Arts Sector Research Articles

Customer interaction and engagement: A theoretical exploration of live promotional tactics in the arts

This paper explores the evolving role of live promotional tactics in enhancing customer interaction and engagement within the arts sector. It begins with an overview of customer engagement theories and their relevance to live events, highlighting the unique opportunities live interaction models present. The paper then examines various live promotional strategies, using case studies to demonstrate how these tactics have been successfully implemented to create immersive and interactive experiences. Challenges such as logistical, financial, and audience-related obstacles are discussed, alongside opportunities offered by digital platforms and tools. The paper concludes by offering recommendations for optimizing live promotional tactics to maximize customer engagement, emphasizing the role of personalization, sustainability, and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence. These findings underscore the importance of live promotional tactics in fostering deeper audience connections and driving long-term loyalty in the rapidly evolving digital landscape of the arts.

'Unmasking Pain' through creativity: A phenomenological study of person-centred pain exploration for people living with chronic pain.

'Unmasking Pain' is an innovative artist-led project to explore creative approaches for telling stories of life with persistent pain. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and describe the lived experience of taking part in 'Unmasking Pain' from the perspectives of people living with pain (workshop attendees), artists (workshop facilitators) and pain rehabilitation specialists. Informed by descriptive phenomenology, data was collected via semi-structured interviews with three artists (workshop facilitators), five workshop attendees (all living with persistent pain) and one pain rehabilitation specialist. Data was analysed using thematic analysis for descriptive phenomenology. Three themes emerged from the analysis: Theme 1 Space to Breathe, reflects the context of 'Unmasking Pain' such as the conditions, environment and setting that people experienced; Theme 2 Flexibility to Participate, reflects the experience of the process of 'Unmasking Pain' such as the actions or internal workings/behaviours of the experience; and Theme 3 Possibility for Change, reflects the cognitive or emotional experience of 'Unmasking Pain'. There were nine sub-themes: 1(a) Dissolved hierarchy, 1(b) Human connection, and 1(c) Personally meaningful; 2(a) Go with the flow, 2(b) Enjoyable experience, and 2(c) Curiosity to step into the unknown; and 3(a) Reforming pain, 3(b) Liberating in the moment (now), and 3(c) Gives you a boost (future). In conclusion, the uniqueness of 'Unmasking Pain' was to creatively facilitate curiosity and exploration of pain in a non-clinical, sociocultural, humanised context, to enable the possibility of a different pain experience. The findings from this qualitative study exploring the lived experience of taking part in 'Unmasking Pain' demonstrates the power and opportunity of the Arts sector and artist-led activities to support people with chronic pain to have a better pain experience.

To Perform or Not to Perform: Exploring the Impact of COVID‐19 on Aotearoa New Zealand's Performing Arts Sector

ABSTRACTThis article explores narratives of how COVID‐19 impacted the performing arts sector, by drawing on interviews with creative workers in Aotearoa New Zealand. Despite the late exposure to COVID‐19 and the adoption of an elimination approach that afforded opportunities for performing arts to continue to varying extents between 2019 and 2022, cultural workers in Aotearoa New Zealand, as with their overseas counterparts, experienced significant and consequential disruption to their working conditions and lives. Taking into account the specificity of Aotearoa New Zealand's performing arts sector and the government's COVID‐19 response, the article contributes to the empirical examination of COVID‐19 experiences by teasing out narratives of impact from cultural workers. The thematic analysis demonstrates how participants presented (1) COVID‐19 as responsible for financial, emotional, and psychological costs, (2) framed opportunities arising from disrupted working conditions and wage subsidy as “silver linings,” (3) were reliant on digital technologies, and (4) constructed the return to “normal” as marked by the COVID‐19 “aftermath.” The article argues that uniting these perceptions and articulations of impact is the ongoing (re)evaluations of risks and benefits by cultural workers of working conditions that predate COVID‐19.

Revisiting Compassion and Job Performance: A Constructive Study in South Korean Public Art Institutions.

This study empirically examines how employee compassion relates to job performance. Specifically, this study is a constructive replication and expansion of a previous study on the relationship between compassion and job performance using multiple sources of measurement. It investigates unexplored pathways within the public art sector in South Korea. Focusing on the mediating roles of positive work-related identity (PWRI) and positive psychological capital, we collected data from public art institutions in Korea, including galleries and museums, using a survey method. We tested the hypotheses using structural equation modeling and the PROCESS bootstrapping method. Our findings demonstrate a positive association between compassion and job performance, serially mediated by PWRI and positive psychological capital. Theoretically, by constructively replicating and expanding the previous findings, our study contributes to a robust understanding of how compassion could enhance employee performance. Practically, this study reinforces the value of fostering compassion and positive psychological resources to improve job performance, particularly within the public art sector.

실감형 미디어아트의 시각 의미 연구 - 디스트릭트(d’strict) 작품을 중심으로

The purpose of this study is to analyze the visual meaning of realistic media art. First, realistic media art, Roland Barthes' semiotics, and Bernd H. Schmitt's experiential marketing are the background of academic analysis. Second, after categorizing district works by category, the semiotic meaning of each work is analyzed, and five types of experiential marketing are analyzed. This study limited the scope of the study to the works that won the main prize at the ‘iF Design Awards in Germany from 2020 to 2024, and then conducted a case analysis in the commercial service sector and the art service sector. As a result of the study, it was found that both sectors are the same in that they take sensory marketing and emotional marketing, but there is a difference in that the commercial sector focuses on behavioral marketing and the art sector focuses on cognitive marketing. Finally, this study suggests a theoretical basis that can contribute to the development of realistic media art by combining the semantic function of the semiotic perspective with the experiential marketing strategy.

Оценка развитости узлов и тесноты связи креативной сети в региональной локализации

The relevance of the study is due to the need to obtain comprehensive ideas about the specifics of regional localization of creative industries, the functioning of which is based on close connections between organizations that form a creative product and organizations that promote the distribution of a creative product. The article aims to assess the development of nodes and the connectivity density of a creative network within a regional localization context. The research methodology includes the use of statistical data processing methods, as well as comparative and correlation analysis. By examining the connectivity between nodes in the creative network of organizations operating in the performing arts sector and those in the field of artistic creation, the study concludes that the connections are predominantly strong. This is attributed to the high degree of regional localization among organizations producing and promoting creative products. These findings highlight the significant role of regional development tools in fostering this creative network, particularly through the implementation of organizational and financial support measures.

Creative city: Interrogating the influence of property developers on Brisbane’s arts and culture

ABSTRACT This article scrutinizes the often forced collaboration between the arts sector and urban development. Despite prevailing narratives that cast artists’ involvement positively in urban revitalization, this global trend, integral to creative city policies for urban development, conceals complexities. Highlighting how these seemingly cooperative practices are rehearsed in global cities and replicated in peripheral cities such as Brisbane, Australia, this examination has been largely prompted by the 2020 sale of the Metro Arts building in Brisbane. The location of this multi-arts institution was an incredibly valuable asset in a city that aims to promote its creative city credentials. Moreover, despite the substantial public investment in Metro Arts’ building, its sale was misrepresented as a private matter. A close examination of this event reveals the ways property developers can be tremendously influential upon the arts and cultural sector—what, where and how art is commissioned and displayed, and ultimately, what is publicly funded.

Love and Theft in Dance Economies

The emergence of blockchain dance tokens is reshaping the dynamics of race in short-form dance videos within digital economies. While blockchain technologies primarily have been associated with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, they are changing the arts sector, particularly dance and choreography. This transformation has significant implications for understanding the valorization of Black labor and aesthetics. By examining two distinct choreographic initiatives, we can grasp the profound impact of blockchain cultural production and distribution ecosystems. One example is the work of JaQuel Knight, renowned for choreographing iconic music videos, including Beyoncé’s. Knight's efforts to copyright his dances and empower Black choreographers reflect a shift towards artist ownership of dance steps. Another case study involves the Renegade dance, initially popularized on TikTok. Despite its viral success, choreographer Jalaiah Harmon struggled for recognition. Now, with the advent of dance Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), artists can monetize their work and bridge the gap between labor and circulation. These innovative legal and financial pathways mark the emergence of crypto-choreographies, enabling Black artists to reimagine and carry out a post-extractive dance world. This transcends conventional debates of dance appreciation versus appropriation, signaling a transformative shift in aesthetic economies and the limits of choreographic copyright law.

Employment and Job Creation in the art Sector in Ghana: Evidence from A Tracer Survey of the Higher National Diploma Industrial art

AbstractIn Technical Universities in Ghana, the Higher National Diploma (HND) programmes are well‐established higher education programmes for the provision of middle‐level manpower needs of the Country. The programmes are considered industry‐related, offering students the knowledge and skills required for effective performance at work. However, there is very little tracer survey on the polytechnic/technical university graduate on the relevance of the HND Industrial Art Programmes run in the polytechnics/technical universities, apart from a study on exploring the destinations of Higher National Diploma, Graphic Design graduates in the Ghanaian labour market. Therefore, the study sought to conduct a tracer study on the impact of the HND Industrial Art Programme on the Art Sector in Ghana. To carry out the study, the main objective was to assess the effectiveness and the contribution of the HND Industrial Art Programme to employment and job creation in the Art Sector in Ghana. The Concurrent Triangulated Mixed Method research approach was adopted to undertake the research. From the study, the major finding is that the Painting and Decoration (P/D), Ceramics and Leatherwork options all succeeded in creating jobs/empowering graduates to create their own jobs, but that cannot be said with the Textiles option. The findings have implications for TVET training in the country. It is therefore recommended that appropriate steps should be taken in consultation with the Ghana Tertiary Education Council (GTEC) to have a holistic review of the curriculum to make it relevant for the benefit of this ever‐dynamic society.

A REVIEW STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL ART ON FREELANCE ART IN INDIA

The present research examines the profound impact of digital technology on freelance art in India, focusing on its evolution, opportunities, and challenges. Over the past few decades, the expansion of digital tools has significantly transformed the nature of art creation and distribution. This research traces the historical origins of digital art in India, focusing on how traditional artistic practices have adapted to change with technological advancements to create new forms and modes of art expression. The study provides insight into the new opportunities digital technology has opened up for art, including access to larger opportunities and global markets through online platforms and the ability to engage with new art forms such as digital painting, animation, and multimedia art. This expansion of art has provided artists with the opportunity to reach a wider audience and diversify their creative output. However, the research also highlights the significant challenges freelance artists face, as the art market today is increasingly facing threats to its survival due to a lack of resources, increasing competition, and digital reproduction.Additionally, the research examines the impact that the technology sector is having on traditional art. The paper also examines the educational pathways available for aspiring digital artists in India and assesses the effectiveness of government policies and initiatives aimed at supporting the digital arts sector. It also provides practical insights for freelance artists to pursue an emerging market and enhance their professional success. Overall, the study presents a comprehensive analysis of how digital technology has reshaped freelance art in India, examines both the benefits and barriers presented in this dynamic sector, and suggests potential directions for future development.

The Unparalleled Joy of the Silent Contributor: A Qualitative Study of Career Motivation, Challenges, and Fulfilment Amongst Opera Librarians Around the Globe

ABSTRACT The goal of this qualitative study is to explore the views of performance/opera librarians on their daily job responsibilities, as well as to examine their perceptions towards their career motivation and job satisfaction. Thirteen opera librarians with on-the-job work experience ranging from four to forty years answered the same set of open-ended questions as part of semi-structured interviews, conducted via Zoom, Skype, or written emails. The participants are affiliated with prestigious opera houses in eight countries and regions around the world, namely: Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy, Sweden, the USA, and the UK (England, Wales, and Scotland). The study aims to shed new light and give new perspectives on the evolving roles of opera librarians, their career motivation, fulfilment, and recognition. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the performing arts sector and the challenging transition to virtual performances are also discussed.

Characteristics and analysis of the Culture and Arts sector, specifically the Performing dance sector in Bulgaria

The culture and arts sector is often described as a "motor sector" in academic literature. Dance schools, within this sector, offer a unique blend of educational and artistic experiences to their clients, encompassing both instructional classes and the creation of original dance performances. However, cultural and arts organizations are not solely business-oriented but also play a significant role in shaping cultural identity and providing educational opportunities. In Bulgaria, there is a lack of a standardized system for accounting for the number of dance schools and cultural organizations. These entities range from private micro-organizations, such as sole proprietorships, limited liability companies, foundations, and associations, to state and municipal organizations, with the latter forming a small percentage of the sector. Statistical data about cultural organizations and their activities are fragmented and can be found in the annual reports of the National Culture Fund (NCF), registers of the Ministry of Culture, and data from the National Statistical Institute (NSI). This study highlights the complex dynamics within the Culture and Arts sector in Bulgaria, especially in the context of dance schools, and underscores the need for targeted efforts to rekindle public interest and engagement in dance arts.

Narrowing the Gap

This paper investigates whether entrepreneurship training subsequently impacts artists’ labor market outcomes. Collecting data from major universities, we find that only 9.7% have arts entrepreneurship certificates; just 11.4% have any required arts entrepreneurship classes. Analyzing data from the American Community Survey (ACS) and controlling for demographic factors, fine arts graduates are 1.3% less likely to be employed and earn 8.7% lower annual earnings. However, individuals with both arts and entrepreneurial business training earn more and offset the earnings disadvantage by roughly a half. These results underscore the importance of integrating art entrepreneurship education with the sustainability of the arts sector.

Reframing videotelephony through coexistence and empathy in the third space

ABSTRACT Predicated on the telephone, the history of videotelephony has continually adopted a two-way model of communication between ‘newsreader’ participants, confined to boxes on a screen. This article identifies philosophical approaches and practical solutions to overcome this ‘horseless-carriage’ syndrome using a phenomenological methodology to reframe the concept of videotelephony as a third space encounter through the author’s telematic art practice. By reflecting on audience participation in the Installations Telematic Dreaming (1992) and Telematic Vision (1993) participants interact through a third-person self-image and transcend their physical vulnerabilities and self-conscious inhibitions to engage and identify through coexistence and empathy. These observations draw on analogies between Martin Heidegger’s ‘hammer’ and the television screen, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s ‘extension of bodily synthesis’ and the telepresent image of self. By drawing on these phenomenological approaches, the author’s AHRC research project Telepresence Stage (2022) responded to the mass entrapment of two-way videoconference apps during the COVID-19 lockdown, and the inevitable Zoom fatigue, to provide alternative fit-for-purpose telepresence solutions for the performing arts sector. The project exposes the flaws and misconceptions of conventional videotelephony by employing open-source resources and practical green-screen techniques to embody a shared third space between remote performers, arriving at alternative telepresence solutions for future coexistence.

Gender discrimination in salaries: the case of the Spanish performing arts sector

Although gender pay gaps are a well-known fact of working life, very few studies have explored the issue within artistic fields. This paper employs logistic regression to analyze the influence of gender discrimination on salaries in the Spanish performing arts sector. Using data collected from a questionnaire survey with 726 respondents, the regression-based technique makes it possible to control for other potential influences such as education level, years of experience, and workplace characteristics. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that gender has a positive and statistically significant effect on an individual’s salary. In short, this study provides evidence that policy makers and artists’ organizations can draw on for the development of policies to enforce equal pay rights.

Applications and challenges of GAN in AI-powered artistry

In the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence (AI), Generative Adversarial Network (GAN), introduced in 2014 by Goodfellow and team, has emerged as a vital pillar in deep learning. Designed around the concept of adversarial learning, GAN consists of a generator and a discriminator working in tandem, with the former creating counterfeit data samples and the latter distinguishing between genuine and counterfeit ones. The paper delves deep into GANs underlying architecture, its modified variants like DCGAN, WGAN, WGAN-GP, and CGAN, and its expansive applications in the realm of AI-powered artistry. Notably, applications like Stable Diffusion and NovelAI have demonstrated GANs proficiency in crafting visually stunning and diverse artistic outputs. However, this evolution isnt without challenges. The ambiguities surrounding copyright ownership of AI-generated art and the potential disruption of the traditional art sector raise critical questions. As AI continues to redefine the boundaries of art, its imperative to ensure its responsible and beneficial integration into society.

Digital art work and AI: a new paradigm for work in the contemporary art sector in China

This paper explores a paradigm shift in work culture in the contemporary art sector due to digital transition and the introduction of AI. New ways of working with AI and digital software are embedded and normalized in everyday Chinese artistic practices. This work includes new forms of creativity and efficiency, yet, simultaneously includes new types of digital labour. This paper conceptualizes this as “digital art work,” which draws attention to the often-overlooked aspects of artists’ work, particularly their everyday artistic practices that increasingly include digital software and AI. What is the role and position of the artist in an environment where digital software and AI are becoming more central in artistic creation? How do artists creatively (mis)use AI? What does this paradigm shift in work culture mean for the future of the artist’s role and the future of the contemporary art sector? This paper draws on 48 semi-structured interviews with visual artists and arts professionals, including painters, sculptors, mixed-media, and internet artists as well as contemporary art gallery owners, museum project directors, curators, and culture policymakers living and working in China during 2023. The findings show how Chinese artists are mastering AI and opening up new spaces for creativity and how the contemporary art sector in China has already transitioned to a new “digital way” in artistic creation. These findings can help to create policy around AI globally and provide solutions for the sustainability of the artist profession and the future of the contemporary art sector.

Multimodal robotic music performance art based on GRU-GoogLeNet model fusing audiovisual perception.

The field of multimodal robotic musical performing arts has garnered significant interest due to its innovative potential. Conventional robots face limitations in understanding emotions and artistic expression in musical performances. Therefore, this paper explores the application of multimodal robots that integrate visual and auditory perception to enhance the quality and artistic expression in music performance. Our approach involves integrating GRU (Gated Recurrent Unit) and GoogLeNet models for sentiment analysis. The GRU model processes audio data and captures the temporal dynamics of musical elements, including long-term dependencies, to extract emotional information. The GoogLeNet model excels in image processing, extracting complex visual details and aesthetic features. This synergy deepens the understanding of musical and visual elements, aiming to produce more emotionally resonant and interactive robot performances. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, showing significant improvements in music performance by multimodal robots. These robots, equipped with our method, deliver high-quality, artistic performances that effectively evoke emotional engagement from the audience. Multimodal robots that merge audio-visual perception in music performance enrich the art form and offer diverse human-machine interactions. This research demonstrates the potential of multimodal robots in music performance, promoting the integration of technology and art. It opens new realms in performing arts and human-robot interactions, offering a unique and innovative experience. Our findings provide valuable insights for the development of multimodal robots in the performing arts sector.

The Influence of Virtual Reality Technology on Modern Art

Since its inception, virtual reality (VR) technology has experienced rapid development. Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, the utilization of VR technology has increased significantly. In the arts sector, VR technology has brought about substantial changes. This paper aims to explore the current trends and future prospects of VR technology in the domain of art. The article undertakes an analysis of the impact of VR technology on art exhibitions, artistic creation, and art education. Virtual reality provides several advantages in these areas, such as minimizing the risk of damage to art pieces during display and storage, along with the creation of innovative painting techniques and mediums. Conclusively, this paper discusses the potential benefits of implementing VR technology in the art field. Moreover, it examines the challenges and inconveniences faced prior to the adoption of this technology. Overall, VR technology demonstrates promising opportunities for advancing the arts, and further research in this area is warranted.

NFTs applied to the art sector: Legal issues and recent jurisprudence

Responding to the necessity of scarcity and uniqueness in the digital format, NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) have recently gained much attention in cultural industries, especially video games and the art market. Faced with the digital paradigm shift and the challenge of dematerialization, creators started to use NTFs in order to emulate the concept of rarity for displaying, promoting, and monetizing their works in digital environments. An NFT is a certificate of ownership implemented through encrypted metadata pointing to a unique copy of a digital file. Likewise, NFTs enable the tokenization of a large array of digital, or even physical, assets. For this reason, they are used to facilitate the digitalization of contents heavily dependent on copyright and scarcity. Non-Fungible Tokens represent an emerging reality of significant economic, social, and cultural importance, which also raises important legal issues especially concerning the very nature of the NFT, as property or license, and the usage of copyrighted contents or trademarks. Indeed, the most frequent legal issues with NFTs are related to the attribution and exploitation of the Intellectual Property (IP) rights of the underlying content or litigations about non-contractual matters (i.e., theft). Litigious cases affecting NFTs most often take on an international dimension due to the decentralized nature of the technology on which they are developed, distributed on servers hosted in a multitude of countries, as well as the business practices of trading platforms that connect users from all over the world. Consequently, the principles of Private International Law (PIL) are applied to solve legal conflicts. This study focuses on the resolution of litigations related to NFTs in the three countries leading the global art markets: the US, the UK, and China. The analysis focuses on the application of international private law in relation to recent jurisprudence concerning conflicts involving NFTs and artworks.