Virtual festivals and streaming singers: how tech can save art
• A pay-per-view platform is part of the package as the National Arts Festival shifts online
In 2015 I wrote an article headlined “Can art save this city?” for an experimental online publishing platform, Contributoria. The platform was positioned as a potential new model for journalism based on direct contributions from readers. It was — sadly — shortlived, lasting just 21 editions, but that’s a story for another day.
The article was about the cultural and economic effects of the National Arts Festival on the then Grahamstown (now Makhanda), which was falling apart at the seams. The municipality was in administration, struggling to keep the lights on or supply water. This led to questions whether the city could or should continue to host the festival, which in turn raised the issue of what happens to the city if the almost R350m annual boost to the local and regional economy suddenly dries up.
It was a challenge to tease out all the issues in the story, and I wrapped up wishing I had another 1,000 words to do justice to the topic, including unpacking its viability for the artists themselves. Social and economic effects, the locals, the visitors, the artists, and the art administrators are all linked and interdependent. On the financial side, though it is notoriously hard to be a commercial success at a festival, it is still a fixture around which so much in that sector pivots, and it is an anchor event in the calendar for hundreds of performing artists.
Now it is the coronavirus crisis, not municipality woes, that has turned the tables on the festival, as well as the eventing industry and performing arts more broadly. Conferences are cancelled, travel halted, and large gatherings either prohibited or discouraged. On Broadway, many of the theatres are closed until September. West End venues are hoping to reopen their doors in late June. The Edinburgh Fringe Festival has been cancelled, and here at home the National Arts Festival has shifted online, for its first virtual iteration.
According to its website, festival organisers “had to choose between cancelling and doing something completely different”. They chose the latter, and are now prepping for 11 days (June 25 to July 5) of prerecorded and live events and performances to be offered exclusively online, including “short films, virtual art exhibitions, jam sessions, interactive events, webinars and more”.
They are also launching a pay-per-view platform on which audiences can buy tickets to view performances and other works. Additionally, they have promised a virtual fringe festival and are hosting webinars to guide artists on creating work for digital platforms.
It is clearly a huge shift for everyone, and the future is uncertain, but there is potentially something very exciting about bringing the notoriously “untechy” art world kicking and screaming to digital platforms. As with all industries right now, the big guys with the deep pockets will probably be fine. If, however, your income depends on your regular one-man-band gig or you run a travelling pub quiz company, then what? The arts (as a broad category) has a significant proportion of selfemployment, and many people and places rely totally on ticket sales, foot traffic, eyeballs and concession sales.
With the bums-on-seats model ruled out for now, artists have increasingly started to experiment with virtual and digital delivery. There was a wave of free content, largely to lift spirits, but soon thereafter artists started opening up to new funding models built on new technologies.
Patreon.com is one that predates Covid-19 and has shown how micropayments and user volumes can come together to provide a sustainable income to creatives and creators. Now, with digital media consumption rising, subscriptions are booming and per-event micropayments are becoming the norm.
The year 2020 might be an annus horribilis in so many ways, but I’m thankful this hideousness meant access to weekly musical performances streaming from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s YouTube channel, and the (temporary?) return of national treasures Corne & Twakkie (actors Louw Venter and Rob van Vuuren reprised their act as a fundraiser via Instagram’s live function).
From boredom-busting movies to neighbours singing on their balconies in locked-down cities, art has been a distraction and solace in this stressful and uncertain pandemic period. We can measure the effect in some spheres, with streaming data usage showing huge spikes.
But there are other things that are harder to measure: anecdotally, I see my circles reading more, committing to daily drawing and poetry challenges, sharing their scribbles, their short stories and their skits.
And, perhaps naively, I hope that post Covid-19 we remember how art cheered us up, that supporting local artists is mainstreamed, and that digital channels open up the arts like never before.
THERE IS SOMETHING VERY EXCITING ABOUT BRINGING THE ART WORLD KICKING AND SCREAMING TO DIGITAL PLATFORMS
I SEE MY CIRCLES READING MORE, COMMITTING TO DAILY DRAWING AND POETRY CHALLENGES, SHARING THEIR SKITS