Why?
According to Arts and Entertainment Infozine: People who participate in the arts through electronic media are nearly three times as likely to attend live benchmark arts events as non-media participants.
What does this mean?
Well, in the States, The National Endowment for the Arts did a survey in 2008 called the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA). The survey measured demographic characteristics of U.S. adults that participated in the arts (such as concerts, plays, and dance performances) via electronic media (e.g., TV, radio, computers and portable media devices). It also looked at how people participate in the arts using their computers. The final result is called Audience 2.0: How Technology Influences Arts Participation.
The findings are very interesting: basically, American adults who participated in arts via thier computers (by, say, looking at paintings on line, or downloading and listening to audio books) were much more likely to attend live art events.
I guess this makes sense: if someone is interested in the arts, they will participate in it however they can. But I think we constantly live in the fear that, if we put our work out there, no one will want to pay us for it. No one will want to see it live.
This appears to not be the case.
Arts participation through the media does not appear to “replace” live arts attendance, personal arts performance, or arts creation. In fact, arts engagement through media is associated with higher rates of participation in those activities.
–Audience 2.0: How Technology Influences Arts Participation
Okay, so this is an American survey, but still, pretty interesting stuff.
Download and read the multi-media survey yourself: Audience 2.0: How Technology Influences Arts Participation
Source: How Americans Use Electronic Media to Participate in the Arts
Excellent!
Thank you for posting this, Rebecca. It fits perfectly with something I’m working on.
There is a seemingly just concern that the proliferation of social media is thickening the walls between individuals, that we needn’t go out and socialize because we have more people to interact with on our computers than we could ever have enough time to devote to. But it seems this is not the case, and to that I applaud loudly.
While not new to social media, I am somewhat new to fully embracing it for its potential. Rather than seeing it as uncensored spewing of meaningless mood notifications, I now see that Twitter posts, Facebook events, and the like are enriching my knowledge of my city. When utilized by engaged, passionate people, creating and maintaining an online community actually allows me to feel the pulse of this city. I am more intrigued than ever.
Thanks again for posting this,
and congrats on your passion for aiding artists’ businesses.
Thanks, Ashley.
Conversely, I’m finding that my involvement in social media is leading to more in-person meetings, and more in-depth relationships with folks that I am able to connect with online.
It sounds like it shouldn’t work that way, but it is!
And I think it’s pretty cool.
Thank you Ashley!
So good to know that even though I’m blogging, people will still come out to events 🙂
Mam..I’m new in blogging world..thank you for your information…