected from 2008 on the racial and ethnic composition of the U.S. population in which, by both race and ethnicity, Whites and non-Hispanic whites, made up 74.3% and 84.9% of the population.

The AAM recognizes the imperfections of the monolithic and conventional categories of white, black, Hispanic, and Asian as more and more individuals seek a more multi-racial and ethnic option for classification.

While there are many factors affecting an individual’s decision to attend what the National Endowment for the Arts terms “benchmark arts” (attendance at musical plays, non-musical plays, jazz concerts, theater, opera, classical music performances, the ballet and visual art venues), such as distance, accessibility, cost of admission, income and education, the latter two are most often the major determinants of attendance.

Who has traditionally been the art museum user? And who will it be? While the percentage of the U.S. adult population visiting art museums/galleries declined by 4% between 1992 and 2008, non-Hispanic whites, ages 45-54, are the predominant attendees. Consider this graphic:

If the forecast for the next four decades is correct and the current pattern in museum attendance remains unchanged, art museums and galleries will not serve the majority of the American population. There are economic, cultural, historic, educational, scheduling and interpersonal barriers to entry that affect an individual’s decision and motivation to attend; however, these barriers must be broken in order to create a more inclusive and inviting museum experience for the future America.

What can be done to increase museum/gallery attendance among diverse groups and reduce the great ethnic and racial disparities in museum participation? It is up to the museum administrators, managers, marketers, developers, programmers, educators and front-line personnel.

Know your audience. All of them. Know your neighborhood and community. Read the newest research. Many Urban Studies institutes have published reports on why specific demographics do or do not attend museums or visual art venues. For example,

…studies suggest that African Americans are more likely to attend events characterized by black themes and in which blacks are well-represented among performers, staff and audience members. This has been dubbed the ‘FUBU test’ –for us, by us.

Further research indicates African Americans and Hispanics are

More likely than others to list the desire to ‘celebrate heritage’ and support a community organization’ as a reason to attend arts and cultural events.’

Studies specific to Hispanics found

Hispanics with lower education and income levels tend to seek cultural activities that engage extended families and promote family unity, as well as providing broadly defined educational activities for children

The report features six brief case studies on museums  that have studied the composition of their audience and considered what the future of their audience and community will be. In response to their analysis, museum administrators and managers have implemented unique education programs and outreach activities to address the needs of a growing diverse community. Additionally, youth focus groups have helped to identify what deters younger ages from attending museums and what they would like the museum experience to be- their candid answers are published in the report.

Perhaps the most telling graphic is this map of the United States indicating the metropolitan areas throughout the country in which non-Hispanic white children (defined as younger than 15) are now in the minority:

To quote the infamous Whitney Houston, "...the children are our future," and this map indicates just that- a future of great racial and ethnic diversity. As society's make-up changes, so must the institutions that serve it. Listen to the youth in the community. Not only will they be the future constituents of your museum but they also offer valuable insight as to what will get them to and through the door. And let's not forget the Millennials; a generation that cares more about a global community, participatory experiences (a la Nina Simon’s ‘participatory museum’) and engagement, than making distinctions of race and ethnicity.

As a result, their [Millennial] tastes and motivations may be previews of a future that is already taking shape. In this particular future, race and ethnicity may turn out to be less significant influences….What they [Millennials] want from museums are interactive, immersive, and participatory activities. They want to be more than outside observers looking in.

Still not sure how to address the Millennials' need for an interactive, engaging and participatory experience? Consider this standout suggestion for arts and museum managers: the report cites Jane McGonigal’s theory that museums should take a lesson or two from video games and game designers. Here’s what the report say

…museums can learn a lot from game designers, who know how to design attractive, even addictive experiences…unlike the best games, museums often fail to provide visitors with clear instructions or the feeling of having successfully accomplished something.

Looking forward, racial, ethnic and generational changes will require the museum to encourage new users to attend and to implement programming that is as varied as the community in which it exists. The future composition of the United States is vastly different from that of today. And if museums do not grow in reflection of the changing demographics and population, well, I will leave you with this graphic and you can decide what the future of museums in America will be…

Performing Arts Legacies Online

Recently the Merce Cunningham Dance Company shut down following the death of Merce Cunningham.  The action taken by the founder are somewhat unique in the world of the arts and there have been observations of what this means.  Meanwhile the content of the Merce Cunningham Company, at least in part can still be found online through various video projects and the archive left by the company through the Living Legacy Plan and maintained by the Merce Cunningham Trust.  The continued availability of this content is carrying on the legacy in the true spirit of its founder who frequently wrote of the transitory nature of his performance and was a student of Buddhist philosophy.

Further performances have resided online for years through projects like On The Boards TV which is currently celebrating its two year anniversary with a sale of online content.  The content can be accessed through one time rental, purchase, and through subscription and is high quality, having been shot on 4-5 hi-definition cameras.  Through content providers like On The Boards TV  and do it yourself online venues such as YouTube and Vimeo the amount of online performing arts content has grown significantly.  Artists are gradually recognizing that real content online is critical for accessing new audiences and maximizing market penetration.

Innovation in the field of dance and theater can go deeper than this.   Critics have noticed a trend at fringe festivals of micro-performances and intimate theater.    While artists seem to be taking advantage of physical spaces for the time being, the possibilities for using digital spaces are increasing everyday.  The idea of doing live performances online has certainly received attention.  The growth of services such as Skype make interfacing virtually and therefore using these same services as a performance venue more likely every year.

Public Works of Art Face New Challenges

When looking at the great cities of America and the world, one of the things that give these places the kind of culture and character they are often known for is public works of art. These exhibits, often unique and memorable, provide a focal point for tourists and a sense of civic pride for residents. However, in these tough economic times, a new problem has emerged for cities everywhere: with cities struggling financially, these works of art are suffering from neglect, acts of vandalism and normal wear and tear, and often do not have the funds necessary to properly maintain them.

These kinds of problems are being felt in cities all across the country. In my hometown of Phoenix, a story last month in the Arizona Republic highlighted the struggle that cities are facing: public works of art are more popular than ever, but face neglect and lack of upkeep due to budget shortfalls and calls for budget austerity.

The problems associated with the upkeep of public works of art go beyond the usual wear and tear: vandalism, including graffiti, is common, along with the theft of metals and gems that are often a part of some displays. The cost to maintain and replace these works of art, especially older exhibits, can prove costly. In a citywide audit, the city of Phoenix found that dozens of public art pieces were in need of repairs, with the total renovation costs estimated to be over $1 million. While most projects were victims of vandalism or wear and tear, others experienced some unexpected problems: for example, an overpass exhibit needed almost $100,000 in repairs because of runoff water eroding parts of the project.

In November, I wrote about how public works of art were more important than ever in today’s climate of budget austerity, and the continued vandalism and destruction of these art displays adds another layer of difficulty when it comes to saving exhibits. While the upfront cost of public art displays often receive the lion’s share of attention and public outcry, the cost of vandalism and neglect often go unmentioned. The costs associated with restoration can ultimately have another impact as well: cities often have to cancel funding for new art projects to care for existing pieces badly in need of repair.

With cities facing decreased tax collections in recent years, the money to help maintain and preserve public works of art is severely lacking. Some cities, including those in the Phoenix metropolitan area, require a certain percentage of money from construction projects be devoted to public art, which in robust economic times provides a stable source of revenue for new art construction and upkeep. The problem, however, is that during tough economic times, less construction projects are taking place, which means that the funding for public art dries up. In a state like Arizona, which was devastated by the housing bubble, the impact can be quite substantial. As the Arizona Republic reported, the difference in funding levels can be quite severe: in the city of Phoenix, the budget for maintenance and restoration went from $63,000 in 2008-09 to just $29,000 in 2011-12. The problem was even more severe in Tempe, home to Arizona State University: the budget went from $90,000 in 2008-09 to just under $8,000 in 2011-12.

So with city funding for upkeep and restoration limited in these tough economic times, what kinds of solutions are available to save public works of art? One option is to raise money through increased taxes; while tax increases are often unpopular, they could be levied in such a way that the impact would be negligible on residents. Examples could include taxes on travel expenses, like car rentals and hotels, or on city services like utility bills. Another option is for cities to seek grants from non-profit and private sources; while most cities seek private funds to sponsor new works of art, efforts to help beautify existing works of art can help promote civic pride and improve areas already in use.

And while they certainly have access to more capital and resources, cities and local governments are not the only people that can have an impact. Residents and community groups are often getting involved as well; helping to “sponsor” an exhibit can often have just as much of an impact. By painting over graffiti, picking up waste or helping to raise money for upkeep, ordinary citizens can promote and protect their community’s works of art. As more and more pieces face neglect and vandalism, residents often feel the urge to protect the town they call home.

Public art projects often serve as a way to remind residents and visitors alike of the culture and history of that particular place. In these tough economic times, these exhibits and projects are in danger of being neglected entirely, damaging not only the art itself, but also the civic pride of residents all across the country.

(Photo: CC by Mal Booth)

Pollution and Art, Intertwined

In the world of public policy, change is often quite difficult. Stakeholders are often fearful of abandoning the status quo, reluctant to invest the resources necessary, or ignorant of the need for systemic change. With many economic development issues facing the emerging economies of countries like India, it’s often difficult to make important issues stand out. Sometimes, the most effective way to show the importance of a needed public policy change is through art. With more and more artists using nature as a way to draw attention to policy issues such as climate change and drought, a group of artists are using the Yamuna River, one of the most polluted rivers in the world, to draw attention to the affect that pollution is having on the environment and the people who count on the river for survival.

Located in northern India, the Yamuna is the largest tributary river connected to the Ganges, and serves as the primary water resource for millions of people. There have been numerous attempts over the years to cleanse the river, but to no avail: the Indian government has spent billions of dollars on restoration efforts, an Indian Supreme Court ruling ordered an extensive cleanup, but the river remains severely polluted. The reason for the pollution, many believe, stems from sewage treatment plants that line the river, and the government has done little to impose regulations or shut down plants. With the river currently supplying about 65 percent of the city of New Delhi’s water, this is a significant problem.

This is where the artists come in. Titled Project Y, this public art project is the brainchild of the Ministry of Culture in Hamburg, Germany. As part of the overall 60-year anniversary of diplomatic ties between India and Germany, a series of events, showcases and exhibits are taking place over a 14-month period, and Project Y is one part of that, offering a juxtaposition of two similar rivers under drastically different conditions: the Yamuna, and the Elbe River, located in eastern Germany.

Earlier this month, both exhibits consisted of sculptures, multimedia presentations, and information about the rivers, showing in stark detail the contrasts between the two. At Yamuna, for example, one exhibit showcased rows of dirty plastic bottles as light holders; another simply showed a pig carcass, floating in the river for all to see. One of the technological exhibits of the Yamuna show was a fountain that pumped water from the river, purified it through five levels of filtration technology, and spurted the water in the air above the crowds.

The project also includes screenings of films meant to educate Indians about the Yamuna, and concerts that will be played on the banks of the river itself, featuring artists and performers from both Germany and India.

The idea behind the project is to show how pollution and neglect have left the Yamuna River in a dangerous state, and to raise awareness in the hopes that enough people will see the devastating impact that bad public policy can have on such a crucial part of everyday life. Organizers in Germany are focused on the idea of creating ecologically sustainable rivers in cities and urban areas, and as India grows in size and has to deal with the critical infrastructure and sanitation needs of millions of new people, a look at how governments and citizens in Europe have treated their habitat offers a stark reminder of the challenges ahead.

The co-creator of the project, Ravi Aggarwal, describes the thinking behind the project:

“We need to re-think ecology and rivers in the 21st century where questions about human sustainability and futures have become key. Art is the framework which allows diverse ideas and imaginations to coexist and helps in repositioning ourselves in relation to nature. The river is not ‘polluted’ or ‘clean,’ but is a beautiful landscape of the city, with many layers of aesthetic, social and political meanings.”

Reactions to the project have been mixed. While many have admired the exhibit’s brazenness and honesty, many remain skeptical that such a show can produce the type of change that is needed to purify the river. However, with considerable international media attention focused on the project, it is perhaps sending the right signal to lawmakers and stakeholders that enough is enough, and that the Yamuna, and the dozens of other rivers that make up the Ganges network, are far too important to India’s future to be treated as a dumping ground for sewage and waste.

Much like the intersections of art and technology have brought forth incredible and diverse works of art, it is the intersection of art and public policy that represents an exciting new area of possible change. With so many policy issues present in politics today, it often requires passionate individuals to think of new and exciting ways to raise public awareness. With exhibits like Project Y, one hopes that art can provide the visual nudge needed to start the process of fundamental systemic change.

Is it time to adopt 3D?

Today 3D cameras that deliver a professional grade product can now be bought for as low as $1,500. Most new TVs sold today are 3D ready. Game consoles and playback devices are also 3D enabled.  Is 3D a fad or is it a trend?  We can only speculate, but the fact of the matter is that this technology is now becoming affordable for individual artists and arts organizations.  So is it time for you to start recording in 3D?  Here are some advantages and issues to consider before taking the leap.

Pros:

1)  Market penetration is reaching a critical mass.  3D enabled devices now dominate the market and are poised to become a standard feature of home entertainment. 2)  The cost of buying 3D enabled devices has gone down.  TVs, playback devices (game consoles, dvr devices, etc), and cameras are more affordable than ever. 3)  3D Tech is now making strides into mobile devices with Nintendo, Google, and Motorola notably making devices and content for 3D mobile. 4)  The tech offers solutions to art forms that heretofor were previously poorly served by older 2D imaging technology (aka dance and opera)

Cons:

1)  3D on film has been linked to nausea and headaches and even in video there have been questions about eye strain although these problems only seem to afflict a small portion of audience members.  Evidently the trick is to not focus on out of focus images on the screen if you suffer from these problems. 2)  It will be a couple more years before the majority of TV’s and Mobile devices can run 3D  content.  As with any technology there is only a point to which it will grow as people are reluctant to buy a 3D enabled HD TV (or playback device) a year after they shelled out for a new HD TV set. 3)  There is the possibility that another breakthrough will be made in imaging that will make current imaging technology obsolete.  For now, however, the long-term outlook seems to be favoring the current technology’s dominance for the next 6-8 years. 4) You still need those pesky glasses (for now at least).

One could argue that 3D still has a ways to go.  The cutting edge of the field however offers the potential for much much more spectacular devices.  Now that it is becoming fiscally accessible some artists and organizations have waded in and started experimenting but the potential remains largely untapped. Whatever happens, it will pay to keep a watch on this technology

The Arts and the Race Against the Machine

Will art ever be created by a machine? This is the question that is sometimes asked, late at night over a glass of wine. Perhaps it has been already. Authors Erik Brynjolfsson and and Andrew McAfee ask similar questions and explore the answers in their new book “Race Against the Machine: How the Digital Revolution is Accelerating.” Machines are playing an increasingly prevalent role in the work force and millions of jobs have been changed or replaced by computers or automated process. There is now a program called Stats Monkey that is being used to write about sports. Stats Monkey uses pattern recognition to generate summaries about sporting events. Although this program does not seem to be in usage by any major publication, it highlights the progress that has been made in the advancement of technology and the subsequent replacement of millions of workers by automated, computer controlled devices. For now, the arts world can sigh with relief. It seems as though most endeavors which require intuition are safe from encroachment by computerized processes. We can assume that artists of all stripes are considered “high-skilled” and are intuitive in the creation process.  Both of these characteristics make artists of all stripes the safest categories of workers at this point in time. The pursuit of making art isn’t simple. Artists of all kinds exist within a complex cultural context and react intuitively to it. This context also makes it extremely difficult for machines to interact. You could argue that Heather Knight’s Silicon Based Comedy is the first inroad on this front, but it still seems a bit far away. The complex human interactions intrinsic in the performing arts are a distant land from the world of automated tasks and promise to remain that way for quite some time.

Another barrier to program or automaton generation of art in all forms is the fact that there is a plethora of artists who are working in the market for little or no money.   From the standpoint of economics the lack of money in the majority of the arts field gives developers little reason to make inroads artistic process by replacing people with automation. Aside from the rockstar phenomena in the arts world, there simply isn’t the money in it to make it worth the time.

As technology speeds along we can be assured that these advancements will affect the arts. Already kickstarter promises to reshape the field of development in the arts by cutting out the administrative middleman and connecting artists directly to funders. Will increasingly sophisticated templates and design programs begin to make inroads into graphic design? Will marketing in social media be able to be automated? Will marketing in general be able to be automated. Certain facilities tasks are already being monitored by computers. Vacuuming lobby or gallery floors could be taken over by a fleet of roomba robots.

How will the future of technology manifest in the arts world? Surely at some point in time it is conceivable that a computer will generate a work of art and sell to some museum. This will inevitably make the news. This will spark controversy. Will actors be replaced through cgi? Well, the clear answer to that is not yet. Stage actors are even safer from replacement, but how about stage crews?

It is impossible to discern how exactly machines will interact with the arts. Watching the development of cutting edge technologies can gives clues. Possibilities to interact with our patrons lie largely untapped in the areas of 3d, holography, and new software applications. As with other industries, it is incumbent on artists to watch the horizon and harness technology as it comes into being, otherwise we end up being reactive and being blind-sided by change.

Facebook in the Arts: In Honor of Mark Zuckerberg's Visit to CMU

Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Facebook

With the announcement that Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg will make his first visit to Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) today, the Technology In the Arts team thought it would be appropriate to take a look back on the groundbreaking social media platform and the impact it’s had on how arts organizations engage their audiences. CMU is one of three campuses being visited by Zuckerberg during an East Coast college tour. While here, he will meet with faculty and students and give a talk to an invitation-only audience. He will be joined by Mike Schroepfer, Facebook's vice president of engineering.

Here’s a bit of Facebook Trivia to get us started:

• More than 800 million active users
• More than 50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day
• Average user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events
• More than 350 million active users currently access Facebook through their mobile devices
• Facebook is also the most popular social network for all age demographics according to a Forrester Research Survey

One of the most interesting studies on how Facebook has affected arts and cultural organizations was conducted this past summer. ‘The Tangled Web of Social Media’ was a study commissioned by Theatre Bay Area in 2011. The study examined the social media habits of 207 diverse nonprofit arts and cultural organizations with the goal of understanding how social media was being used and what best practices emerged as a result. The study found that Facebook was by far the most popular social network used by these arts organizations. Another similar finding was that community members were eight times more active commenting on the Facebook posts made by arts organizations than mentioning those same organizations on Twitter.

Here are a few ways in which Facebook has revolutionized how arts organizations are engaging with audiences:

1. Sharing Content: Arguably one of the most important ways Facebook has impacted arts organizations is the ability to share and distribute content. Devon Smith recently shared an important comment made by Adam Connor from Facebook during the High Impact Social Media Conference: History of the internet= Browse (Yahoo) –> Search (Google) –> Discover (Facebook). Whether it’s a special Halloween photo from MOMA or a series of intriguing videos from the San Francisco Ballet, arts organizations have the opportunity to share a variety of content with audiences.
2. Giving Campaigns: Facebook has also impacted the way audiences can contribute financially to their favorite organizations. The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently published an article about a California boy, Paddy O’Brien, whose inspirational story about his struggle with bone cancer resulted in 1,000 donations to the Children’s Hospital who treated him via the Facebook Causes platform.
3. Advertisement Campaigns: Facebook Ad Campaigns aren’t just for boosting numbers on fan or group pages. Many organizations have had success with attracting new fans to their events through successful ad campaigns. For further reference, Tech In The Arts published an article on best practices for running ad campaigns.
4. Ticket Buying: Companies like TicketForce have made it possible for many artists and organizations to sell tickets directly through their brand’s Facebook Page. The client operates so that ticket buyers do not have to leave the Facebook Page in order to purchase tickets.
5. Merchandise Sales: Facebook has also provided the opportunity for artists and organizations to sell merchandise on their pages.
6. Building Communities through Facebook Groups: Many arts organizations have also been experimenting with hosting group pages as opposed to “regular” pages. Groups can provide an opportunity for fans to interact with each other on a more intimate level. Beth Kanter recently featured a guest post on her blog regarding best practices for nonprofits interested in building a group page.

There’s no doubt that this social media giant has had an incredible impact on the way arts organizations interact with audiences and will continue to do so. Ultimately, many of these organizations are finding creative ways to interact with existing fans and build new audiences in a manner that has never been done before.

How has Facebook impacted your organization, either positively or negatively?

The Evolution of Touch

In the 15th century, the Italian renaissance polymath, Leon Battista Alberti, wrote a famous treatise on painting titled De pictura. In his treatise, Alberti praised painting above other art forms such as sculpture because painting often went beyond the act of mere imitation and was able to create an illusion that could persevere through the centuries. Moreover, the art of painting was a uniquely visual experience and, unlike sculpture, it did not incite the desire to touch, for what we saw in a painting remained poetically out of our reach. This treatise postulated by Alberti during the period of the Renaissance is not entirely archaic and arcane to the world of today. We still take pleasure in the transitory ability to escape into the painted world we see before us, and we are in still in favor of preserving the the illusion we see before us. But have we become drawn to what was only considered possible in the realm of sculpture, the desire to touch a painting?

This question of touch is a thought provoking one because of a recent phenomenon that I like to refer to as the “slide to unlock”. Yes, this phenomenon is none other than our increasing desire to avail ourselves of the sense of touch. Apple has gently nudged us along into the wonderful world of touch through iPhones, iPads, and iPods. So, it suffices to say that in the technological realm, we have effectively and decisively entered into the era of the sensory. And this definitive entry into the realm of the sensory has led to the development of apps, some of which have enabled us to explore the world of art at our very fingertips.

Nowadays, we can explore artworks using our sense of touch without compromising our moral integrity or damaging the artwork, and shattering the illusion before us. For instance, in Artfinder’s app on John Constable’s oil sketches from the Victoria and Albert Museum, we “can zoom to show each of the sketches in their incredible painterly detail, and follow Constable’s progress from Suffolk, to London and Brighton.” Artfinder has also collaborated with various other museums to create apps that augment and physically sensitize the viewing experience. As such, the way we engage with art may be undergoing a paradigm shift; a shift towards the touch.

Consequently, more and more museums are now incorporating the sense of touch into what was hitherto seen as predominantly visual and contemplative experience. Earlier this summer, in the exhibition titled “Picasso and Braque: The Cubist Experiment, 1910-1912”, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art provided visitors with iPads that were “equipped with a specially developed iCubist application to scrutinize and delve deeply into four key paintings.” The app also allowed visitors to “deconstruct a cubist composition and attempt to put it back together.” The iCubist app developed for the Santa Barbara Museum of Art demonstrates how the sense of touch, in unison with the sense of sight, can help demystify a movement such as Cubism.

It is also interesting to note how the contemporary art world is evolving with the rise of the touch. For instance, artist David Hockney began painting on his iPhone in 2008 and last year he began using his iPad to create art. Using the Brushes app, Hockney would draw flowers, using just the edge of his thumb, and send them to his friends.  His oeuvre now includes landscapes, still life, and self-portraits all created by a sweeping touch, rather than a stroke, of creativity and ingenuity. Currently, his work is being shown at the Royal Ontario Museum in the exhibition titled “David Hockney’s Fresh Flowers: Drawings on the iPhone and iPad.”

So is the art world moving in tandem with the technological world? Is it stepping into the realm of the sensory?

As artists such as David Hockney remain a rare few, the art of painting on tangible mediums such as canvas will most likely survive decades of technological progress. The modern day audience, however, may be more willing and receptive toward the introduction of touch into the viewing experience. This is because, as an audience, we may be drawn towards what can only be termed as a two-part deception; to make tactile, what in reality is untouchable, while reveling in a scene that in essence, is a grand illusion.

Hear Art Everywhere with Locally Toned

It’s a curse of our society. Modern innovation has led to the grotesque abomination, the “cell phone ringtone”. Obnoxious and pervasive at best, invasive and stupid at worst, you will hear them anytime, any place, and might hear one even now (you should get that – I’ll wait). Consider, though, what if cell phone ringtones were art? Sounds can be art, so why can’t the sounds coming out of your phone be works of art? T. Foley, a Pittsburgh based artist, tackles that question with her “public art/original ringtone creation project”, Locally Toned. Users can create and download unique ringtones for free from the Locally Toned website, and to date 11,103 ringtones have been downloaded. I had a chance to speak with Ms. Foley on her work with the ubiquitous ringtone…

Locally Toned Collaborator Krista Martin poses with a ringtone creator at the Uniontown Poultry Association's fall show

Can you speak a little on how your work democratizes art? Why is this important to you? How do you see the Internet as a component of it?

Thanks for visiting with me, Rachael.

I have a background in media literacy, so I’m interested in people having access to a wide variety of media, and the skills and tools that allow them to produce and analyze media for themselves. Locally Toned democratizes art because it’s produced with others and for others. I’m not an artist working alone in a studio producing ringtones to sell to others. I collaborate with people to turn sounds that are meaningful and/or interesting to them into ringtones. This past weekend I went to the Uniontown Poultry Association’s Fall Show in Fayette County to capture bird sounds with the help of that community. And I collaborate with technologists such as Deeplocal and other artists, Encyclopedia Destructica, to get the tones to the public/onto phones. Deeplocal  built the technology for the project; Encyclopedia Destructica helped me to design distribution techniques (the ringtone art cards). Unlike paintings or sculptures for sale in a gallery, which many people can’t afford, people may own and share these works free-of-charge.

An example of the ringtone art cards

As conceptual artist Robert Smithson expressed in a 1972 essay entitled “Cultural Confinement,” for Artforum, some works of art, when placed in galleries, loose their charge. Locally Toned is that type of work--one may listen to the tones online, but the real audience for the project exists anywhere a user who’s downloaded the tones receives a call on his/her cell phone. The work performs itself at unexpected times and in unexpected places, outside traditional art spaces (galleries and museums).

My boyfriend likes to say that Locally Toned gives people a “sneak-attack” ability. When some of the more unusual tones go off in public, it creates a little scene. For example, the LRAD tone went off one day on my phone at Deeplocal. The CEO assumed it was a fire alarm and told everyone in to exit the building. I let them know it was a false alarm--I was just testing out the sonic canon ringtone.

The tones function as conversation starters. I often use tones from the Bayernhof Museum. When they go off in public, strangers ask me to identify the sounds. Then I tell them about the nearby museum for mechanical musical instruments. The conversation is usually short, but there’s an unexpected exchange that occurs as a result of the tones.

Ringtones are an invention of modern technology, what drew you to use them as a medium? Is there a benefit to using ringtones in your work as opposed to other technologies?

I had always wanted to make ringtones for my phone, and a “call for artists” from Deeplocal inspired me to develop this project. I was also motivated by a strong dislike for music industry and pre-installed ringtones on cell phones--I wanted to make tones that were more interesting or beautiful. Then I became curious about what other people would do if they had the opportunity to make ringtones. And with my media literacy background, I wanted to model that it’s possible to make and share homegrown ringtones.

I use technology to connect and share with others--recording equipment to make the tones, photography to document the sounds, the Web site to distribute the ringtones, and the Blog to promote the stories behind the sounds that are created. Technology helps to extend my work and ideas out into the world. I like what Lawrence Lessig says about on- and off-line sharing economies in his book Remix (http://remix.lessig.org/).

“Gifts in particular, and the sharing economy in general, are thus devices for building connections with people. They establish relationships and draw upon those relationships. They are the glue of community.”

Locally Toned is public art through service to the community—a series of production, promotion and distribution interactions between the public and myself. New social interaction spaces (physical and cyber) are developed around the making and sharing of these tiny aural documentaries, or soundscape snippets. The tones serve as audio identifiers for members of various communities. A person might identify as a cyclist and download Erok's Bicycle Bell Tone for use on his/her phone. The tones are also plotted on a ringtone map.

Do you see your work moving into other technologies in the future? If so, are there any technologies in particular you would like to explore?

I like to exploit tools that are easy for people to access and use. Recently I’ve created a live and online performance work with Hector, a shy ventriloquist dummy. In The Dummy Is Present, my re-interpretation of Marina Abramović’s The Artist Is Present, 2010, Hector appears on Chatroulette with an audience behind him. The audience appears in the work as spectators and as part of the show. People may sit behind us passively, watching Hector interact with others online (my computer is projected onto a big screen during the performance), or they may become part of the interaction. Some of the people we encounter online say, “Is this for real?!” Audience members respond by shouting or waving a hello, and they may applaud if the other party on Chatroulette performs for us. The performance has been described as voyeuristic, riveting, and magical--it’s all those things and more. I made the work because I wanted to draw attention to contemporary notions of public and private space, and to consider what it means to have an online presence. The Dummy Is Present is part of a larger body of work, Easy Pieces, a series of live and recorded performances featuring a ventriloquist dummy and myself. I’d like to find an interesting application for Twitter within the larger project, but I haven’t figured that out yet.

With Locally Toned and the work with Hector, I use a particular technology so that I may say something about our experiences with it. And I enjoy making work that evolves and changes over time. With both projects, I never know what’s going to happen next--and that’s really fun for me.

The Dummy Is Present - Photo by Larry Rippel

Do you think Locally Toned will ever reach a conclusion?

Locally Toned is an ongoing project. I’m not a Web developer, but I want to be a good shepherd of the project’s technology so that the archive will remain accessible to the public and so that I may add to the collection for years to come. I’m presently seeking funding to make improvements to the Web site, and to release all the tones in the iPhone format. Within the next year, I’d like to identify other cities to collaborate with. The tones are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike code, and they show up on other folks’ Blogs. It’s great to see people point back to Locally Toned, and see them re-tell stories about the origins of the sounds.

Ms. Foley is also looking for some Pittsburgh local help with her next project,

Who wants to make a ringtone? This month, I will receive a grant from The Fine Foundation to create a new series of tones from the Pittsburgh region. I’m looking for collaborators. People can contact me by email: locallytoned@gmail.com.

And if you thought her Chatroullete dummy performance sounded cool, Pittsburgh has another opportunity to see it live:

The next performance of The Dummy Is Present will take place at The Warhol Museum on the evening of January 6, 2012. More info can be found at the Ventwittoquisms Tumblr.

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So what are you waiting for? Go customize your phone with some art!

IBM: A Century of Avant-Garde Thinking

If asked whether data can be beautiful, many of us in the art world would give the questioner a quizzical look. We would then proceed to answer along the lines of “In the art world, we do not ponder over the beauty of data.” But if we were to pose the same question to IBM, they would nod affirmatively. And it bodes well for us to listen to those at IBM because after a century of trial and error, they have agreed to share some of the reasons behind why data is not only beautiful, but also powerful and astonishing. In celebration of a century of avant-garde thinking, the aptly named IBM THINK exhibit is on display at the Lincoln Center in New York. One of the most striking displays is found at the entrance itself; an incredibly beautiful, 123 foot, digital data wall that “visualizes, in real time, the live data streaming from the systems surrounding the exhibit, from traffic on Broadway, to solar energy, to air quality.”

The IBM Think exhibit is on display at the Lincoln Center in New York until October 23

Once inside the exhibit, which is a veritable visual feast, visitors watch a 12 minute film about “awe inspiring stories of the past and the present”; in essence visitors learn about how the advancements made at IBM have shaped the technological course of the 20th century and the opportunities that lie for “making our world better, today.”

The exhibit concludes with an interactive experience, where visitors can delve into the collective knowledge of the scientific and tech world, from “clocks and scales to microscopes and telescopes, RFID chips and biomedical sensors”, on 40 seven foot screens. Through its data visualization techniques and compelling interactive experiences, the IBM THINK exhibit achieves a rare balance between data analysis and beauty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVrXAsYd1Wk

But the overall theme of the exhibit is not limited to the dissemination of data, rather it poses a grandiose and rather formidable question; how do we use the breakthroughs in the fields of science, technology, and leadership to make the planet a smarter place? So while the BMW Guggenheim Lab experimented with making metropolises better, IBM’s sets its sights on the well-being of the entire world. Is that an audacious quest? Not quite, because if IBM were a person, they would have on their resume, a century of experience in changing the world, written under qualifications.

In fact, not only has IBM propelled the world into the 21^st century, it continues to build up storms in the ever restive sea of our scientific and technological present. For instance, it’s hard to ignore Watson, the IBM self–contained computer system that proves that computers too are capable of placing themselves in jeopardy.  This is because Watson can process natural language and hypothesize between answers, until it arrives at the right answer through weighing different algorithms and determining its confidence level. And Dr. David Ferrucci, the Principal Investigator for the Watson project, is convinced that computer has potential to transform industries such as business and health care.

Let’s also take a look at a technology that may not have created a storm, but perhaps ripples in the much smaller lake of the art world. Earlier this summer, IBM helped the Metropolitan Museum of Art make quantum leaps in art preservation when it installed wireless environmental sensors called Low-Power Motes. These sensors will help the Met monitor the micro-environment through real-time 3D data that will “measure temperature, humidity, air flow, contamination levels, door positions, light levels, and more.” The sensors will help the museum scientists develop correlation models between environmental conditions and the reactions they have on works of art, eventually leading to better models for art preservation.

So in the end, let’s not move forward but backwards. Let’s rewind our clocks back to the year 1911, when IBM’s successor the Computing Tabulating Recording Corporation sold products such as employee time keeping systems, punched card equipment, and of all things, automatic meat slicers! Compare meat slicers to Watson or Low-Power Motes and we can begin to appreciate the beauty of data analysis techniques and technological advancements. We can finally begin to nod in unison with IBM.

Can the arts successfully have a game dynamic?

A game dynamic simply put is an element of a game:  levels of achievement or rewards, economic systems to exchanging rewards or credits, cooperative and/or competitive aspects, design layers that change dynamics from one episode to another, and even a series of collectibles can be represented as game dynamic. Game dynamics have recently contributed towards solving medical mysteries, namely the gene folding break-through made on the fold.it puzzle game online.

Now this remarkable game is being put to use to solve the gene folding challenges of Parkinson’s disease among others.  Additionally, there have been arguments that game dynamics are what make sports sectors of the economy flourish.  Sports use a game dynamic that creates cooperation through competition. It is easy to see the potential between game dynamics and the arts but adoption of this idea has yet to garner a widespread support. Check out the previous blog: Planning for Engagement for how cell phone voting is being used at the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.  As another example, The AWARD show at the Joyce SoHo presents a level of competition driven by reward - in this case cash prizes for the winners of  voting contests.Some artists have ventured, guns blazing, into game dynamics; the show Best Before by Rimini Protokoll, for instance: “Pulls the multi-player video game out of the virtual realm and rewires it for an intimate theatre setting.”

The answer to the original question posed “Can the arts have a game dynamic successfully?”  is yes. Few creative artists or institutions choose to engage audiences through game dynamics whole-heartedly.  Through utilizing game dynamics, the arts world can overcome certain aesthetic hurdles and adopt  game dynamics for its potential for growth. The result could have an immense impact.

The tools to create these dynamics in the performing and visual arts are available at both high and low technologies, and can be relatively inexpensive. Cell phone voting systems can be purchased from vendors for under $100. At a small scale, usage of http://www.scvngr.com/ allows for a geographic based scavenger hunt and is relatively cost effective. Immediate interaction with audiences can be had by using audience response systems, which are shown to increase attentiveness in schools.

There are rewards at certain institutions for arts patrons who commit to a level of involvement.  There is the relatively common backstage pass, open rehearsal, or meet the artist offerings for subscribers or high-level donors, but these rewards carry with them seemingly little appeal to younger audiences in general. (Of course this is with exceptions.)  In the philanthropic world, voting contests abound to great success. In the coming months I will be using this blog to explore technological tools for implementing game layers in a variety of different ways.  I look forward to the conversations that I hope to have with everyone on this topic!

Protecting Federal Funding for the Arts

In Washington, an era of budget austerity and renewed calls for less government spending have led to increased fears that the arts, long protected from budget cuts, will see its federal funding further decreased for the coming fiscal year.

While Congress has passed several temporary budget measures this year, the most recent continuing resolution ends on November 18th, when the government is set to run out of money. Under the terms of the recent debt-ceiling deal reached by both parties, Congress has committed to cutting $21 billion in spending from the Fiscal Year 2012 budget, and it is widely expected that the bulk of these cuts will come from what’s referred to as “non-defense discretionary spending,” which includes areas such as education, infrastructure, and most pertinent to our community, the arts.

The arts community went through a similar struggle last year, when the National Endowment for the Arts saw its Fiscal Year 2011 funding reduced to $155 million, a $13 million reduction from the year before. For the upcoming fiscal year, the numbers look even worse: a bill passed by the House of Representatives in July would further cut FY2012 NEA funding to $135 million, which would represent a 13 percent decrease and the deepest cut to the agency in 16 years.

Despite the FY2012 budget being due next month, there is still a long way to go. President Obama has requested in his FY2012 budget proposal that the NEA be funded at $146 million, which represents a cut from the FY2011 figures, but is less severe than the House version that was passed in July.

With Congress returning to session this week, it’s important for us in the arts community to use technology to reach out to our members of Congress and ask them to support funding for the arts. There are a number of easy ways you can do this:

• First, contact your member of Congress, either by letter, e-mail or by phone. The easiest way to do this is through the Americans for the Arts website, where you can send a personalized letter to your Congressman and U.S. Senators that includes several talking points about the impact that arts funding has on our communities and nation as a whole.
• Second, join the Arts Action Fund, which is at the forefront of advocating and lobbying for increased funding for arts programs and education. It’s free, and is an invaluable resource providing updates on the efforts in Congress and around the country.
• Third, share the news with a friend on Facebook, Twitter or Google+. One way to do this is by following the Arts Action Fund’s Arts Vote 2012 campaign, dedicated to including arts and arts education issues in the 2012 political campaign. Search for #artsvote on Twitter for recent updates.

This isn’t the first time you’ve heard from Technology in the Arts about lobbying Congress to protect arts funding, and given the current political climate, it certainly won’t be the last. This is not a partisan issue, but is instead an issue that unites all of us who are passionate about the arts community and protecting funding for the next generation of artists and performers.

While the long-term budget deficit is something that we can all agree needs to be dealt with, doing so on the backs of such groups as the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities will only serve to further decimate arts education programs at the state and local levels that have already endured painful budget cuts in recent years.

In the newfound era of budget austerity in Washington, any assumptions we had about federal arts funding being kept at past levels are gone. In order to protect the future of arts funding, the fight starts now.

(Photo: CC by kevin dooley)

Google+

Google+, the search engine giant’s new social networking site with 20 million users, has been getting a lot of press lately. There’s already some good advice out there for art nonprofits from the usual suspects (Devon Smith, Heather Mansfield). And artists are already exploring this new way of sharing their music and visual pieces. With technology this new, there is always a lot of experimentation by the early adopters, speculation by the commentators, and caution from the silent majority. But even at this early point in time, when the fate of Google+ is up in the air, there is one thing that I am certain of: that is that Google + represents a revolution in the integration of digital activity and the way we interact with the world around us. In this article, we’ll talk about what sets Google + apart, how it is integrated with other Google products, and what implications it holds for business in general and the arts in particular.

What is Google+?

Check out the Google+ intro video if you haven’t already:

There’s a lot of chatter in the blogosphere right now around the idea that Google+ is the ultimate content-sharing platform. The reasons given for this range from enhanced privacy controls making people more comfortable with sharing to the Sparks feature which allows users to find and share content without leaving the platform.

• Circles

One of the biggest things separating Google+ from the rest of the social media pack is its Circles. Instead of all of your contacts either being a friend/follower or not being one, they can be put into different Circles- friends, family, colleagues, etc. Then- and this is the kicker- you can choose who will view which posts. No more work colleagues or family members seeing your expletive-filled posts or pictures from that party.

Sure, Facebook has groups. But in a Facebook group, users choose to join the group--on Google+, you choose the names of your circles and assign who is in them. In Facebook groups, you can post on the group’s wall (which involves first going to the group page), but anyone who visits the page can see what you posted. With Google+, you can choose to share content only with certain circles, adding an extra layer of privacy.

• Enhanced Privacy Controls

Chris Brogan covers this pretty well in this short video. Privacy controls are more transparent and easy to find compared to Facebook.

• Sparks

Google is still primarily a search engine, so it’s no coincidence that they have an integrated search feature in the network. “Sparks” allows you to enter a topic you’re interested in (say, nonprofits), and every time you login, you can click that word to find many articles on the topic that you can then share with as many or as few Circles as you like.

• +1 and Search Engine Optimization integration

Even if you haven’t made a Google+ account yet, you’ve probably seen the little “+1” icons around the Web. It’s Google’s version of a “like” button. Unlike Facebook’s button, whose data Google doesn’t have access to, a +1 actually impacts search rankings. So, the more +1s a website, article, or video has, the higher it appears in searches, and the more likely people will find it and share it, etc.

If you want to learn more about the nuts and bolts, check out Mashable’s guide to G+.

While all these features may pave the way for Google+ to become the content capital of the interwebs, right now, companies, organizations and brands can’t directly participate in this content-sharing utopia.

Currently, the only way for brands to get their content onto G+ is through “real people’s” accounts- employees, constituents, secret admirers, etc. This makes it even more important that your organization has something interesting to say and compelling to share.

Integration

Imagine a world where the offers you receive are based on data not only from your activities, but your friends’ activities . . . where place-based businesses target customers not only by email and postal mail within certain zip codes, but by what street you are walking down, or which restaurant your friends have gathered at . . . This world, where social networking merges with mobile-based services and retail, is closer than ever to being a reality with Google+.

Already, Google Offers has been launched in New York and San Francisco, beaming coupons to customers based on their location and preferences. According to Stephanie Tilenius, Google’s VP of Commerce, Google Offers and Google Wallet (the company’s payment system) will be integrated into G+ as well as other Google properties such as Maps.

Edd Dumbill at O’Reilly Radar is calling this integration of social networks with other web-based applications a “social backbone” to our entire web experience, as opposed to the “walled garden” of existing social networks.

. . . social features will become pervasive, and fundamental to our interaction with networked services. Collaboration from within applications will be as natural to us as searching for answers on the web it today . . . Search removed the need to remember domain names and URLs . . . . The social backbone will relieve our need to manage email addresses and save us laborious ‘friending’ and permission granting activity . . .

All this integration, says Dumbill, will help computers better serve users.

Where does this leave business?

So the world may be changing. How should you prepare for that? Below are some tips from some smart guys at Social Media Explorer.

Jason Falls “Stay the course with what you’re doing. Wait for the brand-permissions and guidelines to come from Google on the Plus platform. Experiment with it for yourself to know how it works and how non-linear you have to be thinking to optimize the use of Circles.”

Mark Ivey Five questions to ask for starters, and to make sure you’re positioned for the G+ world:

• Are you in the game? Do you have a presence across paid (search, broadcast, etc), earned (events) and owned (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and now G+) media? These are your marketing beachheads, and you’ll need to work across the board to make sure you’re connecting with customers with your messages.
• Do you have a clear content marketing strategy? If so, you’re already using listening tools and engaging in related conversations. Adjust your strategy for G+-and stick to it. If not, better get one in order fast-I just met with two companies last week, neither had a content strategy, both are scrambling in catch-up mode.
• Is your content relevant? If you’re unclear on the role and importance of relevant content, read Michael Brito’s nice analysis piece on SME. Conduct a content audit, compare it to industry conversations, and judge for yourself. Is your content hitting the target? Are you involved and influencing industry conversations? What is your share of voice around key topics?
• Do you have a content engine and systematic publishing process? Then you should have apublishing model and be systematically chunking out content, carefully targeted to your key audiences. Run it like a publisher, with clear editorial direction, calendars, and hire editors to help you drive it- more tips here
• Do you have control over your destiny? Putting all of your eggs into one basket you don’t control is stupid. Why put all your resources into building Facebook Pages when you don’t own that real estate (No one knows how G+ will affect FB yet but the risk is obvious)? The same is true of Google+-it’s a marketing outpost, not your home base. Better to build your own blogs, communities and following, and diversify your investments across several platforms, along with following a carefully crafted plan. Build a defensible program that can weather any storm, since no one knows how this will play out (who would predict G+’s amazing launch?)

This is a great opportunity to step back, take a deep breath and assess your overall strategy and social media program. There’s no reason to panic.

Where does this leave the arts?

Ah- now THAT’S the interesting question, and it’s one our industry will probably be talking about for, oh, the next year or so. With G+’s emphasis on content and people (not brands), two conclusions jump out:

- Producing art that resonates with our audiences is vital, and

- People are our most valuable asset.

To be sure, these aren’t new ideas. What’s new, though, is that what our audience tells each other about our work now has as much or more digital presence than what we tell our audience about our work. The level of content-sharing that Google+ enables means that it is becoming easier for friends to share opinions about articles, art, politics, entertainment, etc at any time. Additionally, the more something is shared, the higher its search ranking. So getting people to talk about art online is more important than ever. Do you ask your audience what they think of your art? Do you encourage them to talk to their friends about it online, continuing the conversation long after they’ve left the building? Do you reward your super-fans who already post about your organization to their social networks? What about tying in the art you present or produce with trending topics?

A new social layer to the web means it’s all about giving ‘em something to talk about.

More cool articles on G+: The Social Layer: Six Thoughts On Where Google Plus Is Going Three Key Things Google Is Doing While We Focus on Google+ What the Circles Illustrate About Influence List of important updates coming soon in Google Plus

Developing Jazz and Classical Audiences with Technology

Technology in the Arts is pleased to present our new white paper Online Audience Engagement: Strategies for Developing Jazz and Classical Audiences, spearheaded by writer Tara George.

Many of you may remember critic Terry Teachout’s controversial Wall Street Journal article that asked if jazz could “be saved?” Teachout’s article, in response to the NEA’s 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, prompted a variety of reactions across the field. Despite much of the hostility directed at Teachout, his question and concerns seemed to be valid and worth exploring, especially since the survey indicatedthat audiences (particularly for jazz, classical and opera music) were shrinking and growing older at an alarming rate. An interesting twist came in 2010 with the release of the NEA’s Audience 2.0 survey. A key finding in this survey was that Americans who participate in the arts through technology and electronic media (television, Internet, handheld devices) were three times more likely to attend a live arts event. Much like Teachout’s initial article, this survey also prompted a round of discussion about correlation and causation. Despite the controversy and debate, it is undeniable that technology is one of the most promising tools that organizations can use to build a younger fan base.

This white paper explores the role that digital marketing is now playing in building audiences in the jazz and classical music realm. This report also highlights the work of several artists and organizations at the forefront of reaching and developing new audiences online. It’s important to note, however, that most of the organizations and artists here would classify their work and the music they present as a hybrid of multiple genres. Though that distinction falls outside the scope of this report, it’s an important trend to take note of that can have a direct impact on digital marketing. Finally, we have provided a concise 4-step guide as an example of how many organizations actually implement best practices.

Organizations Highlighted:

We hope that you find each case study in this report to be encouraging and inspiring! Here were a few of the organizations we featured:

• Mobtown Modern: was founded by Brian Sacawa in 2008. This organization fills a void in Baltimore’s vibrant music scene and serves as a catalyst for musical innovation and the creation and presentation of the new music of our time.
• New Amsterdam Records and New Amsterdam Presents: New Amsterdam Records is the for-profit record label subsidiary of New Amsterdam Presents, a presenting and artists’ service organization that supports the public’s engagement with new music by composers and performers whose work grows from the fertile ground between genres.
• Revive Music Group: serves as New York’s leader in conceptual and never-before-experienced live music productions—for a jazz and hip-hop celebration giving a unique aural exhibition of the undercurrents connecting the genres and ultimately fans of multiple generations.
• Search and Restore: is a New York-based organization dedicated to uniting and developing the audience for new jazz music.

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