As immersive technologies merge with AI-driven platforms, the boundaries between physical and digital life are rapidly dissolving - bringing new ethical, legal, and safety challenges into focus. This article examines the history of virtual harm in online and XR environments, from early text-based worlds to contemporary VR gaming and performance spaces, and argues for a privacy-first framework as the foundation for immersive safety. By analyzing legal gaps, platform accountability, and global policy efforts, it proposes digital “guardrails” that prioritize user dignity, data protection, and well-being as core design principles rather than afterthoughts.
This article explores the intersection of digital art, NFTs, and community governance through the lens of the furry fandom, a decentralized community of artists and enthusiasts. With the rise of NFTs, the ability to authenticate digital art and protect creators' work has become a critical concern. The study examines the resistance within the furry community to adopt NFTs, highlighting their reliance on community-based trust and governance over "trustless" blockchain systems. While some see potential in NFTs to safeguard intellectual property, many furries are skeptical, valuing social trust and ethics over commercialization. By studying the furry subculture's approach to art ownership and the challenges they face, the article poses larger questions about the future of NFTs and blockchain technology in creative spaces.
As technology continues to reshape the arts and entertainment landscape, our readers and listeners have shown a clear appetite for understanding these transformations. From AI's role in creative processes to the evolution of virtual reality and streaming, this year's most popular content reveals the questions on everyone's minds.
This article explores the rise of virtual production (VP) and its impact on contemporary filmmaking through the use of large-scale LED volumes that merge physical sets with real-time digital environments. Using high-profile productions such as The Mandalorian and 1899 as case studies, it examines how VP reshapes creative workflows across departments, redistributes labor rather than eliminating it, and demands new hybrid skill sets from designers, location managers, and technicians. The piece also addresses the role of labor unions and training programs in adapting to emerging technologies, alongside the economic challenges of scalability, access, and high upfront costs. Ultimately, the article positions virtual production as a transformative - yet uneven - evolution in the entertainment industry, emphasizing the need for equitable training and infrastructure as VP becomes a lasting mode of production.
This article explores how extended reality (XR) - including augmented, mixed, and virtual reality - is reshaping acting training by layering immersive technologies onto long-established methods like Stanislavski-based technique and the Method. Drawing on examples from Basrah to Juilliard and Odin Teatret, the piece shows how XR can deepen character work, expand dramaturgical research, and personalize feedback through data-driven simulations. At the same time, it raises urgent legal, ethical, and social questions around biometric data, FERPA and HIPAA protections, digital Blackface, and harassment in virtual spaces. Rather than treating XR as a magic solution, the article argues that thoughtful pedagogy, clear institutional policies, and equity-minded design are essential if these tools are to support - not replace - human-centered theatre education.
Though often used to analyze traffic and commerce, Google Analytics is a powerful tool whose applications are near-limitless. In this new handbook, AMT Lab contributor Kathleen Grennan illustrates a number of ways in which arts managers of all types can use Google Analytics to make data-driven decisions in operational settings. From obtaining new audiences to bolstering fundraising efforts, this is a good introduction to this flexible tool. Click here to find the full report.
What is the difference between a Data Analyst and a Data Scientist? What is the most demanded programming language for data workers entering the cultural field? And what skills are most important for those interested in working with data? AMT-Lab contributor Julia Lewis recently attended a panel which addressed these questions and more. Read her thoughts here.
The collection and analysis of consumer data is a practice that grows more ubiquitous and complex everyday. However, the dangers of mass data collection are self-apparent, and it appears that consumers might be reaching a tipping point when it comes to companies using their personal information. New evidence from the Pew Research Center suggests that growing numbers of consumers are often confused, impatient, and discouraged when it comes to how companies use their data.
Arts managers in the 21st century must go further than producing work that engages their audience. They must carefully strategize and monitor the platforms through which their audience is engaging. The San Francisco Opera’s "Tweet Seats" program is a prime of example of an arts organization not only encouraging discussion, but successfully managing the discussion around their work.
AMT-Lab contributors are always looking at all sorts of new technologies in the world of 3D. With the increasing popularity of technologies such as 3D printing, the possibilities continue to emerge. These new technologies and their uses in the art world keep us interested in how the intersection of art and technology impact our world.
Multi-touch technology may be easy to use, but how it works is far more complex. While several technologies support multi-touch functions, museums may find that certain ones suit an exhibition’s needs better than others. Choosing the right multi-touch platform is the first step in creating an interactive and personal experience for visitors.
Many arts organizations are constantly struggling to both bring in new patrons as well as maintain engagement among their existing base. Unfortunately, research shows that this hurdle is not going to disappear anytime soon due to a number of factors, as arts attendance has been on a steady decline in recent decades. Fortunately, Google Analytics gives arts managers the power to answer questions about their current audience demographics based on website traffic in order to both understand demographic trends and how best to target new audiences.
For years we have heard about the decline of subscription sales and revenue across the arts. TCG’s Theatre Facts 2014, for example, showed how “both single ticket and subscription sales were at a 5-year low in 2014.” Subscriptions specifically declined by 6%. However, according to a new study commissioned by the League of American Orchestras and conducted by the Oliver Wyman consulting firm, perhaps the issue is not subscriptions themselves, but the manner in which we have traditionally packaged and sold them.
Is your arts organization maximizing it’s potential for earned income? You may be missing out on a huge opportunity for revenue generated by your website and social media if you are not closely monitoring your position in online search results. For arts organizations in the 21st century, maximizing the return on investment of digital campaigns is not a matter of creating the best website, but in mastering the art of search engine optimization (SEO).
Every week, AMT-Lab contributors share articles on interesting news at the intersection of technology and arts management. Recently, this practice has generated lots of articles dealing with the distribution of art online. Using the Internet as the platform, museums and artists are spreading their work worldwide.
Radio Frequency identification technology (RFID) is nothing new, and many museums are already using it for inventory and security of their pieces. If organizations already have the technology, there are boundless opportunities as to how they can use it to increase efficiency and enhance the visitor’s experience. But how does this new technology work?
Data workers are the new must-have for a company. McKinsey Global Institute predicts that in the next three years, there will be a need for 1.5 million data analysts and managers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists these careers as one of the fastest growing occupations in all sectors. So from a data analyst to a business analyst to an application analyst to a data scientist, who is who? And with overlapping skills, how can a nonprofit arts organization figure out the difference?
Guest Correspondent Randolph Jones of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival attended Capacity Interactive's 2015 Digital Marketing and left elated and hopeful. The conference focused on the intersection of technology, marketing, and the arts and featured presenters from across the sector. To learn more about what these presenters had to say, and to see what insight Jones draws himself, read the full article here.
Arts organizations today face a host of challenges, ranging from traditional issues like budgetary constraints and limited staff to more recent concerns, such as shifting patron demographics and increased market disruption caused by the social media frenzy. How can Google Analytics solve these problems, and more? Read Kathleen Grennan's guide here.
Earlier this year the NEA expanded its analysis of the 2012 Survey of Public Participation in the field to better understand the drivers behind various types of participation, from attendance to art-making. This study, entitled "When the Going Gets Tough," not only provides insight into what barriers affect different types of audiences, but also reveals that there is a significant core group of "interested non-attendees."
It is easy to see the ways that the production and consumption of opera have changed to match the needs of the 21st century consumer. However, it is difficult to identify similar changes reflected in the way that opera is managed. Opera companies have altered the product they are offering, but have they come up with new metrics to measure and manage their success?
Between CRM systems, social media management, and Google Analytics, arts organizations today have access to more data than ever before. Indeed, this unprecedented access has allowed for arts leaders to measure their performance more accurately and holistically than in the past. But in this ever expanding sea of data, how does an arts leader decide what information is the most important to focus on extrapolating trends on?
Connecting the real and digital worlds, beacons will prove to be excellent pieces not only for marketing and general propaganda about your specific location, but as informational tools in your local museum or performing arts company. Beacons focus on the consumer, the integral part to any organization regardless of industry. So far, beacons are most common in the retail world, but they can easily be transferable into other industries, like the arts. That’s why you’re here today. Beacons could transform your organization, and I’m here to navigate you through this process in an understandable way.
Touchscreens have altered the way we interact with our world. From scrolling through our Facebook newsfeed, to picking up tickets at the airport kiosk, we use this technology on a daily basis. Today museums around the world are embracing this tool as a way to promote interactive learning. Multi-touch technology, in particular, can create an interactive and collaborative learning environment. But what exactly is multi-touch technology?
