How Technology Is Transforming & Challenging The Live Performing Arts: Ben Cameron Speaks At TED
In this TED talk, Ben Cameron, who is Director, Arts, at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, talks about the state of the live arts and questions whether or not they can compete with the always-on Internet. He is immensely passionate about the professional performing arts and worries that they are being endangered and possibly even dismantled by technology. Within the whirlwind of 3 to 5,000 marketing messages that the typical consumer is battered with every day, he fears that the promotions for the live arts are being down out completely.
Worse still, Cameron argues that the biases of the web towards instant and anytime gratification have positioned the appeal of the arts to be inconvenient.
With consumers habituated to the notion that they can watch their favorite shows anytime they want and purchase things—having them directly shipped to their door—how are the live arts supposed to convince them to continue buying tickets in advance and to show up at a time and date that are ill-timed for their schedule?
These expectations of modern consumerism have conditioned people and have, in turn, raised the bar to a point that the live arts simply can’t meet, because they still come with a $100 ticket and set-times—that can’t be changed or TiVoed.
As well, he talks in length about the evolution of cultural intuitions and outlines how technology is reshaping the difference between the professional artist and the amateur. This is fantastic talk and it’s not to be missed:
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