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

art meets tech

What is MR and How Does it Create Exceptionally Immersive Experiences?

What is MR and How Does it Create Exceptionally Immersive Experiences?

MR, or Mixed Reality, is appearing across the arts world, but its actual meaning is not well understood. A strong beginning includes a foundational understanding of the concepts of reality and virtuality. The future application of MR technology is unlimited, increasing the possibility of creating experiences that reflect what is seen in sci-fi films. While many practitioners believe that MR is the future, the technology lacks popularity in the consumer market. However, with the continuous development of MR technology, more cost-effective solutions will be found, and the future of a truly immersive experience will come.

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Comparing Digital Access with Arts Vibrancy in the U.S.

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Comparing Digital Access with Arts Vibrancy in the U.S.

An estimated 18 million households in the United States do not have access to home broadband. This is a statistic that arts managers should consider when planning online programming and in-person events as the world opens up. By looking closer at the digital divide and comparing counties’ internet access to their arts vibrancy, as measured by SMU DataArts, this article will look at the United States’ digital divide and how it impacts opportunities for arts participation.

Artist Perspectives on Net Art and New Media

Artist Perspectives on Net Art and New Media

In less than three decades, the end of net art movement has been announced more times than its new beginning has been declared. The early 2000s brought a new group of net artists who saw utopian potential in the internet and began using it as a tool to demonstrate independence from traditional art markets. The net artists of today are more easily defined within the genre of new media art rather than net art since their work explores not only the technology of the internet but also the technologies employed on the internet and the socio-political contexts that it produces. Stereyl and Blas—two artists included in this post—reflect a sentiment of contemporary new media artists: the virtual ecosystem is not the same as it was a ten years ago. What defines new media art is a continuing analysis and reflection on this ecosystem.

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Orchestras' Post-Pandemic Digital Future

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Orchestras' Post-Pandemic Digital Future

There is no use in waiting for the world to “go back to normal”: orchestras need to keep pushing forward and adjusting to the new reality. Covid-19 has proven, yet again, that people are interested in classical music, that it can and should have a stronger online presence, and that it has the power to bring peace—especially in times of uncertainty. Orchestras need to stake their place and assert their relevance in society. I envision a world where orchestras operate using “two stages”: one physical and one digital.

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How Covid-19 Has Impacted Live Audience-Based TV Shows

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How Covid-19 Has Impacted Live Audience-Based TV Shows

One of the areas of the entertainment industry that has been hit the hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic is live audience-based TV. Not only is it difficult for show participants to film in person, but social distancing guidelines also prevent live audience members from attending normally. To investigate the effects of the pandemic on live audience-based TV, this post will look at the political, economic, social, and technological factors that are impacting live entertainment in the United States.

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Third Place Theory and Virtual Platforms: How Arts Organizations Might Build Community Online

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Third Place Theory and Virtual Platforms: How Arts Organizations Might Build Community Online

Arts organizations play important roles in their communities beyond providing access to art itself. Arts organizations are also valued venues for human connection. In LaPlaca Cohen’s Culture Track 2017, 68% of respondents indicated “interacting with others” as a draw for cultural participation, and about half of respondents in LaPlaca Cohen’s 2020 study, Culture and Community in a Time of Crisis, revealed desires for cultural organizations to communities “stay connected” during this time. These data points demonstrate that audiences look to arts organizations to not only foster connections through art, but also nurture communities beyond the art. One way to do this is by creating virtual third places. While arts organizations are unlikely to build entire VR-based worlds for their patrons, arts administrators might consider how to adapt existing platforms to help reproduce some if not all of the socially-leveling, conversation-focused environments they’ve worked to cultivate in their physical spaces.

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Adapting to the Pandemic: The Enterprise Center and Wolf Trap

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Adapting to the Pandemic: The Enterprise Center and Wolf Trap

To investigate how the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting the live music industry, we will look to case studies of venues that normally host concerts. In this first set of case studies, we will look at the Enterprise Center and the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. The Enterprise Center is a 22,000 capacity (for concerts) arena in St. Louis, Missouri. Located in Northern Virginia, Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts was the first National Park dedicated to the performing arts. Performances take place at the Filene Center, The Barns, and Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods, and the foundation also operates the Wolf Trap Opera Company. Because it is currently not safe for either of these venues to operate at full capacity, these case studies will investigate technology-based alternatives.

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Virtual Production in Television and Beyond

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Virtual Production in Television and Beyond

As discussed in Part I of this series, virtual production (VP) is the unique intersection of physical and digital filmmaking that blends video game technology with filmmaking techniques into the pre-production and production process. VP is not just the technology that allows the integration of digital and traditional techniques, but also the methods through which it is used. If implemented in the TV industry, VP could lead to reduced costs since it allows for increased efficiency in the production process. Many other industries could also learn from this streamlined process, including live entertainment and the arts.

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An Introduction to Virtual Production and Its Use in the Entertainment Industry

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An Introduction to Virtual Production and Its Use in the Entertainment Industry

Virtual production (VP) is “a broad term referring to a spectrum of computer-aided production and visualization filmmaking methods.” It is not just the technology itself, but also the methods through which it is used. In Parts I and II of this series, we are investigating the technology as well as the methodologies of VP in the broadest definition. The types of VP we will discuss in this post are visualization, performance capture, and LED walls. While VP has benefited the film industry specifically, as innovation with the technology continues, other fields of entertainment—such as live entertainment, fashion, and news reporting—are also leveraging virtual production’s capabilities. The arts and entertainment sector could benefit from learning more about these methods and considering how they could apply these technologies to create engaging virtual experiences.