“The average number of shows increased by 7.4% between 2007 and 2015 (from an average of 8.8 shows per year to 9.5), according to an analysis of 2,360 exhibitions at 29 US museums conducted by The Art Newspaper. Institutions are also keeping shows running for longer periods of time. We found that the average number of exhibition days increased by almost 25% during this period.”
Category: AUDIENCE
Is This Really A Surprise?
“A report from the Motion Picture Association of America found that the number of African-Americans who go to the movies frequently (at least once a month) hit its highest mark in 2016 with 5.6 million, up nearly two million from 2015.”
Britain’s Top Ten Cultural Attractions In 2016
“The top 10 most-visited attractions in the country were all in the capital. Seven of those saw a fall in numbers, including The Natural History Museum and the V&A, which both suffered a drop of 12%. The overall visitor numbers for London attractions last year were level.”
This Actress Uses A Wheelchair And Is Playing Laura In ‘Glass Menagerie’ – Exploitation Or Progress?
Broadway audiences are used to perfectly abled bodies, as are reviewers, which might be why some reviewers are having a hard time with Madison Ferris’ Laura. But, despite a few Off-Broadway and other companies having better representation, on Broadway, actors with visible disabilities “remain a rare occurrence, and as a result Broadway remains unrepresentative of the full range of humanity.”
Crowds At The Smithsonian’s New Museum Of African-American History Have Been Big – And They’re Going To Get Bigger
“If you think you can wait a few months to avoid the long lines and crowded galleries at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, you’ll need a new strategy.” Peggy McGlone reports.
An ‘Audience Manifesto’: This Theatre Asked Its Biggest Stakeholders What They Really Want, And Here’s What They Came Up With
The Director of Engagement at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester writes about how she and her colleagues developed their two-years-and-running project, You,The Audience.
Australia’s Largest Arts Festival Smashes Box Office Records
“Neil Armfield and Rachel Healy have had a dream start to their tenure as Joint Artistic Directors of the Adelaide Festival with their debut programme taking more than $4.08 million at the box office, representing a 44 percent increase on last year. The 2017 takings were the highest in the Festival’s 57-year history, matching a plethora of rave reviews and high levels of audience excitement.”
‘Suffocating’ Stench Drives Audience From Opera House
A performance of Borodin’s Prince Igor at Bulgaria’s national opera house was interrupted, and then cancelled after the building was evacuated, due to an overpowering smell.
Conductor Berates Audience In Dance Club For Not Listening Attentively To Classical Music
Having gone to all the trouble of putting an orchestra (largely made up of New York-based music students and freelancers) in a club, and assembling a trendy-looking audience (largely, it seemed, people with some connection or other to the various presenting organizations), he didn’t actually want a rave atmosphere. The conductor kept berating the audience for talking, took them to task for their cellphones (“we’re here to dance, not to take pictures”) and, at one point, actually stopped the music to try to force people to be quiet.
Should Every Day Be ‘Baby Day’ At The Theatre?
Perhaps. Check out Belfast’s Young at Art theatre festival to see what it could be like instead of what theatre often is like. “Parenthood can leave even the most ardent theatregoers feeling unwelcome as theatres seldom court families, often seeing prams and young children as a burden not a blessing. Too often theatres present themselves as grownup spaces, cut off from everyday life.”