Karla at Kurious Productions muses on the role of the Artistic Director and the challenge of combining artistic vision with audience expectations at festivals and events.
Every year I look forward to the release of the arts / festival programs. The role of the artistic director is one I have always observed as being so instrumental in the way we experience art and culture. I think programming a festival – for the larger audience over multiple days certainly must be a huge challenge… and opportunity -to introduce audiences to new experiences.
The festival audience is a tricky one – usually including all ages, various backgrounds, travelling into to a central location. So many considerations need to be made – from access, to scheduling, to the design and look of the marketing and spaces, to the online presence, media interpretation, to programming works that span the broad reach that is the arts… I should say here that I am referring the major arts festivals, but this is still relevant to local community festivals, as well as specific genre festivals such as sculpture, or dance, or alternative music. There is enormous pressure to impress each year, to reach new audiences, to satisfy loyal audiences, to generate revenue and make budget, to be a leader, and the face of an organisation, as well as the negotiator, and key decision maker, and most importantly the visionary! So much detail is in flux and requiring balance to launch and get it just right.
I admire these people and their roles – and I have to say from a punters perspective we can criticise every aspect – because we expect when we turn up, to be given an amazing experience.
Every year I look forward to the release of the arts / festival programs. The role of the artistic director is one I have always observed as being so instrumental in the way we experience art and culture. I think programming a festival – for the larger audience over multiple days certainly must be a huge challenge… and opportunity -to introduce audiences to new experiences.
The festival audience is a tricky one – usually including all ages, various backgrounds, travelling into to a central location. So many considerations need to be made – from access, to scheduling, to the design and look of the marketing and spaces, to the online presence, media interpretation, to programming works that span the broad reach that is the arts… I should say here that I am referring the major arts festivals, but this is still relevant to local community festivals, as well as specific genre festivals such as sculpture, or dance, or alternative music. There is enormous pressure to impress each year, to reach new audiences, to satisfy loyal audiences, to generate revenue and make budget, to be a leader, and the face of an organisation, as well as the negotiator, and key decision maker, and most importantly the visionary! So much detail is in flux and requiring balance to launch and get it just right.
I admire these people and their roles – and I have to say from a punters perspective we can criticise every aspect – because we expect when we turn up, to be given an amazing experience.