Category: AUDIENCE

Attendance Isn’t A Good Enough Metric, So This Museum Is Trying To Measure Its Social Impact

“Working with a group of social scientists, the [Oakland Museum of California] devised an innovative plan to take stock of both its ability to connect with visitors and to foster connections between visitors themselves. The idea came after previous data collection efforts revealed a more thorough snapshot of the institution’s audience, which is one of the most diverse in the country.” – Artnet

This Could Be The Berkeley Public Library’s Most Treasured Collection

“The Berkeley Tool Lending Library is one of the Bay Area’s great public gifts, a free-to-use service for Berkeley residents looking for anything from saws to ladders to a hard-to-find screwdriver. You’d think a repository of free tools, some very expensive, would disappear frequently, but supervising librarian Dan Beringhele says theft is rare. It’s just that beloved.” – San Francisco Chronicle

For South L.A., A Sort Of African-American High Line

It’s not an elevated park, and it’s not on disused train tracks (in fact, it’s tied in with a new light rail line), but Destination Crenshaw (as it’s called) will be a 1.3-mile-long public space along Crenshaw Boulevard, with landscaping, murals and other public art, and plazas — all intended as community gathering places to affirm the area’s African-American identity as the pressures of gentrification increase. – New York Magazine

How A Theatre Powered The Downtown Revival Of Illinois’s Second-Largest City

That city is Aurora, an outer-ring suburb of Chicago with about 200,000 people, and the theatre is the twice-restored, 1,885-seat Paramount. in fact, writes Chris Jones, “with the exception of Cleveland, which has benefited immeasurably from the Playhouse Square Center, I’d argue that no Midwestern downtown has been more changed by a single arts organization.” – Chicago Tribune

Living At The Intersection Of Dance, Social Media, And Teenage Life

Who profits when a 14-year-old Black teenager creates a dance and shares it – and it goes viral? Not she.”TikTok, one of the biggest video apps in the world, has become synonymous with dance culture. Yet many of its most popular dances, including the Renegade, Holy Moly Donut Shop, the Mmmxneil and Cookie Shop have come from young black creators on myriad smaller apps.” – The New York Times

Has Fan Culture Gotten Out Of Hand? Should They Have So Much Influence On The Art?

The last decade or so has witnessed huge changes in the awareness, perception and tools of fandom. In terms of television and film, the enormous successes of Game of Thrones and the Marvel Cinematic Universe have introduced geek culture – and its brand of participatory fandom – to the mainstream. At the same time, the internet – and more specifically social media – has amplified fans’ voices, while also breaking down the boundaries between them and the artists they love/hate. – BBC

The Obama Portraits Have Become, In Essence, Pilgrimage Sites

“Stories of visitors praying or breaking down in tears before the portraits circulated on social media.” (Not unlike Jerusalem or Lourdes.) Says the director of the National Portrait Gallery in D.C., “It’s a form of what I call secular pilgrimage. Much like people go to Graceland or John Lennon’s grave — the response has that quality to it.” – Artnet