Co-Authoring Meaning

Submitted by Steve on September 8, 2011

“Experiential relationships in cyberspace are the next frontier for the arts community,” states John Killacky in his new post on ARTSBlog. The post explores the participatory nature of art today's media climate, and how arts organizations are “behind the curve” in opening programs to audience involvement.

Audiences today are drawn, not merely to a performance, but to an arts experience in which they participate. The experience does not begin and end at the performance curtain, but long before and after: at home, in the lobby, online, and sharing with friends.

Word of mouth has always been potent for box office, so it is essential that the arts marshal the power of online participatory media. However, this calls for a paradigm shift in thinking about what cultural participation means for audiences, live and viral.

At social media workshops, the conversation still defaults to using these platforms as a one-way transactional marketing medium: pushing out more marketing messages. Totally wrong!

Online platforms need to be transformed into participatory aesthetic spaces connecting audiences with one another and with artists; provide forums where people can register how they feel about the work they see; and, ultimately, arts groups need to give up some curatorial control.

new post on ARTSBlogRead the full post.