MESOC Serapeum | Where culture meets AI

Id		142
Author		Bonet, L., ; Négrier, E.,
Title		Breaking the Fourth Wall. Proactive Audiences in the Performing Arts
Reference		Bonet, L.; Négrier, E. (eds.) (2018). Breaking the Fourth Wall. Proactive Audiences in the Performing Arts. Elverum: Kunnskapsverket.
Link to article		http://www.ub.edu/cultural/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Breaking-the-fourth-wall.pdf
Abstract		This book is one of the outputs of the Be SpectACTive! EU-funded project. It is not a conference proceedings, although the reflections derive from a conference entitled "The Proactive Role of Live Performance Audiences", organized in Barcelona at the end of 2016. This book gives an important place to the controversies surrounding the question of participation in the cultural and artistic fields. This debate gathers researchers who have developed through their work an original and documented point of view on the issue. Then, it brings together those who have been active in Barcelona among cultural, academic and artistic actors. Thus, this book proposes a dynamic state of the considerations that accompany the Be SpectACTive! project since its launch, at the beginning of 2015.

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Broadly speaking, empowering a community can be understood as providing individuals with access to tools and services such as training, education and healthcare. .
Participatory residencies could also build new links between the venue and specific social groups or institutions (for example, partnerships with neighborhood associations, community groups or social institutions). .
At the same time, it gave birth to unexpected models of cultural and artistic experimentation. .
However, it is interesting to observe that participatory experiences in the cultural sector are leading new processes of creation, art programming and policy. .
Additionally, these new relationships with other sectors (social, economic, educational, youth) allow for new spaces of intersection and convergence that, in turn, enhance greater institutional support, commitment and/or coordination. .
A further shift in the rationale of participatory arts practices lies in the new attention towards social interaction between different groups and intercultural encounter and exchange. .
The benefits of cultural participation are not limited to the participants, but they also include the artistic milieu of a country. .
This biodiversity should engage different people in cultural consumption and participation and, in a best-case scenario, develop new interactions and connections, potentially having a positive impact on the venues reputation, through quality work and positive audience experience. .
In this sense, the influence of the geographical context is fundamental to understand the form and depth in which strategies such as audience development are incorporated in the discourse and praxis of cultural projects. .
Given the positive effect of participating in cultural activities, arts and culture might be the starting point for this discussion, initiating and developing forms of participation that promote dialogue and intercultural exchange. .
In my opinion, there has been another interesting aspect of participatory arts engagement in recent cultural management and policy debates. .
A context that encourages active participation of spectators has the potential to provide artists with useful input in support of their creative work. .
For project leaders, one way to address this issue is to think about how art can be useful to peoples everyday life and relevant to local communities, helping them to generate, establish, and interpret meaning. .
In turn, this enables them to enjoy a wider range of artistic expressions. .
Developing a holistic and long-term digital proposition is an opportunity for using digital to promote public understanding and enjoyment of performing arts and to reinforce audience engagement, providing authentic insight to artists: it can be a strategic win-win approach. .
Furthermore, biodiversity of a cultural ecosystem is key to an ongoing lively cultural ambience that democratizes cultural consumption by providing various quality alternatives. .
Participatory artists require a particular skill set, and they should conceive of themselves as facilitators and conduits of creativity; as enrichers of artistic engagement; as enablers of cultural and artistic meaning. .
Extending this idea, it was mentioned that participation starts where communication and interaction begin and this makes research (on people to be engaged in cultural consumption) a good start. .
Festivals provide interesting examples of how the interplay of space and art can foster participation and exchange. .
This new marketing strategy could serve as a tool for cultural access, helping laypersons in entering the cultural realm, through the opportunities provided, for example, by interacting and participating in cultural programming. .
Also, there could be ways of empowering young people who take friends with them to see culture. .
The contrast pushes the visitors to interaction, as we see in the image: the artistic setup increases our natural curiosity and makes more apparent the exceptionality of the artistic experience. .
Let's make sure the artists and arts organisations are free to choose methods to create relevant works of art as well as audiences being free to choose how they want to become engaged in culture without being put into categories and problematized. .
Artistic quality and audience empowerment. .
At that time, interesting examples could be found in the context of community art, where local communities are involved as a part of the artistic process, expressing themselves and connecting with others through experiences of free art making. .
The production of new performances in Be SpectACTive! counts with the collaboration of local communities, associations, schools or intellectuals, with the aim to nourish the process of creation starting from the main topic of the art project. .
In some cases, venues could change their perception of programming and, more generally, their role as a cultural institution (for example, their perception of the artistic expertise and the sharing process, the opening of the venue to external initiatives, the cultural diversity and definition of artistic quality...), which can lead organizations to democratize their decision-making process and to transform their structure, in a long-term perspective. .
From the artists viewpoint, outcomes of participatory residencies may include: discovering and experimenting with new creative processes (for instance, it drives some artists to innovate in their methods, or to imagine new skills in their teams) ; mixing different aesthetics and artistic disciplines, transforming the content and the form of their shows (particularly when the project is permeable to participants influence) ; challenging the classical definition of show, and its borders with the creation process; learning to build new relations with audiences (e.g. feeling closer and being more responsive to their feedbacks); changing perception of the artists social role, etc. .
Depending on the social background of participants, some places could imagine developing new cultural actions, groups of amateurs, participatory programming activities, sustainable partnerships with institutions in the neighborhood, offering spaces and opportunities for participants to continue creating with the support of the venue, etc. .
On the other hand, participatory residencies can be seen as a means to reach other goals than merely creation, like opening the doors of the artistic process to audiences, spreading artistic resources and transmitting the will to create to amateurs, helping people express themselves, renewing a venues audiences, democratizing the cultural institutions... - the finality being the process itself. .
In short, the real pursuit of their mission as an open interface between citizens and artistic creation, as an actual tool by and for the community. .
And artists (creators) may want to experiment with new creative processes, new relations with audiences, or transforming the format and/or content of their shows. .
Approaching the artistic work from a position of knowledge allows the spectator not only to admire the work but also to advance with the artist along the path of innovation that a piece of art requires (ibid). .
The ability to look at the artistic work from the publics point of view defines the profile of the professional as one who creates interactive experiences, without forgetting his/her responsibility as curator. .
Active involvement of the audience in the selection process could also be an invitation to the artists to renew the way of thinking about their method of artistic creation. .
If this is successfully achieved, it should result in more active participation, which in turn leads to audiences approaching art and artists with more respect, since these experiences provide them with a deeper knowledge and understanding of the artistic (and technical) processes that need to take place for an event or work of art to occur. .
As people grow familiar with and become knowledgeable about a specific type of art, their tastes expand and diversify. .
Introduction Contemporary cultural organizations need to take into account a variety of factors when deciding to face the challenge of developing, diversifying and engaging - new and established - audiences. .
Nevertheless, it helps to understand the current diversification of cultural policy instruments towards participation. .
Participatory cultural policies, however, are not limited to community arts projects; some initiatives are aimed at involving local communities, with a special attention to those who do not usually engage in cultural activities, in the decision-making process of cultural policies. .
On the one hand, the EU programme highlights a qualitative relationship between cultural venues and spectators, fostering processes of co-creation and practices addressing a variety of audiences who represent a new society. .
Theatres and cultural organisations, in light of the variety of audience engagement processes, are becoming places where new ideas, citizens and networks can meet, coexist and express their values. .
These processes offer a new opportunity for spectators to select some shows in the artistic programme of theatres and festivals, thereby activating a process of awareness-raising around the performing arts. .
Promoting audiences commitment and participation in the creation, production and programming process of performing arts leads to thinking about various aspects presented here below. .
The number of spectators/visitors cannot be the only indicator to describe the success of a project where people are actively involved in the meaning-making or in the artistic process. .
Cultural programming -nowadays- means to connect different kinds of people with different kinds of attention processes, programming is a key feature of cultural mediation, including issues of marketing and experience, but also issues of accessibility, that offers many interesting opportunities, not solely one authoritative high culture product, but a broad range of cultural consumption alternatives. .
In the specific case of participatory practice in the performing arts, active and face-to-face participation of audiences should be motivated not only by its social and experiential benefits, but also by the potential impact in terms of personal learning and development. .
In particular, carnivals and similar festivals can not only celebrate the cultural expressions of minorities, but can function as cultural assets that belongs to the whole city, and as vehicles for civic identity (ibid). .
As acknowledged above, participatory arts engagement can bring great joy to the participants, initiate new social relationships, get people out of their comfort zones, possibly stimulate communities and enhance family bonds. .
One of the ways suggested by the report to spark interest in culture, especially for what concerns young people, is to give more relevance to the arts and humanities in the school environment. .
Recent studies have also established a clear link between artistic participation and wellbeing. .
Community arts projects for social inclusion sometimes aim to provide a panacea for underlying issues of inequality and precariousness. .
They are a sort of creative producers who should be sensitive to the artists language, capable of connecting people and, therefore, creating community. .
The inclusion of these outsiders in the daily life of cultural organizations has also resulted in the creation of new professional figures who serve as a bridge between the organization and the audience. .
Under this perspective, digital means, in Audience Development strategies, the opportunity to explore new possibilities, not only in communication and advertising (through social media and Internet), but also in the area of audience analysis (big data, digital social data, ticketing profiling, behavioural tracking, etc.) and in the capacity to interconnect physical and digital experience and to create new spaces of dialogue and relationship between artists and audiences. .
Such diversity of professional profiles may contribute, on the one hand, to promoting more direct relationships between creators and spectators; and, on the other hand, to create multiple ties that, to its fullest potential, result in greater interaction with segmented audiences and bonds of co-responsibility with citizens. .
Processes of participation and co-creation have been shown to deepen audience engagement and provide authentic insights to artists. .
Artistic skills that come with being a competent artist are thus socially acquired in socialization, in the family and at school. .
These insights will perhaps help the readers critical understanding of the problematics behind immediate claims such as: quality is good and we need more of it and allowing audiences decision-making power in the arts creation process makes the arts more democratic. .
In the specific case of artistic quality in participatory processes with audiences, the question could be reworded in the following way: are we more interested in the process of engaging and empowering audiences or, instead, are we more concerned on the final artistic result of the participatory activity? .
On the benefits for audiences A consultation carried out in Catalonia in 2016 (Bonet et al., 2016), involving spectators who are actively engaged in different areas of performing arts activity, demonstrates that the participatory experience brings about multiple benefits in terms of effective use of leisure time, contribution towards the improvement of social reality, learning the scenic languages and heritage, deeper knowledge of the sector, direct knowledge of creators activity, etc. .
Most promising in this regard could be the use of digital technologies for improving the cultural experience of users. .
Also, practical approaches to working with a community (town or small venue) coincided in ascribing importance to knowing the audience, working with them and building communication and relations, considered as key aspects to successfully engaging new people in cultural consumption and practice. .
This paper aims to look at some of the events that are contributing to the development of the notion of participation and active spectatorship in the performing arts sector. .
However, thanks to the multiple effects they can produce, participatory residencies represent an opportunity to transform the relations between audiences, venues and artists, as to change the way these actors see their respective roles. .
In many cases, it is about empowering people who have already some cultural interests and accept to include among them, for the first time, also the performing arts. .
Furthermore, the growth of social media fostered new internet-based forms of participation and expressiveness: the internet offers the possibility to create communities, organize participatory decision-making processes, communicate quickly, share work and collaborate effectively on common projects. .
This is a crowd-culture strategy aimed at creating a sense of belonging among a complex community who shares cultures, languages and experiences. .
This could also serve the goal of keeping such spaces fresh, up-to-date and open to new ideas that resonate with the local community. .
This enables them to prosper, at the same time it gives them the opportunity to influence and be involved in their community, actively participating in the decision-making processes that affect their everyday lives. .
It seems we want to save people from something and it may be risky. .
What is important is not the creation of astounding platforms, but the process itself: the way of building up a sense of belonging of a community, that responds to the desire to be the centre of attention, the feeling of empowerment (no matter the way) and personal satisfaction, the idea of being involved in a journey (not only personal, but also collective), the opportunity to have fun. .
This introduces a sense of belonging in the arts, a form of free exchange of creative energy. .
Openness is also one of the most important aims of recent policies adopted by some cultural institutions: in order to foster participation and accessibility, arts spaces are involved in the revitalisation of neighbourhoods, to establish links with the local economy and support local artists (Grodach, 2010). .
A pleasurable and interesting experience should be a fortunate by-product of the empowering, enlightening and emancipatory influence of an excellent artwork, not an end in itself. .
In other words, professional artists need oftentimes to supplement their income with a steady paying career. .
At the same time, this represents a great opportunity to inform the audience about the complexities of managing an arts production. .
This kind of urban cultural policy was aimed at improving the external images of cities (particularly industrial and port cities which has suffered from processes of economic restructuring), attracting inward investment, developing the creative industries and tourism sectors, and encouraging property developers to regenerate derelict or underused former industrial areas (particularly in or adjacent to city centres), by taking advantage of the potential of cultural activities to rebrand such places. .
Collaborative marketing also considered that the stakeholders of a performing arts project can turn into a community of interest. .
Participatory budgeting, instead, is a more inclusive and holistic approach to participatory decision-making that might have beneficial results for the political status of the arts and for levels of arts funding by national and local governments. .
Participants were of the opinion that marketing can be used to increase existing demand and potentially develop new demand. .
This approach turns the value chain into a virtuous cycle, where audiences represent an operational stage increasing the value contributed by creators, producers and promoters. .
Here are presented some of the main positive effects identified through field research, respectively on artists, participants and venues (positive according to their different points of view). .
The proposal of cultural rights can thus be schematically defined as recognizing in equal dignity the cultures experienced and chosen by the people, and strengthening their capacities of expression, access and exchange. .
This approach values diversity, which is considered an important advantage (Wood, Landry & Bloomfield, 2006, p. 10), openness and interculturalism as a way to foster growth and mutual exchange between different cultural groups (idem, p. 12). .
Stimulating intercultural participation In order to stimulate intercultural participation, it is necessary to acknowledge and overcome the geographical division of different communities in the city and to plan the location of cultural infrastructure accordingly. .
In this scenario, Be SpectACTive! provides an interesting case study, due to the variety of organisations that constitute the network and their unique geographical perspective that they bring in their cultural practice. .
Thus, recognition of cultural plurality involves an inclusive representation of different tastes and interests in that repertoire. .
These values relate to the ancillary effects of culture, where culture is used to achieve a social or economic purpose. .
Is it possible to design processes that will bring benefits not only to creators, but also to venues and audiences? .
Audiences legitimate art and culture and make them sustainable. .
Other strategies developed by cultural organizations to enhance their relationships with the audience concern the use of digital technologies. .
This moved the focus of cultural policy towards the transformative potential of cultural democracy and towards popular participation in cultural activities as a way to foster social inclusion. .
Indeed, when applied for curating additional information and providing an increased understanding of the content, they could make experiences more shareable. .
Audience development is one of the main priorities that artists, theatres, cultural institutions and art companies had to deal with over the last few years. .
This partly explains why programs are mostly designed by venue-related arts professionals and by cultural institutions (in the ways portrayed in the above discussion), taking high culture to smaller venues. .
As an active part of the value chain, prosumers help, on the one hand, to reduce production costs, whilst cultural organizations, on the other hand, gain in terms of loyalty, commitment and economic and social profitability. .
Starting from the need to gain a deeper knowledge of audiences, cultural organizations could implement loyalty programs, by inviting target groups not only to attend to performances, but also to take part in meaningful experiences, thus creating bonds of mutual trust, shared interest and worthwhile expectations from both sides of the relationship. .
Public buildings dedicated to the creation, production and performance of art and culture, for instance, could be controlled by several collectives/organizations to build true community art centers, comprising different art forms and different sizes and types of organizations, all directly linked to the local community. .
When it comes to the arts, one way to empower a community is to offer its members the chance to become part of a team that selects a portion, or the totality, of a venues or festivals artistic program. .
This is an important point, because it places audiences at the heart of the arts in a role of creative centricity. .
In some cities the economic downturn made access to low-cost premises for cultural activities easier. .
However naive this may sound, I would still trust the artists and cultural organisations to develop excellent, emancipating and empowering work, which offers a view of the world from a new angle with the author being responsible for its relevance. .
The site-specific approach in the performing arts sector is another example of collaboration between artists and communities, where the former nourish their creations with contributions from the local people and their stories. .
With the same logic, artistic programming is symbolically the space in which cultural and social complexities can find their expression. .
Assessing the quality of artistic work is probably one of the greatest challenges faced by the cultural sector. .
Given that artistic quality is the main focus of the workshop sessions, it is important to go in depth in the problem of defining this intrinsic value, which is completely unique to the arts. .
This is problematic in a sector where organisational missions are generally related to the production of high-quality art, which in turn (rightly or wrongly) tends to privilege artistically-led organisations. .
These international collaborations caused the emergence of transnational festivals, such as Transeuropa, that explore European cultural and artistic alternatives. .
A spreadable conception should focus on creating media texts that various audiences may want to share for different purposes, thus inviting people to shape the right context for these materials. .
By helping European cultural works to reach audiences in other countries, the program will also contribute to safeguarding cultural and linguistic diversity (Ibid). .
People from cultural organizations sometimes jump into such projects because of the money they can get, not because they actually believe in it, or due to the legitimization they confer to forward-thinking policymakers. .
While not exactly new, these professions could bring fresh knowledge and strategic perspectives in the cultural sector, in order to reach new niches and/or increase participation among current audiences. .
I aim to present the reader with thought-provoking statements and questions that will hopefully offer an interesting view of the subject. .
The creation process creates links and bonds with the communities; whereas the artists and the organisations are the medium that brings about contents and information. .
The synergy between artists and art organizations is paramount, in terms of facilitating and conveying creativity and as enrichers of cultural and artistic meaning: what artists do in the digital space must mirror the attitude of the real-life artistic approach. .
The aim of this project is to increase cultural democracy by giving people the opportunity to talk to artists and commission public artworks. .
We could imagine, for example, that cultural institutions organize the commissioning of participatory artistic residencies in collaboration with groups of inhabitants and/or spectators? .
The interactive role of participatory creative residences: the artist, the venue and the audience perspective. .
Thus, participation depends -to some extent- on the decisions (and the ability) of the artists (and venues) to foster audience participation. .
For example: how does a venue choose an artistic experimental company to invite people for participative processes? .
Artists tend to feel that they should be able to participate in this discussion. .
Communication is key in defining roles and guidelines for artists and audiences, and also for accessibility of audiences through innovation. .
From the ideas expressed in the workshops, it is clear that artistic programming with active spectators entails many challenges. .
However, the notions of participatory audience practices concern various levels of involvement, and artistic experimentation with digital technologies leads to a new understanding of the active role of audiences and eventually their impact on the artists creative process. .
In recent years, cultural policies at the European level, and even at national and local levels, have encouraged the cultural sector to adopt audience-centric approaches, to enlarge and diversify audiences. .
One of the biggest challenges of a participatory approach is to get citizens involved and receive their legitimation of the artistic participatory processes, opening these to the local community. .
Speakers and delegates exchanged ideas about what it means for audiences to participate actively in the arts, to co-produce artistic outputs and experiences, to get involved in aspects of programming and management, and to be politically and organisationally empowered. .
We are trying to make the artists consider their creation not only as the expression of their personal needs, but also as the expression of a social vision, as the result of the communitys thoughts and sensibility, of which the artist is the most sensitive medium, and not the one and only generator. .
Images, video, pictures, text messages are mixed up in order to find easy and intuitive ideas for developing the relationship and engaging with audiences and users: artists stimuli became the starting point to develop co-creative solutions, offering diversified opinions, feedback, suggestions and new ideas for the artists themselves. .
In the framework of this convergence, one of the most frequent challenges is represented by creative clashes between performing arts companies and participants, namely all those experiences where different reactions and point views of creators and audiences need to be overcome, in order to produce synergies and interaction between both sides. .
In this sense, it is possible to talk about qualities of the artistic work, as there are multiple aspects to take into account in the evaluation process. .
So artistic practice, as a kind of social interaction, also relies on these frames of interpretation that go beyond the immediate intention of the spectator. .
These kinds of actions use to contribute to the strengthening and even to a certain expansion of existing relationships with the audience. .
Regarding venues, participatory residencies can allow to reach new audiences, as mentioned above, or to set up new relations with regular audiences, that could exist only if venues are open enough, through participatory programming, for instance. .
Anyway, we entered in contact with many theatres and festivals already active in different audience development projects, that accepted to experience this radical challenge: to create an artistic programming cooperating with a local group of active spectators. .
This does not imply that it is not legitimate to try to grow audiences and actively engage them, which is certainly a praiseworthy endeavor, or that these diverse audiences ought to be excluded from cultural activities. .
It relates to involving audiences in some or all different operational activities concerning the production of a performance (from planning rehearsals to staging). .
A project led by arts professionals takes contemporary dance to villages, creating events in public spaces routinely used and appropriated by locals, consequently, utilizing the common space as a common language and as an element of cultural presentation, discourse and consumption. .
Proof of the democratizing potential of this strategy is found in the incredibly successful experiences in engaging young people from deprived areas in classical music practice. .
Similarly synergistic was the idea of developing festivals, including both international and local artists, facilitating relations, engagement and collaboration. .
The idea of cultural democracy at the time had a political value, as participation by citizens in cultural activities (not merely as spectators but also as cultural producers) was seen as a way to alert peoples consciousness of situations of injustice and subordination, and to trigger wider processes of potentially revolutionary social and political change. .
In addition to the issue of access to cultural content and democratic participation, the active role of the spectators intends to represent new social groups and new values. .
Training and available hardware and software devices allow to create and share all kinds of artistic expressions. .
Digital can be seen as a useful tool to break barriers down and to reach more diverse audiences - overcoming prejudices, myths and preconceptions. .
In the field of culture, the result of this sequence of changes is the emergence of new forms of participant empowerment: bloggers, YouTubers, or co-audiences, among others. .
On the goals of audiences engagement and participation Many considerations can be made around audience engagement: .
What these non-building based models facilitate is assuredly diverse sites and modes of audience engagement and participation. .
Public space and public events also play a key role in the creation of intercultural dialogue. .
On the opposite side, there could be a model that starts from a wider public base, developing participatory activities where a large group of citizens take part in and have a real influence on the process, in a bottom-up perspective. .
The key implication of this is that leaders of change-ready organisations need to be relational and participatory; good hosts who are happy to serve their communities and share their leadership and power. .
Co-creation can take the participant on an exciting journey, create a pleasurable experience and deepen the engagement in art for an individual participant (Walmsley, 2013). .
Artistic projects and processes Venues are not the only responsible for successful participation; as artists specific qualities and strategies affect the process as well. .
Performing arts organisations are therefore called to acknowledge and welcome the benefits of using digital for audience development practices: Digital in Audience Development strategies gives not only the possibility to explore new ways in communication and advertising (through social media and the Internet), but also in the area of audience analysis (big data, digital social data, ticketing, profiling, behavioural tracking, etc.) and in the domain of augmented virtual and interactive / peer-to-peer experiences. .
The risk is to destroy any prospect of creation, social bond, civic concern of cultural diversity, and to align cultural exchanges with a purely commercial logic, or with the manipulation of popular tastes. .

ARTICLE - CANDIDATE TRANSITION VARIABLES

Results: