Being entertaining ought to be the centerpiece of arts engagement efforts, argues Barry Hessenius.
In response to dramatically changing circumstances - from demographics to technology, from revenue streams to artistic needs, from audiences and supporters to internal organization and governance - we are on the cusp of trying to re-imagine how we can survive and thrive. Everything is on the table. Nothing seems anymore sacrosanct. We aren’t exactly sure what path to take, what approaches to embrace - but there is a growing resolution that change is needed.
As we explore ways to become adaptive to what amounts to a very new and different world, we have internalized the thinking that artists, arts administrators, arts organizations - all of us - must learn to be nimble, flexible, able to dart in and out of myriad other sectors with skill and confidence, able to relate to all the other influences in the world (or at least the various “communities” in which we find ourselves.) Rigidity - in systems, structures and most of all, in approaches to creation and problem solving, is the culprit. We now talk in earnest about pluralistic curation, cross platform dialogues, the replacement of rigidity in defining boundaries with transparence and flexibility, the end of hierarchies and clearly defined specialties in favor of a new vision of multi-tasking. In the past, we use to call this becoming lean and mean.
In response to dramatically changing circumstances - from demographics to technology, from revenue streams to artistic needs, from audiences and supporters to internal organization and governance - we are on the cusp of trying to re-imagine how we can survive and thrive. Everything is on the table. Nothing seems anymore sacrosanct. We aren’t exactly sure what path to take, what approaches to embrace - but there is a growing resolution that change is needed.
As we explore ways to become adaptive to what amounts to a very new and different world, we have internalized the thinking that artists, arts administrators, arts organizations - all of us - must learn to be nimble, flexible, able to dart in and out of myriad other sectors with skill and confidence, able to relate to all the other influences in the world (or at least the various “communities” in which we find ourselves.) Rigidity - in systems, structures and most of all, in approaches to creation and problem solving, is the culprit. We now talk in earnest about pluralistic curation, cross platform dialogues, the replacement of rigidity in defining boundaries with transparence and flexibility, the end of hierarchies and clearly defined specialties in favor of a new vision of multi-tasking. In the past, we use to call this becoming lean and mean.