Friday, May 15, 2009

new artistic paths


I'm home on a Friday night, despite knowing my many options for culture. But sometimes a night of bad tv and facebook is a culture of a different kind, and satisfying still. Poking through facebook has proven to be productive-- at least for thinking. I've noticed a lot of murmurs about new artistic developments, from new performing arts center proposals to cool interdisciplinary work happening. I'm looking forward to what the future holds for arts events. Why? The needs of the audience have changed. We used to be "butts in seats," but now, we want to have our say-- vote for the American Idol, so to speak. And so arts programming must look beyond butts in seats, and engage us. How will your audience become part of the creative process? How will we engage with our audiences? How can we all participate, from the stage and from our seats? What a great time to turn the model upside down, try something new. Or is it old? Have we come full circle to the ancient Greek experience of the arts?!

I love the idea of taking theatre to the people, instead of begging people to come to the theatre-- performances taking place at a bus stop, in a cafeteria, in line at the grocery store; and poetry walls, where we all add our thoughts and words to some ongoing, collective expression; or kinetic sculptures, in which the observer becomes part of the artwork! We haven't simply sunk to casting our vote; no, we've raised our expectations. Artists have always wanted to express and connect. Finally, the audience is picking up the phone, answering the call, saying something back. Let's listen! Can't wait to see what events will pop up soon with juicy, interactive aspects. What are you planning?

Above: floating sculpture by Ken Reker

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