2020-07-30

Series "COVID 19"

Authors

Stoyan V. Sgourev
holds a PhD from Stanford University and is Professor of Management at ESSEC Business School - Paris, where he teaches Art Management and Art History. His research interests include practices of innovation and evaluation in the creative industries, with a particular focus on the art market.   
The Pandemic as a Factor of Transformation in Arts and Culture

The Ascendance of "Digital Culture"

One of the most distinctive outcomes of the crisis for the cultural sector is that it shrunk the global to fit our computer screens and made local events resound globally. The digital or immaterial became tangible, substituting for what we previously enjoyed as physical and proximate.

Series "COVID 19"

Deep, penetrating crises of the kind provoked by Covid-19, change convictions, invert perspectives and reinforce contradictions that previously seemed to be manageable. The crisis is resurfacing anxieties in the cultural sector about the role of technology, the physical experience of culture and the viability of funding models. Forcing adaptation to the exigencies of social distancing, the crisis will accelerate the digitalization of the cultural sector, overhaul funding models, reduce the dependence on physical presence and create a momentum for scaling up. 
 
Our collective experiences during the crisis confirmed that culture is indispensable in times of ordeal, but that it is more fragile than we think. Organizations in all corners of the world are facing the same difficulties of keeping afloat while implementing sanitary regulations, reorganizing events and reducing budget shortfalls. The strong demand in recent years allowed museums to increase ticket prices without suffering drawbacks. This appears now as a distant memory. In the new reality, there will be fewer visitors, strict restrictions on their numbers and public apprehension as to the safety or necessity of visits. This will force museums and other cultural organizations to reorganize and reduce their staff, adapt their operational models to lower demand and look for alternative sources of funding. It can be expected that smaller organizations will have to cease operations or to procure partnerships in order to survive.  
 
The end of physical vs. digital
 
The crisis is likely to change the perspective on technology, as cultural organizations realize that they are vulnerable to unpredictable disruptions to their "physical” model. This will encourage investments in technology and the hedging of operational risk by building up digital capacity. Many cultural institutions already had projects along these lines, but the crisis will reinforce their interest in building up digital audiences. 
 
Organizations tend to be concerned about diluting the experience of physical attendance when offering digital services. But the crisis will help overcome their reticence and compel the reconsideration of the relationships between material and immaterial, digital and physical. These are often seen as opposite categories but can also be complementary. 
 
Direct contact with a work of art is important, and artists and musicians everywhere feel the loss of proximity to the audience. But the last few months have demonstrated that events in a particular time and space can be experienced emotionally by audiences in another time zone or geographic space as well. As the crisis confined us to our apartments and impeded social interaction, it also helped create a digital global community of cultural consumers who watched the same performances online and experienced similar emotions independently of space and sometimes even time. This experience confirms that digital does not necessarily mean "less”. Multiple cameras and high-quality sound are contributing to an experience that approximates that of the "physical” event. 
 
From individual to common platforms
 
Patterns of cultural consumption and production are evolving. At the rate at which technology is advancing, it is inevitable that digital platforms will become more important in the consumption of all cultural forms. The art market is leading the way, as we are witnessing a lot of new digital initiatives and platforms trying to subvert the physical restrictions on attendance to galleries and auction spaces. It is hard to imagine how these investments will be scaled back upon the relaxation of the restrictions. 
 
The acceleration of the digitalization of culture will have wide-reaching consequences, affecting the organization of work, social inequality and consumer choice. The digital cultural sector was already heavily populated in the past by users who liked exploring on a broader scale than their local theatre or opera house can provide. The crisis enlarged the digital audience considerably - many of those who saw a ballet or an opera online for the first time may be tempted to do so more regularly. 
 
Monetization needs increased quality
 
There has never been so much cultural content available for free, as nowadays. There are free film festivals, online concerts of all kinds and amateur musicians streaming to the world. The sheer scale of global exposure to cultural content is unprecedented, especially among the less privileged parts of the population. It is intriguing to speculate on the effects of the crisis on cultural consumption. Its distribution will probably not change much, but its appreciation by society may increase. If the pie is growing in size, the smaller slices would still be bigger than what they used to be in the past. 
 
The expanding digital offer will raise the quality of cultural products and formats, as institutions worldwide will compete with each other to attract subscribers and digital audiences, and create partnerships with platforms. This means that high-quality productions will become increasingly affordable and accessible. Digitalization facilitates eclecticism and wider choice. Even a seasoned ballet fan can hardly see more than 15 to 20 performances a year, but when you have access to performances from Russia to the UK or Argentina the choice becomes much greater. Thanks to the digital, it is easier than ever to enjoy performances in different genres. Another advantage is that an event can be put into context to create a unique digital experience around it by adding relevant materials. The customer has more power over digital content and the conditions of its consumption. 
 
Being appreciated and being worthy
 
At the same time, digitalization will reinforce social inequality in the cultural sector. Artists may be forced to change profession, and independent organizations will have to cease or transform their operations, as will some of the bigger companies. The recent plea for help of Shakespeare’s "Globe” Theatre in London illustrates the complicated economic reality that an organization faces when close to 80% of its revenue comes from tickets. 
 
Accustomed to resolving operational bottlenecks, directors and leaders will need to conceive new ways to hedge risks and to reduce the uncertainty over demand, by developing new marketing techniques and alternative sources of revenue. Business models will have to be adapted, as the crisis pushes institutions to innovate in hedging risks. In face of the increasing digitalization, digital competition and decreasing financial support, one of the main tasks of leaders in publicly subsidized cultural organizations will be to promote an entrepreneurial spirit among their employees and to develop new innovative business models and sources of income. It will not be enough to simply transfer existing formats to digital; new offers and services will have to be developed that also help to combat social inequality in the sector between smaller and bigger organizations, .
 
The cultural sector is used to navigating challenges of various kinds and is more adaptable than other sectors. The "Globe” theatre stands as a reminder that Shakespeare lived in overcrowded, rat-infested London and was exposed to some of the nastiest diseases known to mankind. And it is precisely at this time that he created the masterpieces that we cherish today. One can only wonder what imprint our anxious, pandemic times will eventually leave on the history of arts and culture.
 
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