Manara

I’ll be speaking at the Canadian Arts Summit in Banff this weekend where Cultural and Artistic institutions from across Canada gather to share insights and best practices. This will be my third year participating and it really is one of my favorite events.

The theme this year is the Power of Connecting so I’ve been thinking about how Art Institutions are coping within the digital media space. I was surfing the web when I stumbled upon the YouTube Choir (Via Mashable):

American composer and conductor Eric Whitacre spliced together nearly 250 submitted YouTube videos to form an online choir performing “Lux Arumque,” and then posted the assembled piece on YouTube.

Whitacre used social media — his blog, a FacebookFacebook page and YouTubeYouTube — to assemble and audition singers for his piece. He sent the sheet music out so people could submit videos featuring them singing individual parts. He then sifted through the videos and edited the audio parts together to form a very professional-sounding choir.

Ok, so first of all: AWESOME.

In 2008, I blogged about YouTube creating the world’s first online collaborative orchestra. (I can’t believe it’s already 2010, but that’s besides the point.) One of the reasons I am so fascinated and passionate about digital media is because platforms like YouTube are providing new ways for people all over the world to creatively collaborate and most importantly: entertain me endlessly.

The Evolution of Art:

Today, many of these art institutions are concerned that with so many ways to stay entertained that we will forget all about our most valuable cultural pillars. They worry that young people don’t care about the Arts anymore and that they are in danger of just fading away.

When I see this it gives me hope. This shows me that technology can fuse with Art and help it evolve and become something so much more. I watched this video and thought to myself, what an amazing experience to participate in a musical piece and know that other people are contributing their own talents from around the world. Even as a viewer, I was entranced at the harmony and flow of this video and how it redefined my interaction and understanding of this space.

Shift to Creation instead of Promotion:

I am also happy to this opening up the web to new types of content products instead of various marketing strategies. I am happy we are moving beyond the advertising stage and beginning to explore the ways these technologies can impact the institutions themselves. Here’s to a new period of creativity, innovation and growth that will allow us to experience classic pieces of art in new and amazing ways.

I’m still poking around for more examples of similar initiatives so if you see anything interesting do send it my way!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 at 6:16 pm and is filed under Rahaf Harfoush. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.