Diane Parker gives tips on how going online can extend your organisations appeal.
Advances in information and communication technology are having an impact across the UK economy and the arts are no exception. Arts organisations and businesses have adapted accordingly: most companies have dedicated websites, and online ticketing is now commonplace. The way we are using technology as consumers is also changing. Social software, such as blogging and podcasting, has given us a tool to communicate, promote ourselves and our passions, and share information and resources in the form of images, both audio and video. Whilst initially intended as a means by which individuals could connect, share and create, these tools are now being used by businesses in a variety of new ways.
Organisations are quickly discovering the advantages of having a blog, or a profile page, on a social networking site such as MySpace or Facebook. Similarly, the historic appeal of podcasting was that it allowed individuals to create and distribute their own radio-style shows, but it is now increasingly being identified as a very immediate, interactive way for arts and cultural organisations to connect with their audiences. Podcasts can be used not only to market and promote organisations and their services, but also as a way of broadening appeal, and disseminating knowledge, culture and information to a wider, more diverse audience.
There is a realisation that technology is changing and growing faster than ever, and many people who have been in the industry for a few years have not yet embraced the HD video-on-demand, MySpace, web-streaming, etc., that broadcasters and users now expect, says Richard Freeman of Connections Communications Centre, a creative and media arts charity that gives business training and support to London-based creative professionals. A special workforce development initiative, Innovation for Success, offers creative entrepreneurs practical workshops in blogging, podcasting and online business networking so that they can widen their markets quickly.
Its not only entrepreneurs and sole traders who are discovering the importance of new technologies in reaching audiences. Major arts and cultural institutions are recognising the need to jump on the digital bandwagon if they want to remain fresh, vibrant and relevant to a 21st century audience. Antenna Audio has spent the past twenty years making audio and video content, both on- and off-line, for museums, galleries and other cultural heritage sites around the world. Its diverse client list ranges from Britains Tate Modern to Elvis Presleys Graceland in Memphis.
Creative Manager, Miranda Hinkley, says, There are a variety of skills involved in creating a really great podcast. First youve got to unearth the fantastic stories that exist in any institution, then youve got to package and present them professionally. Its essential to consider the kind of audience you would like to reach right from the outset, and adjust your tone and messages accordingly. One of Antennas clients, the National Gallery, launched a monthly podcast in November 2006. Charlotte Sexton, Deputy Head of the Gallerys New Media department, explains that it was initially conceived as a pilot project to challenge common perceptions of the National Gallery and to embrace a broader arts and cultural audience. She said, We had to put a lot of thought into the type of content we would include and the format it should take, as we knew the powerful impact it would have on the way we present ourselves publicly.
More recently, the Philharmonia Orchestra has embraced the digital movement with the launch of a monthly podcast, while the Crafts Council has just commissioned a major re-design of its website, of which podcasts are to be a key feature.
The potential of these new technologies for the arts is huge. The free exchange of knowledge and information they enable complements the very motivation behind artistic, creative and cultural activity which exists for reasons other than to make money. As a recent Demos report notes: creativity is motivated by the desire to make meaning1. Making connections through a chosen medium is the raison dêtre of the arts the digital revolution merely takes this one stage further.
Diane Parker is an online Research Editor for Creative Choices at Creative & Cultural Skills. Creative Choices, an online service that will employ user-driven social software technology to give individuals and businesses the tools, knowledge and networks they need to make informed decisions about their career development in the creative industries and cultural sector, will be launched next year.
e: diane.parker@ccskills.org.uk;
w: http://www.ccskills.org.uk
1 Tims, C. and Wright, S. (2007) So what do you do? A new question for policy in the creative age, Demos.