The most unusual sound coming out of the American Symphony Orchestra League’s conference in Nashville this week won’t be from woodwinds, brass or strings, but rather from the tapping of fingers on computer keyboards. Approximately 700 attendees will be encouraged to blog about what they hear during a three-hour session on the changing relationships between audiences and the arts.
The virtual discussion will take place with the help of a team of Vanderbilt information technology pros from 2-5 p.m. CDT June 21 at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel Grand Ballroom.
“People have said that new technology can enable a more active engagement with knowledge, especially in a conference format, but it hasn’t really been tested very often,” Vanderbilt Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy Associate Director Steven Tepper said. “This is a chance to see if audiences could engage more deeply in the conversation if they had a chance to react to, post questions and note potential contradictions in the middle of listening.
“It is kind of social graffiti – instead of just presenting the material and hanging it on a wall like you would art in a museum, we can use technology to allow people to comment in real time and add their graffiti to the conversation.”
The discussion topic, Engaging Art: The Next Great Transformation of America’s Cultural Life, is the title and subject of a forthcoming book co-edited by Vanderbilt Curb Center Director Bill Ivey and Tepper. A panel of experts, including Ivey and Tepper, will present the ideas discussed in the book and will encourage conference attendees to blog their responses live.
“A team of around 30 information technology professionals from across Vanderbilt have volunteered to rove amongst the attendees to help them connect to the wireless and wired networks in the meeting room, to get started blogging and to help solve problems,” Cindy Frank, director of service delivery and project management for Vanderbilt Information Technology Services, said. “This is a first for us and we are excited about it.”
Working with ArtsJournal.com, Ivey, Tepper and conference organizers have created a blog manned by 13 different bloggers with a goal of jumpstarting the discussion about the changing relationships between audiences and the arts before the live session. The blog’s address is www.artsjournal.com/league and is the same one that will be used during the June 21 session.
The conference is taking place June 19-23 at a variety of locations in Nashville. More information is available at http://www.leagueconference.org.
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Media Contact: Melanie Moran, (615) 322-NEWS
melanie.moran@vanderbilt.edu