Abstract
This chapter investigates how digital communications technologies are starting to transform philosophies and processes of audience engagement. It situates practices of digital engagement within the wider phenomena of participatory culture and social production, and acknowledges the implications of mass online migration for artists, producers, arts marketers, and policymakers. The chapter explores the relative utility of digital platforms in supporting audience development initiatives, elongating the audience experience, and realising the core marketing objective of fostering two-way communication with audiences. In order to illustrate how theories pertaining to digital engagement play out in practice, the chapter presents four case studies: National Theatre of Scotland’s 5-Minute Theatre, Bristol’s Watershed, Brooklyn Museum, and Yorkshire Dance’s Respond project.
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Notes
- 1.
I have published a full account of this project in Poetics. Please see Walmsley, B. 2016. From arts marketing to audience enrichment : How digital engagement can deepen and democratise artistic exchange with audiences. Poetics, 58, pp. 66–78.
- 2.
On the online platform, participants received an automatic pop-up warning if the start of their sentence seemed to be leading to a potential “fix-it”.
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Walmsley, B. (2019). Engaging Audiences Through Digital Technologies. In: Audience Engagement in the Performing Arts. New Directions in Cultural Policy Research. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-26653-0_8
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