What are the emerging tools available to artists to get their work known? The traditional tools of art magazines ( i.e. Artforum, Art in America, etc.) are becoming more marginalized in a world culture which included creatives voices ranging from television to blogs.
Just as poiltics has become more and more in the hands of independent writers ( bloggers), and filmmakers , the various 'art-hoods' that I have previously written about should become part of blog culture and develop trends, nodes and movements independent of the traditional art critic.
Many scenes in Los Angeles, especially the dance community, has voiced deeply felt concerns about the state of art crtiticism. Dance critics are continuously seen as unqualified to state their opinions in pretigious newspapers, and a need to express a way of assessing the critics seems to me, to be necessary. No creative voice should be imune to criticism, and that should ultimately include the critics. It seems obvious that a review, good or bad, no longer has the power it once had in creating an audience. I recently saw a "pick of the week" in a major LA local paper. The metropolitan area of our regions is well over 10 million, yet only about 50 or 60 people showed up to the 'pick of the week' event. Clearly, nobody cared, or even noticed the critics acclaim, and almost all the audience who attended would have attended no matter what. Is the time and expense of courting traditional PR attention through the media still relevent? Perhaps not.
I think that just as people have turned to their favorite blog writers for keen new insights, these same people are turning away from traditional critics. Perhaps yet another award show should created, an award not for best critic, but for worst critic. The qualifications that a critic brings to an article should be disclosed, just as stock brokers appearing on cable TV news stations, have been forced to disclose any conflict of interest issues. If a dance critic has never danced professionally, or an art critic has never made his living as an artist, or a film critic has never released a film, that should obviously not disqualify the critic from writing, but it would be helpful if the reader was aware of what source of expertise is being read. Controversal? Certainly, but also a step towards the transparency that media needs to better serve audience. Think about it. What would it hurt if we knew more about the backgrounds of our experts, just as they are constantly asking for ours?
Navigating the PR Game has always been about creating news channeles that did not exist before. Sure, send out your press release to the papers, print postcards and mail them out. But mopre people will know about you through blog-style approaches, and are more likely to show up to your event.
contact Masucci at mmasucci@eztvmedia.com or mmasucci@aol.com
Just as poiltics has become more and more in the hands of independent writers ( bloggers), and filmmakers , the various 'art-hoods' that I have previously written about should become part of blog culture and develop trends, nodes and movements independent of the traditional art critic.
Many scenes in Los Angeles, especially the dance community, has voiced deeply felt concerns about the state of art crtiticism. Dance critics are continuously seen as unqualified to state their opinions in pretigious newspapers, and a need to express a way of assessing the critics seems to me, to be necessary. No creative voice should be imune to criticism, and that should ultimately include the critics. It seems obvious that a review, good or bad, no longer has the power it once had in creating an audience. I recently saw a "pick of the week" in a major LA local paper. The metropolitan area of our regions is well over 10 million, yet only about 50 or 60 people showed up to the 'pick of the week' event. Clearly, nobody cared, or even noticed the critics acclaim, and almost all the audience who attended would have attended no matter what. Is the time and expense of courting traditional PR attention through the media still relevent? Perhaps not.
I think that just as people have turned to their favorite blog writers for keen new insights, these same people are turning away from traditional critics. Perhaps yet another award show should created, an award not for best critic, but for worst critic. The qualifications that a critic brings to an article should be disclosed, just as stock brokers appearing on cable TV news stations, have been forced to disclose any conflict of interest issues. If a dance critic has never danced professionally, or an art critic has never made his living as an artist, or a film critic has never released a film, that should obviously not disqualify the critic from writing, but it would be helpful if the reader was aware of what source of expertise is being read. Controversal? Certainly, but also a step towards the transparency that media needs to better serve audience. Think about it. What would it hurt if we knew more about the backgrounds of our experts, just as they are constantly asking for ours?
Navigating the PR Game has always been about creating news channeles that did not exist before. Sure, send out your press release to the papers, print postcards and mail them out. But mopre people will know about you through blog-style approaches, and are more likely to show up to your event.
contact Masucci at mmasucci@eztvmedia.com or mmasucci@aol.com