The National Arts Council (NAC) recently launched the SG Arts Plan which is a 5 year plan that charts new directions for arts in Singapore and supports the needs and aspirations of the arts community and all Singaporeans. One of the tasks for this plan is to implement digital initiatives by using technology to design arts experiences and to increase accessibility to the arts.
A good way to make arts performances such as concerts, musicals and operas more accessible to more people is to provide live streaming online through a portal. In fact, some of the most prestigious opera houses across Europe began streaming performances live online since May 2015. With the high percentage of our local population, both young and old own mobile devices such smart phones and tablets, this idea is viable. Moreover, our local network infrastructure is capable of supporting high bandwidth and usage and ensures seamless viewing of contents online via mobile devices anytime, anywhere. With this live streaming feature, people may still enjoy watching any performances they are interested in but unable to attend. In a way, this feature also allows unlimited number of people to watch the performances without the physical space constraint of the performance venue. For paid performances, people should be expected to pay a cheaper fee to watch online. The artistes and production company would be agreeable to this idea since it helps to promote their performances to as many people as possible. However, the drawback of this live streaming feature which most people will highlight is whether they are able to capture the real immersive experience of watching the performance live in a gallery, theatre or opera house. Nevertheless, this live streaming feature provides an alternative avenue of watching performances and would certainly reach a wider audience.
The invention of the Internet made it possible for art to be created in various forms and distributed across the digital world without the need to go through art galleries. With apps like Instagram, Tumblr and Pinterest, anyone out there can showcase their art work easily. However, to ensure cohesion among our local artists and the communities, there should be a portal created for sharing and bonding purpose. This portal not only facilitates sharing and commenting of art works but also acts as a place for artists to maintain their portfolio. The relevant authorities and institutions should have access to this portal to view and grade the art works for cases such as the artists applying for admission into an art institution or studies.
Technology affects art across various mediums and is able to change the way artists are operating. Modern day image and video editing software provide more than a million shades of colours which are far more than traditional watercolours. The huge array of tweaking and fine-tuning options open up limitless horizons for artists to express themselves more creatively and accurately. While artists of the past rely solely on pencil or brush to make beautiful works of art, modern day artists can make use of sound, video or computer generated images to provide a more immersive experience. Rather than merely displaying static art works, the portal can support additional materials such as voice or video from the artists to accompany the art works for more detailed descriptions.
Another advantage of technology is that it allows experimentation. Given the fast turnaround time to compose something and see the results, Children or anyone who is a beginner in arts can simply reset and retry multiple times. This ability promotes incredible imagination and aids comprehension of structure. The portal can possibly provide such basic tools for children and beginners in arts to have some hands-on as a way of arousing interest and promoting the creation of arts.
Data analytics is the process of examining data sets in order to draw conclusions about the information they contain. It is used by many corporations across all industries to enhance productivity and business gain. Similarly, we can make use of data analytics to interpret important data, such as audience segmentation and consumption patterns for the arts industry. When data analytics feature is included into the portal, it will enable art practitioners to cater to changes in audiences’ needs and preferences for future art works.
No comments:
Post a Comment