3 things from this week.
Innovation
I had an excellent conversation for the Digital Works podcast with Nick Sherrard. Nick is a partner at Label Ventures, and has also worked in a variety of roles in the cultural sector over the years.
We were talking about how cultural organisations view and engage with innovation, and experimentation.
Nick said a number of insightful and thought-provoking things, increasingly it feels like this is something cultural organisations have to properly engage with. Traditional funding streams are disappearing, audience behaviours and expectations are shifting.
As Nick said “in business not innovating is seen as a giant risk, but in the cultural sector doing anything new is seen as scary, and risky and to be viewed with suspicion, that needs to change”
Relevance
Another great conversation, this time with Leslie Koch. Leslie is the President of the new arts centre (the Perelman) which is being built on the site of the World Trade Center.
Leslie and I spoke regularly throughout lockdown as she was looking around the world for inspiration and guidance on her digital plans for the institution.
In our most recent conversation I was struck by comments Leslie made about new and younger audiences. We were talking about the importance of shifting what ‘the product’ is (i.e. you can’t just keep doing the same thing and expecting different results). Leslie commented that this should all be viewed through a lens of ‘relevance’, she argued that the language we currently use around these challenges in the sector has lost its power and usefulness.
I was struck by how simple and potentially unifying this change in language is (much like the shift I’ve previously discussed with Robin Christopherson about moving from language of ‘accessibility’ to ‘inclusion’). If organisations directly and pragmatically engage with being relevant then all the other conversations around diversity, access, new artists, new platforms fall in behind that in a really clear way.
I do really believe that seemingly small shifts in language like this can help unblock otherwise intransigent conversations.
Reading lists
I’ve always loved books. However as I got older I found myself reading less because of the busyness of life. In recent years I’ve tried to force myself to make and hold the space to regularly read, I think exposing yourself to new ideas, points of view and narratives is essential.
I always find it interesting when people share what they’ve been reading so I thought I’d start doing the same. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve read and enjoyed:
- An Ordinary Wonder by Buki Papillon
- The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers
- Team Genius: The Science of High-Performing Teams by Rich Karlgaard and Michael Malone
- Radical Candour by Kim Scott
- Traction by Gino Wickman
- The Amur River by Colin Thubron
- How Tiktok ate the internet
