Youth, Digital, Revolution... ?
As many of the delegates remarked to me this morning, the first half of the day was very much a recap of the previous day's Chalmers Conference. There was a loud cry for funding for the arts, and along with that the question of, "what else is new?" But an equally loud call was heard for attention to the emerging digital media revolution. As the group of us young blogger gals sat together over breakfast today, delegates flowed past our table and at least half a dozen asked the question, "so what exactly IS a blog anyway?" As I attempted to answer the question it dawned on me that although I'm here working as a blogger myself, the practice of blogging has the potential to destroy my career as a journalist and creative writer! (Well maybe I'm being a bit dramatic, but I'm an actor too so give me a break...) With the ability to publish any thoughts at any given time to an audience of potential millions, the craft of professional writing, that is writing with a trained and authoritative voice, may slowly but surely be swept away in the rapidly surging current of the information age. What I mean to say is that blogging is instant-publishing for anyone, anywhere. Who needs newspapers and foreign correspondents when you can read first-hand accounts of the war in Iraq in a blog?
This idea seemed to resonate through much of the day, as delegates and speakers discussed the implications of digital media on revenues for artists as well as work for intermediaries like record companies.
"It is an increasingly artificial distinction," Alain Pineau said of the traditional artist/creator - producer/cultural industries divide. In the information age, the artist can become her or his own producer, publisher or director, which may mean less work for the cultural industries but could also simply mean a pooling of human resources...
I know this seems a bit scary for the older (though wonderful) generation of artists and producers, but the fact is that more and more people are getting involved in the arts for this very reason. The once incredibly daunting task of finding a record label to produce your first album is nearly abolished in this day and age as you can easily record high quality sound in your own home and make it available for download online. Instant stardom!
Well maybe not instant, but at least you can tell your friends where they can find your latest and greatest.
But how do we bridge the artist/producer gap without putting the middleman out of business or the artist out of precious dollars and real-life exposure?
That was the major focus of the artists/creators workshop I attended today. What we came up with was a mish-mash of "values" that we thought should be included in future federal arts policy, including an economic model for artists who want to create, produce, sell and disseminate their own work. But is it viable? Or is our cultural policy framework too set in its old, dichotomous ways?
This idea seemed to resonate through much of the day, as delegates and speakers discussed the implications of digital media on revenues for artists as well as work for intermediaries like record companies.
"It is an increasingly artificial distinction," Alain Pineau said of the traditional artist/creator - producer/cultural industries divide. In the information age, the artist can become her or his own producer, publisher or director, which may mean less work for the cultural industries but could also simply mean a pooling of human resources...
I know this seems a bit scary for the older (though wonderful) generation of artists and producers, but the fact is that more and more people are getting involved in the arts for this very reason. The once incredibly daunting task of finding a record label to produce your first album is nearly abolished in this day and age as you can easily record high quality sound in your own home and make it available for download online. Instant stardom!
Well maybe not instant, but at least you can tell your friends where they can find your latest and greatest.
But how do we bridge the artist/producer gap without putting the middleman out of business or the artist out of precious dollars and real-life exposure?
That was the major focus of the artists/creators workshop I attended today. What we came up with was a mish-mash of "values" that we thought should be included in future federal arts policy, including an economic model for artists who want to create, produce, sell and disseminate their own work. But is it viable? Or is our cultural policy framework too set in its old, dichotomous ways?
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