Analytics, Data, Management
Ian Hawthorne
Data Cultures Part II: Breaking Free from the ...

An overemphasis on data-driven work within the nonprofit sector has been shown to result in cycles of disempowerment, driven by third-party data demands of funding bodies.. This compounds due to the many market orientations nonprofits need to adopt, particularly prevalent among the arts. A key to navigating these markets and funder requirements lies in identifying a specific data culture best fit for your organization and investing in resources and training in order to achieve that framework sustainably.

Data Cultures Part II: Breaking Free from the Cycle of Disempowerment
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

Community Building

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Intangible Cultural Heritage: Context and Digital Approaches for Safeguarding Efforts

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Intangible Cultural Heritage: Context and Digital Approaches for Safeguarding Efforts

Digitization efforts for cultural heritage are standard practice for institutions of all sizes, ranging from simple metadata records to elaborate 3D renderings of ancient sites. While the discussion of digitally preserving cultural heritage at large is prominent, the intersection of intangible cultural heritage and digitization practices requires specific recognition. This includes understanding intangible cultural heritage and its value for society. This article examines the emerging and evolving landscape of intangible cultural heritage, its global impact, and current efforts for safeguarding these intangible items in order to address how this field is being organized and used.

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VR and Cultural Heritage Recreation

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VR and Cultural Heritage Recreation

As museums and heritage attractions are restricted by distancing and capacity rule during the COVID-19 pandemic, digital strategies undoubtedly gather more interest than ever before. Virtual Reality (VR) has been put to use in the cultural sector a way to deliver exciting and immersive exhibitions. The communication between archaeologists and technicians is critical for the accuracy of the VR reconstruction and museums should work closely with their technology team and emphasize their obligation to public education in these creations. This insures that museums can keep the integrity of cultural heritage exhibits while providing an exciting and immersive educational experience of the past with technology that looks toward the future.

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Fundraising as Activism through the Community-Centric Model

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Fundraising as Activism through the Community-Centric Model

Currently, fundraising in the nonprofit sector uses a “donor-centric” model in which donors’ preferences for the organization’s direction are often prioritized over community needs. In the technology realm, donor centrism demands nonprofits’ use of advanced CRM systems to carefully track donors. Community-centric fundraising has emerged as an alternative that prioritizes community needs and social justice. Community-centric fundraising not only has the power to strengthen the fundraising profession as a form of activism, but its successful implementation means that the marginalized communities our organizations seek to serve will receive the attention, care, and justice they deserve.

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The Case and Tools for Building Online Communities in the Arts

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The Case and Tools for Building Online Communities in the Arts

As the pandemic presses on, building stronger online communities can help arts organizations serve the immediate needs of all audience members now and increase access to art and community for audience members who prefer to participate from home in the future. Though no virtual platform can perfectly replace the organic community built by in-person interaction, virtual third places might create something similarly joyful and uniquely accessible to connect arts communities in times of pandemic-driven social isolation and beyond.

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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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Young, Diverse, and Loyal: Engaging a New Audience

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Young, Diverse, and Loyal: Engaging a New Audience

Many institutions are rethinking their approach to diversity in the light of renewed protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Theatre companies throughout the nation are a part of this wave, rethinking everything from season planning to staff structure. Yet one of the largest issues at hand is the lack of diversity in audiences. Theatre audiences are dwindling, and those audience members that remain tend to fall into a very narrow set of demographics: usually older, white, and affluent. Theatre companies will have to reach out to new groups If they want to continue working and thriving well into the future.

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Build Interactivity into Public Art: Technology Interventions

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Build Interactivity into Public Art: Technology Interventions

One key element that differs public art from art produced for display in museums and galleries is that public art is often site-specific. It is critical to make public art more reflective of the place and community in which it resides through interactive and participatory approaches. How can technology contribute to the systems and interventions designed to drive public engagement?

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Building Interactivity into Public Art

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Building Interactivity into Public Art

Do you think that interactivity can improve an audience’s relationship with public art? One key element that differs public art from art produced for display in museums and galleries is that public art is often site-specific, meaning it is created in response to the place and community in which it resides. Therefore, creating public art needs a certain level of customization to the physical local environment.

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Virtual Solutions in the Arts During Covid19

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Virtual Solutions in the Arts During Covid19

Over the last week, society has faced unprecedented territory with the increasing spread of Covid-19. As communities quarantine themselves and take precautions against greater spread, arts and cultural organizations are joining in the effort by closing their doors. Amidst all of this, arts managers are coming up with creative solutions to offer their content and services to the public Now, more than ever, the arts must rely on technology to deliver their content. Below is a sampling qua starter list of virtual responses to Covid19 to date (March 17, 2020).

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Beyond Livestreaming: Remote Theatre Attendance through Virtual Reality (VR)

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Beyond Livestreaming: Remote Theatre Attendance through Virtual Reality (VR)

Virtual Reality technology is increasingly more sophisticated and powerful, and it’s predicted to fully hit the mainstream within the next year. In the performing arts VR has been adopted slowly, most commonly used for immersive experiences. However, there may be a lost opportunity: institutions can use VR simply to grow audiences.