The Most Artistic City in America? The Answer Might Surprise You

Merely the question itself is bound to spark controversy: what is the most artistic city in America? It is a difficult question, and the answer is often hard to gauge. Just what do we mean by “artistic?” And how does one measure how “artistic” a city is? Cities across America will often claim their museums are better and more unique, their shows are of superior quality, and their artistic communities are thriving. But when it comes to actually quantitatively measuring how artistic a city actually is, the answers are few and far in between. Thankfully, two writers have sought to settle the debate once and for all: which city holds the crown as the most artistic city in America? The answer might surprise you.

Two months ago, Richard Florida of The Atlantic sought to find which American cities had the highest concentration of artists, along with which cities had the highest concentration relative to their overall population. The data that Florida used was derived from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS), a handy site that offers a treasure trove of data about Americans’ professions, income levels, education, and much more.

Florida, and his colleague Kevin Stolarick of the Martin Prosperity Institute, looked specifically at the number of Americans that self-identified their profession in the field of “artists and related workers.” While this is not an exact measurement of all Americans working in the arts field (some artists will naturally label themselves in a different way, and others may not have participated in the survey), it provides a good measurement of how many Americans are employed and self-employed in the arts field today. The ACS found that about 237,000 Americans identified as “artists or related workers,” with the vast majority of these individuals living in cities or metropolitan areas.

There are a couple of ways to measure how “artistic” a city is, and if you just do an overall count of the number of self-proclaimed artists in a given city, naturally, the largest metropolitan areas in the country will populate the top of the list. Listed just by population, to little surprise, New York City tops the list, followed by Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle. The rest of the top 10 is comprised of other large cities/metropolitan areas known for their artistic communities: Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Orange County, California, and Dallas.

If we really wanted to be specific, however, we could take a look at which areas have the highest concentration of self-identified artists relative to their overall population. The ACS is capable of producing this data, by using what Florida describes as a “location quotient,” or LQ, that takes a ratio of an area’s proportion of artists and compares it to the national average. By using this metric, we can take a look at smaller cities that have disproportionately larger artistic communities that may be somewhat of a secret at the national level.

After running the data, some surprises leap out. While larger cities that were present in the original list re-appear here, some much smaller cities make the list as well. Here is the Top 10 list of self-identified artists in the United States, relative to their overall population, in order:

1. Santa Fe, New Mexico

2. San Francisco, California

3. New York City, New York

4. Los Angeles, California

5. Santa Cruz-Watsonville, California

6. Danbury, Connecticut

7. New Bedford, Massachusetts

8. Boulder-Longmont, Colorado

9. Barnstable-Yarmouth, Massachusetts

10. Jersey City, New Jersey

Santa Fe! Not only is Santa Fe at the top of this list, its LQ score is double the score of the #2 city, San Francisco. Some of the other cities on this list, most notably Boulder, are home to universities and have a high percentage of young people living there. Another point: every city on this list except for Santa Fe and Boulder are situated on either the West Coast or the East Coast.

Santa Fe has always been home to a vibrant and proud arts scene, albeit being unknown by most Americans. The state capital of New Mexico is very proud of its arts community, as artists provide an important economic engine for the town in this tough economy: the arts community as a whole provides more than $1 billion in revenues each year and supports more than 17% of all jobs in Santa Fe County.

Every city and metropolitan area across America can certainly make their claim about why their area deserves a spot on this list. While a city may not have a high percentage of self-identified artists, they can still point to unique works of art, groundbreaking museums, or even highly ranked arts schools. This is, after all, only one metric, and there are certainly other ways to measure how “artistic” a given city is. We here at Tech in the Arts would certainly vouch for our home base of Pittsburgh (home of Andy Warhol!), and I have a soft spot for my home town of Phoenix. But by strictly this metric, and information derived from the U.S. Census and the American Community Survey, Santa Fe takes the crown for now. With the amount of change and innovation taking place in the arts community these days, especially through the use of technology and social media, this list could be completely different five to ten years from now. And the more artists that are employed and working in all of these cities, the better it is for arts lovers like us everywhere.

SOPA and PIPA - Fighting online piracy or stopping innovation? Open source alternatives to common utilities.

This Wednesday, 1/18/2012, Wikipedia, Reddit , and Boing Boing will go dark in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act that is being considered in US House and the Protect Intellectual Property Act in the US Senate.  These protesters are asking for the US public to call or write to their elected officials regarding the proposed legislation.   Bloggers in this forum have taken a stance against limiting open source and net neutrality in the past and these two bills pose no less of a threat to the innovative culture that is open source.

Although there has been a healthy open source community for decades, legislation like SOPA or PIPA would exclude open source software opportunities to developers in the US if passed.  These bills would essentially lock down portions of the internet to users in the US by creating a federally kept blacklist of internet sites that internet service providers would in turn prevent from being served to their US customers.  This would prevent the US public from accessing the steady stream of free content from the open source community that has been continuously redefining the online world for decades.

Open source has been the frontier of technological innovation for decades and by passing this legislation the US Congress will simply ensure that the next Facebook, Google, or Amazon simply never get off the ground from US soil.  In celebration of Open Source a list has been compiled with some great open source alternatives to common commercial software packages that can be downloaded for free:

1)  OpenOffice:  Similar functionality to MS Suite with modules for word processing, spreadsheets, databases, presentation and drawing

2) Dia:  Produces charts and flowcharts like MS Visio.

3) WordPress and Joomla:  WYSIWYG web page builders that compare favorably with aspects of Adobe Dreamweaver.

4) paint.net:  An image editing program with much of the some of the same functionalityof Photoshop.

5) Pidgin:  A messaging aggregator, useful in communicating with all the disparate messaging programs out there.

*) Foxit:  A pdf reader that won't bog down your system and won't update every six hours like Adobe Acrobat does.

The Future of Cities, in Sculpture Form

As the resident policy nerd here at Tech in the Arts, few things excite me as much as infrastructure policy, especially as it relates to cities and how they will evolve and change in the years and decades to come. The “city of the future” concept has been around for as long as the republic itself, with the same questions often being asked: how will people live? What will our houses look like? And, perhaps most importantly, when will we get the flying car? Instead of futuristic fantasies that have little hope of implementation, I often favor the realistic side of things, and am drawn to concepts of future cities that incorporate existing technologies and the gradual improvements that we will no doubt see in our future metropolises. With mega cities becoming a larger part of the American psyche and gradually accounting for a higher and higher percentage of our nation’s population, the incentive to promote and showcase cities of the future has never been higher.

A new exhibit opened this past weekend in Los Angeles seeks to show what kind of city we may gradually evolve into. Metropolis II, by artist Chris Burden, currently on display Fridays and weekends at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, is a living, breathing, working model of a futuristic city designed around transportation and infrastructure. Instead of a computer model or video game, this exhibit is a handmade, painstakingly detailed work of art that shows a city in action.

The scale of the exhibit is quite impressive. In total it is about 500 square feet and is about ten feet tall at its highest point. While there are no flying cars, there are actual miniature cars included in the exhibit, and lots of them: over the span of an hour, over 100,000 tiny cars whiz through the exhibit, speeding between buildings and skyscrapers. There are eighteen roadways handling all of these cars, including a 6-lane freeway. Trains are included as well, with tracks that loop through the exhibit; taken together; all of these cars and trains speeding through the exhibit at such breakneck speed produce a visual and audio experience unlike any other, as the viewer is able to experience the sights and sounds of a futuristic and thriving metropolis.

Designed and built over a span of five years, the exhibit is absolutely worth a look. Here’s a short film looking at the design and production of the sculpture:

http://youtu.be/YqSkRgySAEg

While some may prefer the futuristic futures of films like ‘Blade Runner,’ I enjoy the works of art that look at how cities will evolve and change in the short term. Faster cars, more drivers, taller buildings, denser neighborhoods; these are all characteristics of future cities that seem to be realistic in the short term. The great thing about Burden’s exhibit is how he takes modest changes to our current city structures, like more cars and expanded expressways, and is able to depict the frenzied and bustling future of our cities in a simple and straightforward way.

The exhibit is currently on display in Los Angeles, and if you are in the area, it is definitely worth a look. It may not appeal to futuristic film lovers, but for transportation and infrastructure policy nerds like myself, it is a reminder of why we are so interested in the futures of our wonderful and dynamic major cities.

(Photo credit: Los Angeles County Museum of Art)

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)

Public Policy Through the Eyes of Artists

In the world of public policy, ideas are a dime a dozen. From issues ranging from education to trade issues, everyone has their opinion about the best course of action the government should take. What’s often missing, however, are new and exciting ways to present these ideas, taking formally bland issues and finding new ways to solve them. This is where the arts community comes in.

While city planning and urban development may not be the most exciting issues to talk about, an exhibit in New York City is showcasing four artists who are attempting to use the power of artistic expression to bring attention to urban planning issues that are present in their communities. By offering a unique way of examining these often complicated public policy issues, the hope is that visitors will leave with a heightened sense of the issues that are affecting their community.

The exhibition, “Civic Action: A Vision for Long Island City,” opened on October 13th of this year and continues until April 22, 2012 at the Noguchi Museum and Socrates Sculpture Park in the Long Island City community of Queens, New York. The exhibit has received a fair amount of press attention, including a great write-up in The New York Times last week.

There have been similar art exhibits where policy ideas are presented by artists themselves, who often have no connection to the policy community or stakeholders. What’s unique about this project is that the four artists involved where all invited to partner with an urban planner or architect to imagine and conceive new developments in the Long Island City area, bringing a degree of realism and practicality to the individual projects. Instead of imagining idealistic public spaces or infrastructure improvements, the artists were advised to come up with ideas for spaces that would compliment already existing structures.

The ideas range from practical to the more unrealistic. The four artists featured in the exhibit are Natalie Jeremijenko, Mary Miss, Rirkrit Tiravanija and George Trakas.

Jeremijenko’s exhibit, titled “UP_2_U,” combines the worlds of art and technology (something we love!) and offers some unique ideas of her own. The exhibit includes robots, computer components and more simplistic things as do-it-yourself fixes to become more sustainable. The crux of the exhibit involves asking visitors to take more action to improve the communities around them; as a play off the title, she tells visitors it is “UP 2 U” to bring about the change you’d like to see.

Mary Miss’s exhibit includes a “City as a Laboratory,” where artists, policy makers and stakeholders come together to solve complicated policy problems. Another installation, titled “If Only the City Could Speak,” includes large visual thought bubbles containing ideas and policy ideas for the community. The larger tone of her exhibit invites a sense of participation engagement and encouragement for visitors to get involved in their community. One of the proposals in her exhibit concerns a local issue: four smokestacks that dominate the skyline of the Long Island City community. She proposes to turn the stacks into a kind of environmental sustainability center that creates long-lasting environmental improvements for the area.

My favorite area of the exhibit comes from Tiravanija, who among his proposals includes an idea for a section of Broadway: growing drivable grass. Yes, you read that right. Not all of his ideas are that outside-the-box, however; another favorite is more practical and involves building a community kitchen in the area.

Finally, Trakas’s work involves an area that urban planners and architects around the world have embraced more and more over the years: waterfront development. Naturally, as an artist, Trakas is less concerned with creating stores and condo complexes and stadiums on the waterfront; instead, he envisions a waterfront area as a place where residents can learn more about the community’s history through exhibits and public information. The idea is creating a public space that is less commercial and more about the community itself.

Throughout all four exhibits, the greater message seems to be that the intent is to start a conversation about the future development of the Long Island City area. What types of planning ideas should be implemented? What approaches should local government officials take to complicated public policy questions? While the artists and those involved in the exhibits may not have all the right answers, the exhibit itself is a refreshing reminder that sometimes the best policy ideas do not come from government offices or elected officials: sometimes, the best and most original ideas come from those who are active in their communities, aware of local issues and problems, and passionate enough to devote time to the issues. In this case, that category just so happens to include the arts community.

‘Tis the Season for Getting Those Millennials to Give

With the holidays upon us, Baby Boomers and Generation X'ers selflessly reach deep into their pockets, beyond the lint, to give what they can afford to not-for-profit organizations. But what about the Millennials? How do we get the generation classified in the media and not-for-profit circles as self-absorbed and self-interested to donate? The Case Foundation presents “Millennial Donors Report 2011,” a survey and summary of the motivations and preferences of the Millennials when it comes to making a donation.

Earlier this fall, I posted on the best practices for engaging Millennials, the generation of 20 to 35 year olds that is dramatically affecting the way organizations market their brand and product. So in the true spirit of the holidays, let’s take a look at what may seem like an impossible task: getting the Millennials to donate.

The report surveyed about 3,000 Millennials ranging in age from 20-35 years old. Perhaps the most revealing find of the survey is the following: above all, Millennials value trust. A whopping 90% of Millennial donors surveyed reported they would stop giving to an organization if they had any reason not to trust it. What does this mean for not-for-profits? Build personal relationships with your donors and clearly define where and how the donation is used. Because the Millennials are young professionals, students and young adults with limited funds, they are most concerned their donation of any size will be utilized responsibly. Establishing trust with Millennials will encourage future giving and ensure a long-standing donor-organization relationship.

The report is divided into the categories: giving, giving motivators, special events, communication, volunteering, young professional groups and taking action, as they relate to Millennials. Here is a breakdown of the key findings and the implications for your organization

1. 93% of Millennials gave to not-for-profits in 2010

What this mean for you: Millennials tend to make small donations to multiple organizations, as opposed to the Baby Boomers or Generation X that are loyal to a single organization, gifting large sums of money. They ARE donating, which I am sure comes as a great surprise to the many who tag this generation as plugged-in and tuned-out to the rest of world.

2. An online search using an engine such as Google is the #1 way Millennials get information about a not-for-profit organization

What this means for you: How does your organization appear in a Google search? Millennials often base their decision to donate on the organizations appearance in an online search. Pay attention to your organization’s description on search engines.

3. 57% of Millennial donors gave in response to a personal ask

What this means for you: Though the Millennials seem to inhabit the online space more than their physical space, they are surprisingly more inclined to donate in response to a personal ask. However, that is not reflected in their preferred method of donating- 58% of Millennial donors reported they prefer to make that donation online. An unsuspected dichotomy…

The least preferred methods of the Millennial donors are via mobile applications (4%), the phone (5%) and text message (5%).

Reference the graphic “How donations were made vs preferences” in the report to be sure your organization is providing Millennials with the correct channel for giving that addresses their preferences (the most popular of which are online via your website, email, a donation site, or a personal request). Do not let a Millennial donor slip away by simply neglecting to provide the giving tool that best meets their preferences.

4. 79% of the Millennials surveyed reported having volunteered at least once in 2010

What this means for you: Just as expected of the Millennials, they are strapped for time as young adults and professionals. Thus the resounding reason for not volunteering is lack of time. Millennials are not interested in ongoing volunteer commitments. They prefer one-time, convenient volunteer activities. And obviously, they prefer to volunteer with friends than alone- the ultimate trademark of the Millennials. Of those surveyed, 61% reported they would prefer to volunteer with friends and family as compared to the 44% that indicated they prefer to volunteer on their own.

Get creative with the volunteer opportunities you present to the Millennials. They should be convenient, meaningful, group-friendly and perhaps provide an opportunity for professional development. As we saw when considering how donations are made, Millennials respond favorably to person-to-person contact and requests. Do not hesitate to simply ask Millennials to donate their time. As it turns out, 45% of the respondents reported their reason for not volunteering as never having been asked. So ask away!

5. 85% of Millennial donors are motivated to donate by a compelling and meaningful mission or cause, while only 2% of Millennial donors are motivated by a celebrity endorsement.

What this means for you: We already know Millennials crave meaningful content. They Tweet, re-Tweet and post moving videos, inspiring quotes and stirring news reports. Your website can be a perfect tool for tapping into the Millennials need for meaningful content. Share real-life, specific stories of how a donation supported your cause and not-for-profit. Invite the Millennials to be a part of meetings and discussions regarding the inner-workings of your organization and your strategic plan for the future. Millennials crave meaning, worth and inclusion. Invite them to collaborate with you and they will trust your organization.

The report provides cutting-edge research, insight and practical solutions for attracting and developing relationships Millennial donors. As researchers slowly uncover the hidden truths of these mysterious, influential Millennials and their relationship with the not-for-profit sector, we here at Technology in the Arts will continue to bring you the breaking news!

The Walker, venturing into online magazine style content

The Walker Center in Minneapolis has a new website that has broken the mold and is venturing into offering content in a way that could help define a new paradigm of online content for large arts organizations.  As the executive Director states in her press release:  "The intent of the new site is to make visible our role as a generative producer and purveyor of content and broadcast our voice in the landscape of contemporary culture."

By becoming broader purveyors of arts knowledge and information The Walker makes itself more relevant in the broader context of the arts across the country.  The expertise that was only available through a visit to a lecture, through a docent on a museum tour, or a talk-back during a performance is now available through the we interface as the Walkers experts are now the gatekeepers for the online content.  Thus the reach of the organization becomes multiplied by those people who share content and the organization.

This platform has the potential to lure entirely new audiences through the principle that traffic online follows quality of content.  Also by revealing the values of the artistic staff of the organization The Walker is potentially connecting with like minded individuals in the arts community across the world.  This in turn could make them into a destination city for arts tourists.   By using the multi-disciplinary focus of the institution they are harnessing the the trend but by putting it online they are making it about the global dialogue and making themselves a shining example of what is to come.

Crowdfunding for the Arts

Crowdfunding and the fund-raising miracles it can achieve is certainly a popular issue. It’s not a new topic for technology in the arts, but it is a constantly evolving topic and worth a revisit. If you’re familiar with the basics, we’ve got some more advanced tips for crowdfunding. This article is meant to aggregate some of the more popular tools out there and help beginners with the basics.

Crowdfunding is usually based on the idea that through micro-donations organizations can achieve goals or projects that they would normally struggle to fund. From that point, all bets are off, as different crowdfunding tools are for different goals. A lot of deciding which tool you will utilize will be based on your organization or its goals. Here are some of the major websites that focus on or include the arts in their projects.

Kickstarter:

• Basics: We’ve talked about Kickstarter before and it is one of the most popular crowdfunding tools. Users have two months to raise funds and provide rewards to their patrons. Kickstarter’s guidelines specifically state you cannot use Kickstarter to fund a charity - you can, however, use it to fund projects for a non-profit. For example, No-Space of Brooklyn used Kickstarter to fund the move to and costs associated with their forced relocation.
• Pros: Kickstarter has an “all or nothing” platform, if funds are not raised within the 60 day limit, all pledges are dropped. Kickstarter is well known and a fairly safe bet for those looking to fund their first project.
• Cons: The project-centric ideology limits what can be crowdfunded. Also, Kickstarter uses Amazon Payments. While Kickstarter itself does not require those creating projects to be US citizens, Amazon Payments does, which makes Kickstarter out of the reach of international organizations.
• Fees: Kickstarter charges a 5% fee to successful projects. There is also a 3-5% fee associated with credit card transactions on successful projects.

USA Projects:

• Basics: USA Projects is another crowdfunding source we’ve discussed before, and it is a project of USA Artists. Potential projects have three months to raise the funds or receive nothing. The Project sponsors “new creative efforts by accomplished artists across the country” and has raised over $1 million so far. All suggested projects are vetted by artistic experts in the related field.
• Pros: USA Projects has a strong institutional background with USA Artists, allowing it to have a gift-matching component, and the average donor gives more than Kickstarter users. All donations are tax-deductible, and artists offer perks for donating.
• Cons: USA Projects only accepts artist members who have previously received a grant or award from their partner and recognized organizations as an individual artist.
• Fees: 19% of all donations go to USA Projects “for use in furthering its general charitable and educational purposes.”

IndieGoGo:

• Basics: IndieGoGo touts itself as “the world’s leading international funding platform”, and is open to “anybody with a great idea”. Projects are not curated. Users have up to 120 days to reach their goal, but unrealized goals still receive the pledged funds.
• Pros: Donations to non-profit organizations on IndieGoGo are tax-deductible, different donor levels have perks related to the campaign. Analytics tools allow campaign managers to track where/who funds are coming from, as well as capture contact information from funders. Anyone can use IndieGoGo for anything, which is has unlimited possibilities. IndieGoGo also has partnerships with non-profit organizations that fiscally sponsor projects.
• Cons: No vetting process on campaigns means your next big, great idea may not carry as much weight for donors as a website where projects are curated. Also the website caters more to individual artists’ projects than arts organizations - arts campaigns are not listed under “Causes” unless they have an educational component.
• Fees: IndieGoGo takes 4% of the money your project manages to raise, if your goal is met. Should your project fall short, IndieGoGo takes a 9% cut of funds raised. International campaigns may have higher fees.

RocketHub:

• Basics: RocketHub is a crowdfunding platform for anyone who would like their creative work to be funded, developed or distributed. RocketHub has two levels of fundraising, one is a crowdfunding tool open to anyone. Campaigns have between 15 and 90 days to be funded, unrealized goals will still be funded, but met goals have rewards within RocketHub. The second is called a “LaunchPad Opportunity”, which is a reoccuring vetted submission process. Projects chosen receive an opportunity that will advance their business or campaign beyond simple fundraising (for example, the winner of the LaunchPad Opportunity will work with an expert publicist on generating buzz for their project).  A team of judges at RocketHub examines all submissions, and Facebook users vote to help decide which projects to put on the website to fund.
• Pros: Successfully funded campaigns on RocketHub allow the campaign creator to submit 5 entries to their LaunchPad Opportunities without a cost. RocketHub has partnerships with non-profit organizations that fiscally sponsor projects.
• Cons: RocketHub does not have a specific “Art” category, although individual projects could fit well into their other categories.
• Fees: For crowdfunded fees, RocketHub charges 4% of the money you raise if your goal is met. For unfunded projects, the fee is 8%. RocketHub also charges a 4% transaction fees for credit card charges. For first time submitters to a “LaunchPad Opportunity”, there is a submission fee of $8. Those who have a project successfully crowdfunded do not have this fee.

IndieGoGo and RocketHub work outside the states, but there are other crowdfunding tools internationally. There are also tools like Philanthroper, which is a daily deal crowdfunding site for non-profit organizations. There are resources for staying on top of crowdsourcing trends, too. Ultimately, an individual or organization has to consider what type of crowdfunding campaign will work for their needs before deciding on one. If there are any other crowdfunding topics or questions you’d like answered, leave a comment, and we’ll see how we can help.

If Facebook were a country, it would be the world’s 4th largest.

So here are a handful of hints, best practices and basic strategies, as compiled from Heather Mansfield’s blog Nonprofit Tech 2.0: A Social Media Guide for Nonprofits, to maximize the power of Facebook in order to connect with this entire population that is literally, just one click away.  Holiday bonus: if you are searching for a special holiday gift for that certain culture vulture or arts manager, consider Mansfield’s recently published how-to guide for not-for-profits titled, Social Media for Social Good. The perfect stocking-stuffer, this comprehensive guide details all the best practices, exemplar not-for-profits and step-by-step instructions (including handy checklists) for building your not-for-profit's online presence and brand- be it a website, an online newsletter, your "Twitter voice," a Flickr account, a YouTube channel, text-to-give technology, tablet applications, etc.  

1. Who is the face of your Facebook? Your Facebook page is as good as the social media manager behind it. Creating and maintaining a successful Facebook page (the rewards of which are plenty- Mansfield’s research highlights the direct correlation between the rise of online giving and the rise of social media) depends on the effort and efficiency of the person managing it. Read Mansfield’s blog entry on the 11 qualities of an effective social media manager to be sure your Facebook page is in the best hands possible.

2. Conquer the laggards. Still trying to convince certain skeptical colleagues that this “Facebook thing” is not just a fad? Collect, organize and present to these latecomers the statistics on social media usage (start with a digestible, easy and straight-forward approach, perhaps the video featured above), the trends with rising generations and the shift toward online giving. Still not buying it? Show them what other not-for-profits are doing on Facebook. If you do not join the Facebook community, you are doing your organization a great disservice by becoming less competitive and visible in the not-for-profits sector.

3. You must give some to get some. "Like" other not-for-profit’s on Facebook and engage in activity on their page, with sincerity and moderation of course. Comment on status updates, "like" new posts and respond to news, questions, and comments posted. Not only will you benefit personally from interacting with another not-for-profit and its cause, but by engaging on its wall, you promote your own organization, brand and Facebook page, encouraging Facebook users to explore more about you.

4. Share the love. When updating your own statuses or posting news and comments, be sure to tag any organization you mention (if, and hopefully, they have a Facebook page). This way, your update or post is posted to that organization's wall. Just one more way to put yourself out there…

5. At the bottom of any mass e-mail or automated e-mail response, include a “Like us on Facebook” link to remind your supporters of your presence on Facebook and to give them the opportunity to stayed informed on your progress and activities.

6. Evaluate and adjust. If time after time your posts go “unliked” and your statuses “uncommented,” it is time to consider a different course of action. Facebook is not a newsletter; talk with your followers, not at them. If your Facebook community is not reacting or engaging with the content you publish, evaluate what you are sharing. Is it dead-end content? Does it encourage user feedback? Save the matter-of-fact news for your monthly newsletter and press-releases. Take advantage of Facebook as a community building tool and a platform for exchange.

7. No one likes a Chatty Cathy. Too many status updates and posts per day and that “Hide activity" option on the user's News Feed becomes increasingly attractive.

8. Register for one of Mansfield’s January webinars on successful usage of Facebook and Facebook applications (or check out the other webinars offered on hot topics such as utilizing Google+, YouTube, mobile fundraising, and Twitter).

9. Someone in the office or organization needs a smartphone and needs to be on the mobile web. It does not have to be an iPhone, but in today’s 24/7 streaming news world, it is all about being and staying connected. It is an investment, but one that will be returned as mobile and online giving become the predominant trend.

10. Stay informed. It seems as though Facebook is evolving daily. Do not miss out on the possibilities and potential of the newest features, formats, and most importantly, opportunities for your not-for-profit to expand its reach. Read blogs about the newest changes and innovations in the social media world- a great place to start is right here at Technology in the Arts.

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

In An Era of Budget Austerity, Public Art Projects Take on Increased Impact

One of the unfortunate realities of the current economic climate is that with so many Americans unemployed, and others saving money instead of using it to purchase goods and services, the states, counties and municipalities that rely so heavily on sales tax collections are faced with fewer tax collections and larger annual budget deficits. With most local governments required to balance their budgets every fiscal year, they are forced to cut spending, lay off workers and delay investment on previously planned projects. Since the 2007 recession, this trend has spread towards nearly every corner of America. As it relates to the arts community, investments in public works of art, like sculptures, statues and murals, have been shelved due to budget cuts. However, at the same time, a rise in grassroots public art projects, funded using online crowdfunding programs, have helped deliver quirky and imaginative works of art to cities nationwide, bringing a small sense of civic pride back to areas devastated by the economic downturn.

We here at Technology in the Arts have previously looked at the crowdfunding website Kickstarter, which serves as a simple way for artists to solicit and accept donations for arts projects from people online. The way the site works is simple: an artist has an idea, he/she sets a fundraising goal that they wish to achieve, and they have three months to reach that dollar amount. The artist will often design a list of rewards for donors to motivate them to donate, and if the project does not reach its fundraising goal by the end of the three month time period, no money is spent and all money is returned.

Kickstarter features projects from many different categories, including theater, music, games and fashion, but its most unique and inspiring pieces come from the world of art, and more specifically, the projects that don’t belong to a gallery or museum, but instead to the people of a particular city. Projects that serve as public goods, ones that all people, from residents to tourists, can enjoy, are the ones I find the most inspiring and important.

Last week, The Atlantic Cities (one of my favorite city/urban policy sites) took a look at six successful and wildly unique public arts projects that have cropped up around the country. These projects, along with the thousands of others featured on Kickstarter, offer a fascinating glimpse into how ordinary people are using the cities around them to express their artistic creativity.

The city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, no stranger to the economic downturn, saw one of the more unique projects I came across: a slew of metal monkeys hanging from a pedestrian bridge near the city’s downtown. The project, titled “Metal Monkey Mania,” successfully completed funding last month.

Across the country, in West Berkeley, California, a set of large ceramic tiles by artist Juana Alicia, designed for a low-income housing complex, were finished, but sitting in boxes because she did not having the funding necessary to install them. Enter Kickstarter, and last week, she reached her goal of raising over $5,000 to finish the project. The beautiful tiles will be hung in the near future.

While not a physical piece of art, one of my favorite public art projects featured on Kickstarter puts everyone who comes across it in the position of artist extraordinaire. Artist Katie O’Beirne has left disposable cameras in New York City and other cities around the world for a few hours at a time, letting regular people who come across the cameras to take pictures of whatever their hearts desire. Taking a look through the images offers a fascinating look into what people choose to show in their contributions. Katie is compiling the pictures and hoping to turn them into an art show in the near future (as of the time of this writing, there is still time to donate to the project and make her dream a reality).

South of the border, in Puebla, Mexico, a group of independent artists have been painting beautiful murals across their city in an effort to celebrate the town’s rich heritage. The group has plans for over two dozen more murals, and has their own Kickstarter page dedicated to bringing more artists to the area that is currently very close to its target of over $29,000.

Nobody will mistake any of these projects as a perfect substitute for a large scale government or privately funded works of art. However, many of the projects featured serve as an inexpensive, quirky way to bring a sense of culture and artistic expression to cities large and small across the country that are grappling with severe budget cuts and austerity measures. And while the economic downturn has forced cities and states to cut back on the kind of 21st century arts projects that many of us in the arts community would love to see, the rise of crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter and the entrepreneurial spirit of artists everywhere have shown that technology can help bridge the gap until the economy gets back on the right track.

(Photo credit: Colectivo Tomate)

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 Fight over Net Neutrality is Far From Over

Last month, I wrote about what I consider to be the most important public policy issue affecting the arts/technology community, the issue of net neutrality. Since then, a wave of new developments have shifted the playing field and ratcheted up the fight over what is quickly becoming one of the most contentious policy issues in all of Washington. With the new FCC regulations slated to go into effect this Sunday, the legal and political wrangling over the issue is far from over, and the very future of the Internet as we know it is at stake. First, a quick overview: the issue of net neutrality has received a fair amount of coverage recently because a new set of regulations passed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last December are set to go into effect this Sunday, November 20th. The regulations primarily do three things: they prohibit broadband providers from blocking lawful web traffic; require a greater deal of transparency from broadband providers regarding their network practices; and most importantly, require broadband providers to not discriminate in transmitting lawful network traffic over consumers’ internet service.

While not perfect, these regulations are an important step to ensure that the concept of the “open Internet,” or the idea that all internet traffic is treated equally, continues going forward. Simply, it would preserve open Internet access for consumers, and not allow telecommunications companies to discriminate certain types of data as they see fit.

With the new regulations slated to go into effect shortly, Republicans in Congress have sought to overturn the rules, arguing that they go too far and that new government regulations are not necessary. This past Thursday, the Senate failed to round up the votes necessary to pass a resolution overturning the rules, failing on a party line vote of 52-46, with Democrats voting in the majority to stop the bill from going forward. The Republican-controlled House voted in April on a similar bill, which passed by a vote of 240 to 179.

The opposition in Congress stated that they also believe in the concept of an “open Internet,” but felt that such regulations were better written by Congress themselves and not the FCC.

Supporters of the new regulations, including the FCC, claim that the rules bring a degree of certainty to the internet community. In a statement, the FCC stated that “any effort to disrupt or unsettle that certainty, which has been widely supported by industry, will only undermine innovation and investment in this space.”

Even if the Senate had passed the legislation, President Obama had vowed to veto the bill, ensuring that any legislative efforts to roll back the regulations will fall short of success at least through the 2012 election.

The real immediate fight, however, over the regulations will be fought in court. Several telecommunications companies, most notably Verizon, have pending lawsuits seeking to nullify the regulations, claiming the federal government and the FCC do not have the authority to exercise regulatory power over the Internet. Attempts by the FCC to regulate the internet in the past have failed in the courts, so there is legitimate concern that the current case may meet the same fate.

In addition to concerns over potential content discrimination, there are other areas where telecommunication companies may seek to change their business practices if the regulations do not go into effect. The most common concerns are over higher premiums being charged for faster data speeds, or deliberately slowing down speeds for specific websites or services that may compete with the firm providing the internet access.

As I said last month, the issue of net neutrality impacts all communities, and many of the innovative and inspiring new art works and technologies we have highlighted here on the blog in recent months stand to be impacted if efforts to weaken the regulations are successful. Innovation is best achieved when entrepreneurs, artists and managers have the freedom to use technology to share their art with the world, and the openness of the Internet since its inception has facilitated countless new art forms and inspired a new generation of artists. It would be a shame to see that kind of progress stifled at the hands of Congress or the court system.

After the defeat of the Senate bill, the White House released a statement, saying that “it would be ill-advised to threaten the very foundations of innovation in the Internet economy and the democratic spirit that has made the Internet a force for social progress around the world.” As the fight over net neutrality moves forward and the regulations go into effect on Sunday, it’s important to remember that a free and open Internet is in the absolute best interest of the arts community, and is worth fighting for. That’s a bipartisan belief that everyone in the arts community can appreciate.

13 Social Media Infographics Every Marketer Needs to See

Happy Friday! What’s everyone doing this weekend? Perhaps you’re saddling up to head to Louisville for the National Arts Marketing Project Conference. The conference starts tomorrow and goes through next Tuesday the 15^th – in which case, enjoy the conference! If you can’t make it to Kentucky this weekend, a lot of the conference will be online. Three sessions will be streaming live and archived as webcasts if you miss them. The conference will also be accessible via twitter with hashtag “#nampc”. The National Arts Marketing Project (NAMP) offers resources year round on their website to help your arts organization be better marketers. One of these is their newest ebook, 13 Social Media Infographics Every Marketer Needs to See.

The first in a series of free publications, 13 Social Media Infographics Every Marketer Needs to See is an accessible and enlightening tool for those interested in social media marketing. The publication covers the history of marketing channels, basic tips for social media usage, and then moves on to more complex topics like the demographics for each social media website. If you're looking for a way to make sense of all the social media out there, this is a great starting point.

Technology in the Arts also has a lot of great social media resources, including how to analyze your success, tap into that prized demographic, and important current trends. How is your organization using social media to be better marketers?

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?

Art Meets Technology in New York City

For many of us in the arts community, especially in cities that feature a wide variety of art opportunities to explore, we are often tasked with a dilemma: what is the best way to find not only events that are close to me, but also events that my friends and I will enjoy the most? As is often the case, this is where technology comes in. The New York Times reported yesterday on a group of young arts professionals in New York City who are using social media to not only find those very events that are the most appealing to them, but also to organize like-minded individuals to join them at the newest buzz-worthy art gallery opening or museum exhibit. The tools and tactics these arts professionals are using can serve as an excellent model for artists and art lovers in any city where the arts are appreciated.

For those who are looking for more targeted art opportunities, there are a number of social media outlets where you can discover more information. The first is Meetup.com, a website where millions of people have created and found scheduled events in their communities. A good section of the site to bookmark is museums.meetup.com, where you will find dozens of groups and thousands of members all across the country who meet regularly and advertise upcoming arts events. For example, here in Pittsburgh one of the many great arts groups is the Pittsburgh Cultural Arts Group, home to 550 members who organize regular arts-related events and shows.

Organizing events and participating in MeetUp activities is not only a great way to find out about upcoming shows; it also serves as a place to meet fellow arts lovers and make contacts in the arts community. Especially for those young people who are either in school or new to a particular city, MeetUp can serve as a conduit to meeting others who share their unique interests. Instead of attending that upcoming exhibit you were looking forward to alone, you know have the opportunity to share the experience with people who share your passion and interests.

So meeting and befriending fellow arts lovers is the first step. Once you have found a group of people committed to discovering the latest and hottest events, what’s next? Instead of using more general platforms like Facebook or even text messages, the young professionals profiled in the NYT piece and many others have used Twitter to share news and events not only with their friends, but with the entire world as well. They use the hashtag #artstech to promote events, share tips and/or links to more information. The great thing about this technology is that it is completely open to everyone: searching for #artstech on Twitter will show you all recent postings by anyone who tweets using that hashtag, whether you follow them on Twitter or not.

The hashtag is one of the most important tools Twitter offers, and you can tailor it to your group’s interests. Are you involved with a small group of museum lovers in Cleveland? Start using the hashtag #ClevelandMuseumLovers when tweeting about local museum events, and as more and more people view the tweet and re-tweet, the more ubiquitous it will become, especially if you have a large Twitter following (for example, one of the hashtags we use here at Technology in the Arts on our Twitter page is #TechArtsReads to share interesting stories about the intersection of arts and technology with our thousands of followers).

But perhaps the best part about using technology and social media to discover new and exciting arts opportunities and events is the ability to use these tools to facilitate and improve the offline relationships that are so important to us. Social media is merely the first important step: meeting new people and developing new contacts is integral to our personal and professional lives, and is bound to open up exciting new opportunities that may not have been available before.

With many museums, arts organizations and galleries using social media to reach out to art lovers, there has never been a better time to use some of these technology tools to better organize and share the exciting new events and opportunities in your area.

What tools do you use to learn about art events in your community, and how do you share this information with fellow arts lovers?

(Photo: CC by Emilio Santacoloma)

Who Should Do It? Dealing with the Division of Labor

The following is a guest post from VolunteerHub.com writer Shawn Kendrick. VolunteerHub is a leading cloud-based software that streamlines volunteer management. For two decades, VolunteerHub has been trusted by volunteer coordinators throughout the world. With over 1 million event registrations managed, VolunteerHub simplifies the scheduling, registration, and tracking of volunteers.  VolunteerHub is a product of Carr Engineering, Inc. Learn more about VolunteerHub >> Deciding on the division of work within a department can be difficult. You have to take care to make sure everyone is challenged but not overburdened. No matter how hard you try, it can be hard to get it just right. Some workers will always feel they carry more than their fair share of the load. Others think that you didn’t give them enough duties because you don’t value their expertise and may even become bored or complacent. When you add volunteer considerations to the mix, you’ve got even more to think about. Below we discuss some perspectives to consider when deciding who does what.

Think Public Relations First

Your first thought in assigning any duties should be about what kind of image you will be putting out to those your serve and to the general public. If the job you are assigning has a great deal of public relations involved, it’s probably best to have your paid staff perform the function. You don’t want the general public to think you have all your non-paid folks doing the work while your actual employees hang out in the back office. Of course, we know behind-the-scenes work is as difficult and important as customer-facing tasks, but people want to know who/what their taxes/donations are going toward. It’s more tangible to them if they actually interact with the paid staff.

Look at Dollars and Cents

Now that we’ve got your organization’s image covered, we will want to look at matters from a monetary standpoint. Nonprofits, of course, have to consider dollars and cents when making decisions, just as for-profit businesses do. In general, you’ll want to look at the labor costs and attempt to sink as little of these costs as possible. For example, you have a project that requires ten hours of administrative time and then ten more hours to actually execute it. You expect you will earn $40 an hour during the execution phase (a fundraising project, for instance) and nothing during the administration part, effectively making the administrative portion a sunk cost. You have one paid worker at $20 an hour for the project and one volunteer. All things equal, you would want the volunteer to be used for the administrative portion and the paid worker on the execution phase.

What difference does it make? you might be wondering. It’s going to cost us $20 an hour for ten of the hours, and the other ten hours will be free, any way I slice it. Either way I’m investing the same amount of money in the project. The difference is this: by using the volunteer in the earlier phase, you are sinking $0 in the administrative time. If you find out early in the execution phase that you are only making $10 an hour in revenue while paying $20 an hour, you can pull the plug early, thus mitigating your losses.

Don’t Forget about the Volunteer’s Perspective

Of course, the above examples are very cut and dry. In the real world, if you strictly offer menial work to your volunteers, many won’t stick around long. So, if you have a volunteer who is great with people and doesn’t want to hide behind a desk, get him or her out there in front of folks. Same goes for volunteer recruitment: it makes the most sense to get happy volunteers to recruit other potential candidates. Just be sure to check with your volunteers often to gauge their preferences. Some will encourage you to take advantage of their expertise and skill set, while others would rather contribute in a less taxing way. Use these preferences, along with your staff’s, to decide who will shine on a particular job or project.

Ultimately, it’s up to the volunteer coordinator to know your employees’ and your volunteers’ strengths and weaknesses, as well as the nuances of your situation. When this is combined with the factors mentioned above, you’ll find task assignments to be both easier and more fruitful for your organization.

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!

The Future of Net Neutrality and What it Means for the Arts Community

Of all the public policy issues relating to the intersection of arts and technology, arguably none is more important and vital to our continued freedom and success than net neutrality. A slew of recent changes and lawsuits have the potential to fundamentally change the way we use the internet, and the arts community stands to be greatly impacted. The idea behind net neutrality is simple: keeping the internet open and treating all data equally. The word “neutrality” means strictly that: whether you are searching for information on Google, streaming video on Netflix or using social networking tools, all of those data “packets” are treated equally and allowed to proceed at the same speed. This is the very idea of the “open internet” that so many in the arts community advocate and support, and it has helped foster innovation and evolution in many different fields, including the arts.

Many of the projects we have highlighted here on the blog in the past week, including art.sy, the Google Art Project and the Tate Trumps iPhone app, are made possible in part because of the freedom that net neutrality provides. Whether it’s an artist finding new outlets for their creativity, using the internet to connect buyers and sellers, or arts organizations using social media to find new fans, the increasing merger between the arts and technology communities is absolutely dependent on the idea that the internet should be free, open and neutral. Doing away with the concept, or diminishing that freedom, would have a severe negative impact on the arts community.

Thankfully, some recent changes have been put into place to strengthen net neutrality. Recent regulations approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are set to take effect November 20, 2011. These regulations include prohibiting broadband providers from blocking lawful web traffic, requiring a greater deal of transparency from broadband providers regarding their network practices, and, most importantly, requiring that broadband providers not discriminate in transmitting lawful network traffic over consumers’ internet service. You can read more about the new regulations on the FCC’s openinternet.gov website.

While the regulations are not perfect, and do not go as far as many open internet advocates would have liked (for example, there is still some ambiguity regarding the regulations surrounding wireless networks, which the FCC claims is a newer technology and requires more time to appropriately measure how much regulation is required), they are a welcome step in the right direction.

Before we get to November 20 however, several lawsuits have been filed in the past few months, seeking to block these regulations. And to no one’s surprise, it has been the telecommunications companies that have sought to block the regulations from being put into place, while at the same time claiming that they are the true parties interested in keeping the internet “open.”

The most recent lawsuit comes from Verizon, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the country, who are claiming that while they are committed to an open and secure internet, they object to what they call “sweeping” regulations that apply to the entire telecommunications industry. This is not the first time Verizon has filed suit against the new regulations; they also sought to remove the new regulations earlier this year, but the case was thrown out in April because the regulations were not published in the Federal Register until this past August.

The lawsuit is pending, and whatever decision is reached by the courts will have a lasting impact on the future of internet freedom. Even if the FCC and open internet advocates prevail, the fight by the telecom companies against the new regulations will surely continue, as they seek to continue their years-long crusade against the open internet and restrict whatever types of internet data they see fit.

We here at Technology for the Arts have long advocated for net neutrality and communicated why we feel the issue is of vital importance, and as the fight over the open internet heats up, it’s important that when we talk about issues of arts advocacy and what issues are at the top of our agenda, that we include net neutrality. While the recent regulations approved by the FCC are a welcome step forward, there is a still a lot of work to be done to make sure that the future of the internet remains open and neutral. You can find out more about net neutrality at openinternet.gov, and we encourage you to share the information with others in the arts community.

The arts community has long benefitted from net neutrality, and the continued innovation we have seen in recent years is dependent on it staying that way.

(Photo: CC by markrabo)