London Calling dispatched intrepid accounts man Tom Butler on a sightseeing trip into the future of collaborative and interactive arts at the Shift Happens conference, and this is what he brought back…
Over the last couple of years, the questions within the Arts industry have been ‘What is social media?’ What is this technology?’ and then swiftly followed by the sweeping statement of ‘I don’t think it’s for us’. Well thankfully, as Bob Dylan had the foresight to predict…‘the times, they are a changing’.
York was the setting for the fantastic, third annual Shift Happens conference last week, and amongst this beautiful, castle walled, cobbled street city it seemed oddly appropriate to attend an event that was embracing the future and had new media and technologies at its core.
No longer was the question ‘What is this technology?’ but ‘How best can we use it?’ ‘How best can we engage with and develop new audiences?’ The speakers talked with passion and knowledge and the delegates lapped it up and posed questions via twitter. Everyone came away enthused as to the possibilities within their grasp.
Such is the potential to reach huge audiences via social media these days that within 48 hours of the conference ending, the shifthappens hashtag had made 2.7 million impressions with over 3,000 tweets made by 410 tweeters over 2 days. My boss even knew I’d had quiche for lunch!
And what makes it even better is that because it’s new there’s a feeling that everyone’s learning from each other. There’s a willingness to share ideas and see the great collaborations coming together. Check out this great video by Sour which had a massive on-line presence in Asia and has since won loads of awards.
Within the arts industry and across all sectors there are new approaches to marketing and audience development taking place and a genuine excitement attached to each campaign to see the results. So lets, talk, blog, tweet, facebook and share what we know and find out.
I want to go to next year’s conference and hear about the amazing, intuitive, creative campaigns we’ve all undertaken and be equally inspired by each other. So thank you Shift Happens, and yes Mr Dylan, the time’s are indeed a changing!
