Arts Intranet

David Dombrosky

For years, I have heard the lament for the rise of “citizen critics” –individuals who use blogs, social networks and other social media tools to share their reviews of performances, exhibitions, films, etc.  I have listened to a number of artists, directors, curators, and other arts managers bemoan the replacement of “true” cultural critics in traditional media with these self-published citizen critics.  The complaints typically revolve around a perceived lack of credentials and lack of understanding for the discipline.

While I, too, bemoan the loss of criticism in much of today’s traditional media, I must point out that citizen critics are not new.  In fact, they have been around for as long as there has been art about which to have an opinion.  To be blunt, we are all citizen critics.  Have you ever told someone your opinion about a work of art, a concert, a performance, etc.?  Of course, you have.  We all have.   And more of us are sharing our opinions with each other (and the world) thanks to rise of the social Web. 

In August, a brouhaha erupted online between two bloggers and an actor from Canada’s Teatro la Quindicina in Edmonton, Alberta after one of the bloggers wrote a critical review of a play in which the actor appeared.   Aside from serving as a case study in how NOT to deal with citizen critics, this online fracas brought to the surface a disdain held by many artists and administrators.

The reality is that citizen critics are not going away.  So rather than lash out at them or quietly complain about them, why don’t we identify ways in which our organizations can cultivate them?

Deborah Obalil

In reading the excellent posts by Susannah Greenwood (Questions of Musical Engagement), Mary Trudel (Oh yes – there's an app for that), and Ian David Moss (Arts participation and the bottom of the pyramid) it becomes very clear that technology is enabling, and to a degree forcing, arts organizations to use sampling as a marketing strategy.  Now product sampling is a marketing strategy that has been around for quite some time.  Marketers have long known that if you get a taste of something good,  you'll buy lots of it.  It also requires that whomever is producing the product (the artist or arts organization in our case) to go to the people it wants to connect with to provide the sample.  In the not-so-distant past, this was a resource intensive proposition for the arts, especially the performing arts.

Early in my career I was the marketing director for a contemporary concert dance presenter, and we did lots of sampling, we just didn't call it that.  We called them previews or lecture/demonstrations.  The dance companies we presented would be trotted all over town to libraries and schools, public plazas and community gatherings.  And we would have information at all of these events about the upcoming theatrical performances and how to get tickets.  Since most of the companies we presented were far from household names (even for dance afficionados), giving potential audiences a taste of what the would get for the ticket price was crucial to building audience.

Like many before me and many to come, I came to Silicon Valley for the Chips -- specifically, Chip Heath, co-author of Made to Stick and Switch, and one of my heroes Chip Conley, owner of Joie de Vivre hotels (who I actually admitted to having a brain crush on via Twitter). Both Chips were keynotes at the 2010 National Arts Marketing Project Conference held in San Jose this weekend.

The first time I listened to Chip Conley (who tweeters at the conference have immortalized with the hash tag hotchip) and as I read Peak, I thought a lot about how Arts Alliance Illinois, primarily an arts advocacy organization, could “refresh the identity” of Illinois arts practitioners and leaders through advocacy.

But this time, maybe because I’m still thinking about Election Day, I was thinking about a Hierarchy of Needs for elected officials. Specifically, what is transformation for elected officials. If you were an elected official, what would it mean to be all you can be?

Before you begin the snarky comments, let me take a step back – for all of you wondering what the Hierarchy of Needs is, how this is connected to Chip Conley, and what it means to refresh an identity.

You may have heard the term “Hierarchy of Needs” in a psychology class or on your Lincoln-Douglas debate team if you’re a dork like me. Abraham Maslow, a professor of psychology, invented the term when he decided to shift the gaze of psychologists from the “worst case scenarios” in humanity to those living the happiest and most satisfying lives. He discovered a hierarchy of needs – from basic survival to transformation – that defines human existence. Here’s my rendition:

Photo credit: Flickr user Khalid Almasoud.

The bottom layer is all about physiological needs: food, drink, air, and sleep. Next up are your safety needs. Then there are needs related to love and belonging, followed by esteem needs. On top of the pyramid is self-actualizing, being all you can be.

The Writer’s Center has been around since 1976. It has a large following in the greater Washington DC area and, increasingly, nationally (in 2009, Poets & Writers Magazine, a leading trade magazine in our field, named us one of eight “places to go outside academia” to take creative writing workshops). Over the years, TWC has nurtured the careers of many writers, from Pagan Kennedy to 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award-winner Patricia McArdle. In that time we’ve also developed a loyal following of members: they participant in our workshops & events, they donate, they spread word about us to the public.

This core constituency is vital to The Writer’s Center. But equally vital is engaging new members in what we do. The question is: How do you go about doing that? The best way—or at least the way we’ve done it best—is to create new programs that fall within your mission. In the last two years, for example, we’ve added a wide range of new workshop leaders (and therefore new workshops, from graphic novels to writing crime & mystery novels); developed partnerships with local organizations such as Fall for the Book, the Royal Norwegian and Danish Embassies, and the Maryland Humanities Council, etc. In addition, we’ve created new programs such as the Undiscovered Voices Fellowships (which provide opportunities for writers earning less than 25K annually); Ann Darr Scholarships for female veterans and active duty military; and Emerging Writer Fellowships (which honor and support emerging writers with up to 3 published books in their respective genre). To showcase our Emerging Writer Fellowships, we’ve developed perhaps the very best vehicle for reaching new audiences: Story/Stereo: A Night of Literature and Music. At this event we pair our Emerging Writer Fellows with prominent DC musicians (thanks to two musician/curators, Chad Clark and Matt Byars).

Whenever my mother or some other evolved being tells me "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" I have to stop myself from shaking them by the shoulders and saying,

"OK fine! You sit next to a screaming child on a plane.  And you're right, my journey is going to begin with one big fat single step - noise canceling headphones!"

Goodbye San Jose

For all of you who will be leaving the National Arts Marketing Project  Conference in San Joseand flying home and might find yourself in the unfortunate position of being seated next to a very loud little person, spend the two bucks for a headset and pump up the volume.

Here are some other travel tips: