“By offering vulnerable populations the opportunity to make choices, work collaboratively and express themselves creatively, dance has the power to be transformative.” Writer Rachel Caldwell offers examples of how that happens from Urban Bush Women, Dimensions Dance Theater, Keshet Dance Company, and Gibney. – Dance Magazine
Category: AUDIENCE
When A Cell Phone Goes Off During A Play, Keep Quiet And Let It Ring, Says Chicago Tribune Critic
Chris Jones recounts what happened at a recent Broadway performance of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal when a cell phone went off, repeatedly, and seemed to make Tom Hiddleston cry without breaking character. It was a powerful. ambiguous moment — until the audience began to call out the phone and its owner. – Chicago Tribune
Movie Box Office Was Down This Summer – But So Is Everything Else
“Out-of-home entertainment had a down summer in general. Attendance at Major League Baseball games is expected to fall for the fourth consecutive season, according to Two Circles, a sports marketing agency. Broadway attendance has declined 2.6 percent from a year earlier, according to the Broadway League. Full data was not yet available for concerts, but early numbers suggest a decline, according to statistics from Pollstar, a trade publication.” – The New York Times
Book Publishing Revenue Up 6.9 Percent In First Half Of 2019
The top-line message from the organization is that the combined revenue of the participating publishers for the first six months of the year was nearly US$6 billion. The previous caveat in place, that represents an increase of 6.9 percent over the same first-half period of 2018. – Publishing Perspectives
Finally: Streaming Music That Cares About Classical
“The bottom line is that classical streaming is here, and, despite the kinks and quirks, it works. The problem of access has been solved. Although classical music is a very small piece of the recording pie, said to be somewhere around 5%, the streamers also claim to have data that suggests that 25% (and maybe more) of all subscribers to streaming services sample classical music at least once.” – Los Angeles Times
Study: Audience For Visual Arts In UK Dominated By Millennials
The report says that 41% of visual arts audiences are aged between 16 and 34, whereas for other artforms this demographic comprises 13% of visitors. In contrast, 41% of museum audiences are over 65, according to the report. – Arts Professional
“Context Collapse” Theatens The Art World
“Content collapse” and “narrative deficiency” are phenomena that characterize social media, where users have multiple distinct communities—friends, family members, colleagues—collated into a single audience. The differences between traditional face-to-face relationship-based interaction and the potentially infinite audience of social media—or, we might logically extrapolate, businesses that scale in a parallel manner, such as big art fairs—is an issue that these industries are beginning to face. – artnet
YouTube Captions Suck. Now A Campaign To Fix Them
Proper captions should not only fit the right words to a video’s audio content—a feat that automation struggles to achieve—but also use correct grammar and punctuation, describe sounds like the eerie creak of a door or the crackle of gunfire, and differentiate between speakers so deaf audiences know who’s talking. – The Atlantic
Creating Comic Books For The Blind
“Working in a highly visual art form, [Chad] Allen managed to create an auditory experience that closely mimics the sensation of reading a comic book. A whooshing sound occurs whenever a panel changes; the intentionally stilted delivery of lines, as well as narration that prompts mental images, conjure a feeling of being inside a high-stakes comic book world.” – Los Angeles Times
New York’s Public Theater Tries Doing Without That Long, Long Ticket Line In Central Park
For years, standing and sitting in that hours-long queue for free Shakespeare in the Park tickets has been almost as much a part of the experience as the performance itself. But not everyone is able to take a day off work and sit out in the elements. So, for its last Central Park production of the season, the Public is making its tickets available only by lottery. – The New York Times