Accessibility, Artificial Intelligence, museums
Staff Researcher
Envisioning the Future of Museum Accessibility ...

With AI’s ability to automatically produce content and process complicated datasets with high accuracy, museums worldwide are exploring ways in which this innovative technology can help them better achieve their missions and advance accessibility efforts. Through case studies, learn about three applications of this technology: content digitalization, language accessibility, and visual description.

Envisioning the Future of Museum Accessibility Through Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence, Public Policy, News & Announcements
Ian Hawthorne
October News: New Policies and Possibilities ...

October was filled with new debates on AI policies, a halt to one of the most significant AI safety bills in the United States, and a host of new AI developments in video, music, and even podcasts.

October News: New Policies and Possibilities for AI
Data, Fundraising, Marketing
Ian Hawthorne
Data Cultures Part I: The Many Markets of Arts ...

Arts and cultural nonprofits often operate in multiple markets for earned and contributed revenue. With increasing attention on data-driven decision making, effective market orientation often depends on effective data use. This fundamental collection, transmission, use, and interpretation of data within an organization collectively contributes to what can be considered an organization’s data culture.

Data Cultures Part I: The Many Markets of Arts Organizations
Advocacy, Community Building, Public Policy
Ian Hawthorne
Democracy on Display: The Dynamic Role of Art ...

Museums have increasingly begun to volunteer their spaces as polling places, acting as a democratic vehicle for their communities and adding to the greater fabric of America’s election infrastructure. In doing so, they can support local democratic processes and prove to their communities that they are not unbreachable temples for the elite, but open platforms for the people.

Democracy on Display: The Dynamic Role of Art Museums in Elections
Artificial Intelligence, entertainment, Film
Staff Researcher
Part I: A New Era of AI in the Entertainment ...

As exemplified by the Hollywood strikes of 2023, we find ourselves in a new era of Artificial  Intelligence in film and television. While studios are looking to cut costs, performers seek job security, and consumers seek quality content. Through research conducted in collaboration with facial motion capture technology provider Faceware Technologies Inc., Master of Entertainment Industry Management students at Carnegie Mellon sought to gain insight on how AI-generated content will transform existing industries, including how this technology could affect employment in the entertainment industry, content development,  budgets, contracts, legislation, and privacy rights.

Part I: A New Era of AI in the Entertainment Industry

Independent Film

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A Path for Greater Diversity in Film Festivals

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A Path for Greater Diversity in Film Festivals

Film festivals are an essential part of the movie industry, as they provide opportunities for creators to garner recognition and to secure distribution for their films. However, there is a lack of racial representation and inclusion in the entertainment industry that prevents filmmakers of color from having the same opportunities as their White counterparts.

This study analyzes the current state of diversity and inclusion of Black, Indigenous, (and) People of Color within film festivals in Europe, the United States, and Canada. Assumptions behind the research are that with meaningful change implemented to increase racial diversity in festivals’ programming staff there will be a selection of more diverse film directors. This report consists of parts:

  1. Interviews focused on filmmakers and film festival programmers. These are used to reveal common trends from personal experiences regarding diversity within film festivals

  2. Analysis of a survey of film festival attendees conducted to understand their perceptions of diversity and inclusion in festivals’ lineup and programming staff

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Democratizing Independent Film distribution

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From Here to Awesome I know that this festival has been around for a little over a year, but I still find myself visiting their homepage.

From Here to Awesome is presenting a new method of movie distribution that relies upon online viewer votes to decide which movies will be distributed.  The festival has no submission fees, the filmmakers retain all rights to their film and filmmakers make money directly.  This film festival is bypassing a lot of the industry gatekeepers to help distribute films that audiences want to see by using a simple online social platform.

I think that it is a really amazing way for independent filmmakers to get instant feedback from their audiences as well as to talk about some of the advances in the field that are creating higher production levels on lower budgets.

Filmmaker Fritz Donnelly, creator of the movie "To the Hills 2," describes the current state of the film making industry and points out many of the problems inherent in the system on From Here to Awesome's Festival Blog.  The Q&A session focuses on the possible technological utopia of film making and distribution of the future, and the hope that it brings.

This festival seems to have been a great success, considering that by July 26th, the festival's 22 selected showcase films will be available online on Amazon, Vudu, Netflix, IndieFlix.com, Hereticfilms.com, Hulu, Joost, Cacchi, and Vuze.  Recent theatrical screenings have also taken place in San Francisco, Boston, and London, as well as over 25 guerrilla drive-in screening events.

I can see that the future of independent and documentary film distribution will have the tendancy to become more democratized as festivals like From Here to Awesome create more of an online marketplace, and the costs of quality production start to come down.  The prices of cameras and editing software are reaching a point where they are accessable to more and more people with a story to tell.