University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Chewyourarts.com: an arts engagement experiment

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Chewyourarts.com: an arts engagement experiment

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Content CHEWYOURARTS.COM
AN ARTS ENGAGEMENT EXPERIMENT
by
Leslie Velez
________________________________________________________________________
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(SPECIALIZED JOURNALISM)
May 2013
Copyright 2013 Leslie Velez
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ii
INTRODUCTION 1
CHEWYOURARTS.COM 3
BIBLIOGRAPHY 8
APPENDICES: 9
APPENDIX 1: SCREEN SHOT OF CHEWYOURARTS.COM 9
HOME PAGE (ABOVE THE FOLD)
APPENDIX 2: SCREEN SHOT OF CHEWYOURARTS.COM 10
HOME PAGE (BELOW THE FOLD)
APPENDIX 3: SCREEN SHOT OF CHEWYOURARTS.COM 11
ABOUT PAGE
APPENDIX 4: SCREEN SHOT OF CHEWYOURARTS.COM 12
“ON THE MENU” CALENDAR PAGE
APPENDIX 5: SCREEN SHOT OF BUDDYPRESS WEBSITE 13
ACTIVITY PAGE ON CHEWYOURARTS.COM
APPENDIX 6: SCREEN SHOT OF BUDDYPRESS USER 14
REGISTRATION PAGE ON
CHEWYOURARTS.COM
i
ABSTRACT
This thesis is an explanation of Chewyourarts.com, a web-based
multimedia project built to explore new methods of symphony orchestra audience
engagement. Commentary and reviews of Los Angeles performances written by a number
of expert contributors, original videos and photography, and artist interviews are placed
alongside user-produced questions, comment threads, and multimedia, ultimately
producing lively conversation around featured events. Chewyourarts.com investigates
what exactly captivates listeners about symphony and classical music, and how current
engagement strategies can translate into real meaning and understanding of the craft for
audiences.
ii
INTRODUCTION
It was enough, in the past, that audiences simply attended symphony orchestra
concerts. They gathered at pre-show concert discussions to glean insight from an expert,
and lingered in reception halls afterward for a gracious word with the artistic director.
Relationships of the check-writing kind were forged over white wine and dry hors
d'ourves, and for all intents and purposes, that was all the “engagement” that was needed.
The concept of audience engagement and the role of the audience member has had
to be been redefined amid the hum of discourse surrounding symphonies’ struggle for
survival. When the healthy economy supporting non-profit music performance
organizations faltered in the early 2000s, symphony orchestras struggled to reconcile
revenues with costs and rapidly-changing audience demographics. The mission of the
symphony orchestra to entertain, inspire, and educate through music performance has
held steady even as blue-haired patronage has given way to a young, urbane, and tech-
savvy following.
The burden of reaching this new, distant public has brought overtaxed marketing
departments around to a spitball strategy designed to capture the slippery attention of
categorically-targeted members. There is a concert series for every young person, twenty-
something, family of four, casual listener, wine-drinker, and senior citizen. E-blasts,
multimedia website features, social media posts, educational tools, and telemarketing
campaigns may reinforce the symphony’s place in a community, but the extent of the
1
overarching success of such campaigns—the extent to which audiences are meaningfully
connected to a symphony organization—becomes more difficult to determine as
information is silo-ed into segments that reflect only part of the greater whole.
Online social spaces like website blogs and Facebook have provided a place to
speak with audience members person-to-person. The use of platforms built around
participation and commentary mean that symphony organizations are not just pushing out
material produced in-house, but bringing in robust amounts of straight-from-the-horse’s-
mouth feedback. Audiences are invited to ask questions on social websites, tell stories
and share experiences with others; the promise that online engagement means rewards in
the concert hall has further with crowd-sourced concert programs and Tweets seats.
Audience engagement has taken on a fleshed-out form, more direct and personal than
ever before; “audience collaboration” may be a better term. The rules for navigating this
new relationship with audiences are still fluid and ripe for artistic exploration. Many new
questions can be asked: does online engagement translate into real meaning and
understanding of a craft for audiences? How far “behind the curtain” should they be
allowed? What information gleaned from audiences is valuable or relevant? How can
arts leaders translate online engagement efforts into ticket sales and donations?
The answer may be not with the marketing department, nor with the development
department, but with the audiences themselves. The stories about how they take meaning
from experiences at a symphony concert have become their to tell.
2
CHEWYOURARTS.COM
My website, Chewyourarts.com, gives listeners a place to share stories and
questions about symphony orchestra experiences in greater depth. This web-based
multimedia project uses written text, photography, video, and user-generated content to
cultivate collaboration in music, from the perspective of the audience. Given that so
many music performances are contextually dense—the composition period and the nature
of the composer are as important as the music itself—Chewyourarts.com explores the
possibility that the chance to convene in a friendly atmosphere and discuss some of a
performance’s most interesting ideas might result in greater understanding and
appreciation for the art.
Visitors to Chewyourarts.com are invited to share their thoughts regarding
featured music events alongside formal reviews, artist interviews, photo slideshows, and
video pieces. Once submitted, user contributions are appraised (contributions that are
incomprehensible or contain offensive material are not posted) and made public on the
website. A collaged story authored by writers, photographers, social media posts, experts
and laymen, voices that normally go unheard in traditional journalistic music criticism, is
ultimately produced around an event.
Based on the concept of “chewing” on an idea, examining it from all angles to
fully understand it and batting it around with other interested conversants,
Chewyourarts.com is built on a Wordpress and Buddypress platform for ease of
3
construction and users’ ease of navigation. An image-heavy, rather than text-heavy,
theme keeps the main page subject material broad, drawing users‘ attention to an
evergreen idea or concept suggested by the image instead of a specific (and possibly
unfamiliar) composer, musical ensemble, or composition. Clicking on an image brings
the user into the post, and question written in bold orange type at the end of the story
presents a question meant to provoke discussion. Submitting a comment leads the user
into the Buddypress platform, where they create new conversation threads and explore
existing threads for a round-edged view of an event.
My goal is to introduce to users a measure of ownership over their interpretation
of a musical piece, contextual understanding, and what’s more, a sense of curiosity about
what else is out there to hear.
1
I believe it is important to welcome audience members’
participation in both sides of the creative coin, so that they become arts contributors and
creators, as well as arts consumers.
The initial idea for the website included the use of several different points of view.
The voices of experts—musicians, scholars, writers, educators, journalists—curated
around the story were to be balanced by those of the general population. Making a strong
connection between the discussion topic and a person’s experience with that topic, I felt,
was crucial to the Chewyourarts.com experience; generating conversation about a
musical experience was the whole point. I theorized that the more participants I could
present on my own by doing interviews and producing multimedia content, the more
outside contributors would be incentivized to participate, the way a tip jar with a dollar in
4
1
it is more encouraging to tipping patrons than an empty one. Users could respond to the
ideas and questions asked by the Chewyourarts.com “experts” through Buddypress or by
emailing photos or video clips, or they could use Buddypress to form groups and forums
around their own interests. However, schedules did not always present the opportunity for
an interview with an expert within my necessary timeframe, and many requests for even a
brief conversation via phone or email went unanswered. Writers were unwilling to
contribute without pay. Generous colleagues who were willing to submit a short piece of
writing did not always fully appreciate the imposed deadline. This challenge required me
to plan piece well in advance of their posting date, so that all possible scenarios were
accounted for. If an artist interview or concert review was not possible, I could replace it
with a different prepared section or simply choose to pursue another performance. As the
following for the website grows over time, more voices and conversation threads will
naturally make it a living, breathing space full of varied viewpoints and contributions; in
the meantime, I have chosen to stock the website with my own posts complemented with
self-produced multimedia content.
The pared-down version of the website is reflected in its minimal features. The
“About page” explains the purpose of the website and gives a call to action with simple
guidelines in plain language. Anything too stylistic or contrived would not accurately
represent the relaxed and straightforward tone I wished to put forth. A calendar page
5
1
Counting New Beans (73) “Patrons who were not able to articulate their questions or seek answers miss an important
opportunity to make meaning form their experiences. Helping patrons achieve the “moment of curatorial insight” (i.e.,
the “aha” moment when the understanding dawns) should be the focus of pre- and post-performance engagement
efforts.”
called “On the Menu” allowed me to cherry-pick events Chewyourarts.com might cover
and guide users toward less-mainstream performances and events. A Twitter feed shows
recent tweets and Twitter interactions, and a Facebook page allows me to post stories and
news. Completing the Chewyourarts.com homepage is a sidebar of images that acts as an
entry point into past posts. Here again, no titles distinguish the topics, encouraging
browsing and curiosity. “What We’re Chewing On” leads users into the Buddypress
forum where an overview of members and commentary is shown, and users have the
opportunity to participate in user-created conversations. Registered users form groups
around named topics, and within those groups, sub-topic forums can be created, giving
users the freedom to talk about what they want with whom they want, all outside of a
basic post comment box.
! The conclusion reached after operating a website built with the expressed purpose
of engaging experts and “artistically curious” individuals is that conversation around arts
events grows and thrives with careful and dogged cultivation. Virality—the extent to
which Internet users find worth in what one is offering and share it with others—in part
has to do with how willing the writer, curator, management team is to take music out of
the concert hall and put it back into the hands of the audience to interpret, understand,
and enjoy. Many of the more “mysterious and metaphorical,” in the words of Leonard
Bernstein, musical genres, classical music in particular, have a serious public relations
issue that, unless audiences are vigorously courted not just their money but a for place for
the music in their lives, threatens to dissolve the small foothold of interest those genres
6
struggle to maintain. Chewyourarts.com is one effort to examine these challenges and
attempt a solution by filling a space left empty by other social media platforms. Giving
audience members a place to share and contribute, and generating the kind of engagement
that sparks connection and leaves meaningful dialogue in its wake, will strengthen
music’s inherent value as a creative force, and keep the orchestra playing on.

7
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Theatre Bay Area and other volunteers. Counting New Beans. San Francisco: Theatre Bay
Area, 2012
8
APPENDIX 1: SCREEN SHOT OF CHEWYOURARTS.COM HOME PAGE (ABOVE
THE FOLD)
9
APPENDIX 2: SCREEN SHOT OF CHEWYOURARTS.COM HOME PAGE (BELOW
THE FOLD)
10
APPENDIX 3: SCREEN SHOT OF CHEWYOURARTS.COM ABOUT PAGE
11
APPENDIX 4: SCREEN SHOT OF CHEWYOURARTS.COM “ON THE MENU”
CALENDAR PAGE
12
APPENDIX 5: SCREEN SHOT OF BUDDYPRESS WEBSITE ACTIVITY PAGE ON
CHEWYOURARTS.COM
13
APPENDIX 6: SCREEN SHOT OF BUDDYPRESS USER REGISTRATION PAGE ON
CHEWYOURARTS.COM
14

Abstract (if available)

Abstract This thesis is an explanation of Chewyourarts.com, a web-based multimedia project built to explore new methods of symphony orchestra audience engagement. Commentary and reviews of Los Angeles performances written by a number of expert contributors, original videos and photography, and artist interviews are placed alongside user-produced questions, comment threads, and multimedia, ultimately producing lively conversation around featured events. Chewyourarts.com investigates what exactly captivates listeners about symphony and classical music, and how current engagement strategies can translate into real meaning and understanding of the craft for audiences.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Velez, Leslie (author)

Core Title Chewyourarts.com: an arts engagement experiment

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Specialized Journalism (The Arts)

Publication Date 02/18/2013

Defense Date 02/17/2013

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag arts,journalism,multimedia,music,OAI-PMH Harvest,website

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Page, Tim (committee chair), Anawalt, Sasha (committee member), Kahn, Gabriel (committee member)

Creator Email leslie.velez@smmoa.org,leslie.velez08@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-220449

Unique identifier UC11293630

Identifier usctheses-c3-220449 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-VelezLesli-1439-0.pdf

Dmrecord 220449

Document Type Thesis

Rights Velez, Leslie

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA