—Thucydides, 5th century BC

“When compared with non-media participants, Americans who participate in the arts through technology and electronic media — using the Internet, television, radio, computers, and handheld devices — are nearly three times more likely to attend live arts events; attend twice as many live arts events; and attend a greater variety of genres of live arts events.”

The study is really worth a look. What the headline can’t address is how online arts participation trends in terms of certain art forms. For instance, how does online participation affect classical arts participation?

When I started Bourgeon, we were a print publication. I noticed when we moved online (in 2007) that the articles which got the most reads were amongst the briefest articles we published. Noticing that, I encourage writers to create pieces between 500 and 800 words. Online reading, actually online viewing of all types, tends toward exposure as opposed to comprehensive experience. While New Yorker.com readers might enjoy longer reads, most online audiences do not. I connect this to an NEA study from 1997, which showed that:

The classical music audience is aging faster than the population as a whole. In 1982 those under thirty years of age comprised 26.9 percent of the audience and by 1997 comprised just 13.2 percent of the audience. Over this same span of years, those over sixty years of age rose from 15.6 percent to 30.3 percent of the classical music audience.

In 1982 those under thirty years of age comprised just 17.8 percent of the opera audience and by 1997 comprised only 13.3 percent of the audience for opera. Over this same span of years, audience members over sixty rose from 16.6 percent to 23.5 percent of the opera audience.

While the new report is positive for my industry in terms of showing overall arts participation, it should be considered within the value structure of the arts. Should we laud a video-game model of arts participation? Does this serve our arts values? Will any arts do? Is all arts participation equal?

I believe that there are certain values uniquely embedded in what can be called The Patient Arts (classical music, ballet, and opera.) My appreciation for the technique and craft of classical arts is really only exposed in time; I can only experience it with patience. It is not a gymnastics routine. Part of classical arts appreciation is learning to perceive with patience. A Mozart symphony rarely comes in under 25 minutes, and to appreciate a Beethoven symphony you have to be able to listen for 45 minutes. Online participation in the arts is an immensely positive trend, but within it there are real challenges to the values embedded in The Patient Arts.

image in this post is of Galileo’s clock.

[The issue of "is all arts participation equal" is peripherally raised in the suggestions for further research section of the new report - pg. 96.]

I became aware of the project, which is a collaboration between the Royal Shakespeare Company and Mudlark (which produces entertainment on mobile telephones), by the New York Times piece, “Such Tweet Sorrow.” CNET’s coverage has an even better title: “Romeo and Juliet Now Killing It on Twitter.”

Here are a few sample tweets from @julietcap16:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9Z8qY_0EPw dont be too mean! I have a cold and… im so embarrassed.. but yeah here it is. Song number 1 x

I just wanted to preach to the twitter world, my love for my sister @Jess_nurse She is the best sister in the world! Mum would be proud!x

@LaurenceFriar haha i love it! This is definite retweet material! You’ve set a high standard i must admit x

shut up @Tybalt_Cap you have no choice!!! Xx

RT @why_so_random: @julietcap16 should so make @Tybalt_Cap dress up as a fairy princess!

Have no idea what this is doing for actual sales, or actual arts education. This is quite different from a film version. It’s like the dvd extras on a film. It’s new media enriched. It’s new coke. Better than the real thing? No. But part of the value of art is the simple experience, and this project has actually managed to bring Shakespeare – in an oddly unselfconscious way – into my daily life.

When the team finished — to wild applause — emcee Ryan Cameron, a local radio personality, rushed onstage: “Whoa! Wow!” Then he playfully admonished the sold-out crowd of 4,600 fans, nearly all of them black, not to be so surprised that the evening’s only white contestants were that good.

“Close your mouth! Close your mouth!” he said with a laugh. “Stepping is for everybody. If you can step, you can step.”

But later, when it was announced that the Zetas won, the feel-good vibe evaporated. Large sections of the crowd starting booing. Then Internet and radio-call-in warfare broke out when the videos were posted on YouTube. There were allegations of cultural theft and reverse racism, not to mention race-based taunting and name-calling.

Late last week, Sprite officials said they discovered the scoring discrepancy. This was odd because the show’s host, rapper Ludacris, assured the crowd that the judges’ scores had been “double-checked.”

Here for your enjoyment – and I don’t know if it should have won but it is cool – are the ladies of ZTA:

The responses on this have been really interesting in the blogosphere I track, including backlash against Sprite for double-championing, and “reverse-racism” (on ESPN no less…) In a social media conversation I wrote, “I know white people who do indian dance, and play jazz music, and I know black people who dance ballet. In judging performance – do the apparent cultural roots of the performers matter? I think our perception and judgment of performance is closely tied who the “our” is in this sentence. Who owns our art forms? All successful (read:compelling) art forms evolve over time, as do the people who practice them. In this performance the audience and judges made a decision which reflects their mores as judges, and as audience.” That was within a conversation that was beautifully heart-felt and open… As a white person it is not my culture being assimilated (again.) There are real issues of cultural appropriation in the not-so-distant past within the originating Step community.

It seems like most people are really owning their issues in discussing this. Sprite just wanted some publicity from a Step competition to market toward hip urban consumers, not a boycott on charges of racism.. Who says there should be an easy answer? By the by — the last post I wrote titled This Land is Your Land is about Israel, and the Palestinian conflict.

“On Love,” by Cyd Ernst

She says she loves me
But she just ordered take-out
And I cooked dinner

“On Food,” by Cyd Ernst

But it tastes so good
Made from sugar and butter
It’s bad for me how?

“On Dogs,” by Cyd Ernst

He chewed a pillow
This is about the tenth time
But still I feed him.