Live Digital

Abstract

There can be little disagreement that the pandemic disproportionately affected the arts. Whilst it removed livelihoods and purpose for many overnight, it afforded the performance industry a pause in which many thought about what and who the industry was for. The rise of streaming and online cultural activity – necessitated by governmental indicatives and changing social responsibilities – created a new type of audience and, it is argued here, the beginnings and conditions for a new genre and/or way of making work. This article argues that the ‘liveness’ of performance art is key to the essence of performing and that the streaming of ‘past glories’ did not give audiences and creatives what they needed and wanted from interactions and cultural product. In order to see positives in a potentially negative situation, a new genre – here named Live Digital – is suggested, that democratizes, empowers, facilitates and builds creative culture for artists and audiences alike. Using tropes from theatre, film and streaming, Live Digital presents provocations to posit a new way of creation, distinct from these progenitors – one that strives to be more inclusive.