I remember the day that two rows of awkward looking lumps of plastic with slightly scary dark screens appeared in a little used classroom near the drama studio at my school. These mysterious contraptions were introduced to us as ‘computers’ and we were informed that they were somehow connected to ‘the future’ and ‘saving time’. My first experience of this new cutting edge technology was a programme that taught me how to touch type – which all my teachers assured me would be far more useful when I left school, than anything creative I might be getting up in the drama studio.
However, after spending two days at an Arts Council Ambition road show and the Clicks or Mortar? symposium, at Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle I’m trying to get to grips with the fact that those awkward looking lumps of plastic in the little used classroom and the drama studio aren’t as far removed from each other as I was once lead to believe.
For those of you who weren’t at either event and who might now be worrying that all art will soon exist only in the virtual world, don’t panic. The clear consensus was that the core of what we do i.e. art and getting people to experience it, will remain the same.
But change is a foot. Funding streams are drying up, producers and distributors are pushing for us all have digital projectors and the ways in which we communicate with those people ‘formally known as our audience’ (to quote Bill Thompson) are changing.
Despite all the talk from these two events, tangible suggestions of what we in the world of independent cinema can do to embrace change are still few and far between. And it’s arguably harder for those cinemas without digital projectors to get to grips with digital development as those who are part of the UK Film Council's Digital Screen Network. But, the other clear message to come out of both events is that we are all in a position to do something, whether it’s using social networks to attract audiences, getting our Wikipedia entry written before someone else does it for us, or seeking out new ways for audiences interact with what we do.
And there is information out there to start sparking ideas; see the Get Ambition website and related north east regional ning network to get the ball rolling. Plus of course the Tyneside’s the Pixel Palace.
It’s not the easiest leap for anyone like me who was forged during the Thatcher years to embrace the infinite possibilities of bottom up ways of working and sharing not owning. But finally I can see that in the brave new future the arts is clawing towards, touch typing and messing round in the drama studio really aren't as far removed as my teachers told me.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
My first experience with a computer consisted of feeding cards into little slot in a room full of buzzing contraptions. About a dozen cards, punched properly, told a plotter to draw a box. Sadly mine ended up as a series of unconnected lines. We are a long way from that. The arts must catch up and not just use computers in the background but see them as a way or producing and exhibiting work as well as engaging audiences on their/our terms.
ReplyDelete