Art of communication

I read with interest that there is a well-funded competition in the USA – the Knight/NEA Community Arts Journalism Challenge – that is seeking to find new models of arts journalism in the digital age, to rethink media in all its forms and how it’s used to talk to, and ergo, engage audience.

Addressing an identified need in the US to think arts communications differently, I applaud its ambition. I also think there is such a need in the UK; arts blogs like Arts Professional’s are a laudable and needed mechanism for us to knowledge exchange, something I see as essential in strengthening us as a sector, but I also open ‘communication’ up to include how we talk about the arts outside of ourselves.
I question if the arts is communicating effectively. What are we saying about we do, how and why we do it and why it’s worth doing? I’ll be honest, I read lots of hackneyed and elevated prose on the arts which I think only serves to alienate many and conform to arts ‘exclusive’ stereotype. At the other end of the arts communication spectrum, I am insulted to see our audiences so often talked down to. The sum of these communication parts is the removal of the arts from the everyday. It’s made impenetrable, irrelevant and separate from the lived experience, from culture in its widest sense.
It’s not just what we say, but how, where and when we say it. Knight/NEA talk of digital technology, just as ACE is proclaiming similar with renewed vigour right now. A meeting of arts and digital communications has exponential possibilities but I’m not the first to say that it’s still a minority of people that have smart phones and whole swathes of the UK are still internet poor, nor query our capacity to harness technology to its and our best advantage. Let’s not forget the message in the rush for the medium.
There are a number of arts organisations that I think excel at communication and there is much to learn from them. Whilst I’m not proclaiming to have the definitive answer – for starters I don’t think there is one – I would hope talking to each other will raise the bar for us all. I will be watching the Knight/USA and ACE programmes closely. Just as I do all forms of media, constantly questioning if and how, when and where it could be of use.