Patternmakers 4/5/17 Patternmakers 4/5/17

Beyond the Bio: Jodie Bombardier

We are very excited to announce the latest member to the Patternmakers family – meet Jodie. Join us as we take a few moments to go beyond the bio and chat with our new administrator, Jodie.

What is your role at Patternmakers?

As someone who’s worked most of her professional life in business operations and events management for large corporations, I was delighted to get involved in a small business, which has a wider purpose. As the administrator, I believe I am making a genuine impact through providing operational support to Tandi and the team – making sure all our projects are running smoothly.

What does your average day look like?

As the newest member of the Patternmakers team I must admit that I have been busy researching, learning and asking questions! For now, we are focused on business process improvement – reviewing, developing and ensuring we have sound operational procedures that support both internal and client projects.

What do you love about your job?

I love working with such a passionate and talented team, who are committed to the role we play in supporting the arts and cultural scene. It is exciting working with a cohesive team, where ideas are put into action. I love the potential reach of Patternmakers to inform and inspire our clients with the vast possibilities of data.

What’s more – Patternmakers flexible work policy allows me to work from home and balance my work and family time. It’s wonderful seeing how progressive the company is as flexible careers are surely the future of work.

What do you do outside of Patternmakers?

I head to the coast! Living on Sydney’s Northern Beaches means I am never far from the ocean and the sea breeze, which I love. I spend most of my time with my young family. With little ones, it’s all about scooting and cycling, feeding ducks, and constant adventures!

What is your favourite type of cultural experience and why?

I’ll have to say theatre, dance and music. I love the excitement of attending a performance, and that tingling feeling one gets from being swept away in the story.

What are some of your non-work-related goals for 2017?

I would like to have more time for yoga, walking or cycling around our local lake, and learning French, to keep up with my kids!

What is your greatest personal achievement or something you feel truly proud of?

We have recently had two years living in Montreal Canada, which is the hometown of my husband. We moved there when our daughter was three and our son was just ten months old. I have been lucky to have travelled and lived in a few countries but it was quite a different experience moving a young family. It was an exciting adventure yet incredibly challenging a times (especially in the Winter months with -30 degrees wind chill!)

While living in Canada, I travelled to the Rocky Mountains, which is one of my favourite places in the world. Seeing the mountains changing beauty in all different lights and shades was awe-inspiring. It’s almost an artwork in it’s own right.

About the Author

Tandi Williams
Managing Director

Patternmakers’ Founder and Managing Director Tandi Williams is an experienced consultant and arts and culture research specialist.

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Patternmakers 4/4/17 Patternmakers 4/4/17

Beyond the Bio: Nicole Pierre

A new month brings a fresh face to Patternmakers - meet Nicole Pierre! Join us as we take few moments to go beyond the bio and get to know our team's newest addition.

A new month brings a fresh face to Patternmakers - meet Nicole Pierre! Join us as we take a few moments to go beyond the bio and get to know our team's newest addition.

What is your role at Patternmakers?

I’m the Digital Content Coordinator at Patternmakers so I get to organise all the communications across our digital platforms.

What does the average day look like?

I love all things social media, content creation and marketing, which is exciting because it encompasses everything I do at Patternmakers. My work is both varied and fun. One minute I could be creating content for our monthly newsletter and writing a blog about the ‘3 Creatives bringing data to life’, all the way to sourcing data art images and writing copy on our social media feeds.

What do you love about your job?

Despite being a relatively new member on the Patternmakers team, I love the fact that I am creating communications for a brand’s message that I am really passionate about. That is mobilising and supporting the Australian creative arts industry through research and data.

What is your favourite type of cultural experience and why?

It’s hard to say just one so I’m going to give you my top two. Firstly, I really enjoy attending art exhibitions. The latest one I went to was ‘Adman: Warhol before pop’, which was interesting to see a completely different body of work to Warhol’s signature pop art pieces dealing with consumerism and mass production.

As a self confessed cinéphile, I also adore going to foreign film festivals. Last year, I went to the Latin American film festival and the Italian film festival. Most recently, I volunteered at the Alliance Française film festival. If you attended, you may have seen me give a short French presentation on Ladies night at the screening of La Danseuse by Stéphanie Di Giusto.

What do you do outside of Patternmakers?

Currently, I am studying a Master of Journalism at UTS. Pursuing a career in the media and communications sector has been something that interested me for a long time. I am a curious individual who loves talking to people and storytelling so it was a no-brainer for me to pursue my studies in Journalism. I actually just submitted a blog post on the ‘Regulation of fake news in the digital age’ – if you’d like to give it a read.

What is your greatest personal achievement?

Something I am really proud of is learning a second language. The secondary school education system in Australia doesn’t put much of a demand on learning a second language, which I see as a real shame. When I commenced my bachelor’s degree, I enrolled in French classes and did a study abroad in Lyon, France. My experience abroad was truly eye opening – immersing me to a whole other culture, which I always appreciated through art, films, and music.

I later returned to Australia, continued learning French and took a leap of faith when journeying back to France in 2015-2016. The second time, I lived and worked in a small coastal village in Brittany with the goal of improving my French.

I remember when I had a few days in Paris towards the end of my trip before heading back to Sydney. At the hotel, the receptionist was assisting an American just before me, in perfectly fluent English. When it was my turn, I jumped straight into French without hesitation. He was both shocked and impressed, and we continued conversing before he handed me the keys to my room. It was at that moment, that I realised how far I’d come.

About the Author

Tandi Williams
Managing Director

Patternmakers’ Founder and Managing Director Tandi Williams is an experienced consultant and arts and culture research specialist.

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Patternmakers 1/4/17 Patternmakers 1/4/17

3 Creatives Bringing Data To Life

From colourful pie charts to wearable data, it is no secret that data visualisation is making data more accessible to everyone.

by Nicole Pierre

Data and statistics are not the sexiest subjects to talk about - and some data can be downright intimidating. In a world where we are constantly inundated with information from news channels to social media feeds, it is tempting to switch it all off.

But thanks to data visualisation, statistics are becoming more accessible - and more interesting - to us all. The human brain is known to process visuals 60,000 times faster than text and designers all over the world are getting on board, using their creative skills to bring data to life. From colourful pie charts to wearable data, we love seeing what happens when art and numbers collide.

Below, we take a look at 3 creatives who are taking data visualisation to the next level.

David McCandless

British information designer and data journalist David McCandless is at the forefront of data visualisation. Trained as a designer and writer, David is a native creative. What’s more, he proudly wears his geeky data journalist hat around.

David’s interest in data visualisation is based on his desire to communicate the facts. David says, “I’m interested in how designed information can help us understand the world, cut through fake news, and reveal the hidden connections, patterns and stories underneath.” He adds, “Or, failing that, it can just look cool!” His inforgraphics often illustrate multiple, divergent perspectives on an issue.

He now leads a small team with the goal of helping everyone make better, clearer, more informed decisions about the world.

His two beautiful infographic books - Information is Beautiful and Knowledge is Beautiful - are both worth a read, and his Ted Talk on The Beauty of Data Visualisation has had over 2 million views.

Stefanie Posavec

Have you ever considered wearing data art? Designer Stefanie Posavec has created wearable data objects including a necklace made of perspex geometric shapes. Despite the vibrant colours, the artwork deals with issues concerning climate change and air pollution in Sheffield, UK – known for its high rates of air pollution.

The necklace is based on data from sensors measuring high levels of particulates – that is matter in the Earth’s atmosphere, which can have damaging effects on human health.

Stefanie aims to challenge viewers to contemplate the impact of air pollution on our bodies. “Since particulate matter damages the heart and lungs, we felt a neckpiece was an appropriate way of communicating this data,” Stefanie says.

Stefanie is also one-half of the Dear Data project - a year long analog data drawing project with Giorgia Lupi, which captures the daily reflections of two information designers living on different sides of the Atlantic. Worth a look.

Mona Chalabi

Some are born talented with both words and numbers, like Mona Chalabi. She is the data editor of The Guardian US, as well as a columnist at New York Magazine. Instead of food and coffee pics, Mona’s Instagram is filled with her own data sketches – known for being both satirical and informative (and often related to taboo bodily functions!). Her data sketch comparing the taxes for sanitary products among 20 countries went viral in 2016.

Have a browse of her illustrations or watch this Ted Talk on 3 ways to spot a bad statistic.

Which data art creatives do you follow? We’d love to hear from you.

Be inspired and stay informed by subscribing to our monthly Culture Insight & Innovation Update to hear the latest industry research and news.

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Tandi Williams 7/3/17 Tandi Williams 7/3/17

Inclusive and Accessible Research: what we learnt from evaluating Unlimited

We're excited to be continuing our work in the arts and disability field this year and thought we'd take a moment to share a bit about what we've learnt...

After evaluating Unlimited in 2015, two independent researchers turned the lens on themselves. Here they share what they learnt from evaluating the accessibility of their work.

In 2015, we – Morwenna Collett and Tandi Williams – were commissioned by Shape and Artsadmin to answer the question: ‘Is Unlimited changing the way in which disability and creativity are viewed within the cultural sector, and if so, how can it do it better?’ – see more here.

We learnt much about the programme, but we also learnt an enormous amount about how to conduct inclusive and accessible research and evaluation. We want to share what we learnt as broadly as possible, to ensure other researchers, evaluators and consultants can work towards equal access to participate in their work. Here are some of the things to consider:

Design

Involve disabled people from the outset: it was critical to have direct experience of disability in our team, and actively seek out as wide a range of people as possible to participate in our work, including people with different backgrounds and experiences, and disabled people who traditionally have faced a higher rate of exclusion from activities.

We asked absolutely everyone if they had any access requirements (even if we knew them) and made sure we set aside the resources to meet those requirements. Beyond technical aspects of accessibility, it was also important for us to be open and welcoming, and encourage people to give us feedback, so we could adjust our approach as required.

Fieldwork

An extended exploratory period was key to ensure we fully understood the issues, and a mixed-methods approach helped us widen accessibility so more people could participate.

Throughout our fieldwork, we offered accessible formats of all materials and resources so people could participate in whichever way suited them. During our qualitative phase, some preferred to be interviewed face-to-face, while others opted for Skype, instant chat or email. We learnt that everything – from the time of day, to duration, to location – matters.

For our quantitative research, we opted for an accessible programme, Surveymonkey, and tested it with a visually impaired person using a screen reader – again, offering alternative formats was valuable. To ensure learning-disabled stakeholders could participate, we asked their mentor to assist them to complete a questionnaire together.

More often than not, we managed to find inexpensive ways to meet access requirements, such as using accessible cultural venues as interview venues. The financial costs of access were lower than we expected; most of the time, true accessibility just required a bit of extra time and effort, such as extending interviews to avoid rushing a conversation.

Analysis and reporting

One of the simplest tools for accessibility is using the right font. We recommend that report content text be no smaller then 12 point font, preferably sans serif style. Any text should strongly contrast with the background colour and it’s best to avoid featuring text over the top of any images.

We produced a Word version as well as a PDF version of each of our reports, to ensure they were accessible to screenreader users. Any infographics or images had alt-text descriptions, so that visually-impaired people didn’t miss out on content.

We didn’t create any web content – but we learnt that when publishing material online, websites must comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, and any video content should be text captioned (to be accessible for deaf people) and audio described (for visually impaired people).

Conclusion

We learnt so much from working with Unlimited and have carried those lessons into our other projects and workplaces.

One of the tasks we undertook at the start of our project was to develop an Access Statement, which we used to set the intention for the project and plan what we would do to maximise access at every stage of the research (not just the outputs!). This got us thinking: could something like this be useful for other researchers and consultants? Could it help others embed an attitude of inclusion upfront, and design research that was more accessible? We’d love to hear your thoughts, so take a look and help us spread the word.

Our vision is for every researcher, every consultant, every author, every speaker, and every project to have an inclusive mind-set and the philosophy of being open, proactive and responsive to ensuring that everyone can participate and be included in everyone’s work.

Originally posted on unlimitedimpact.org.uk

About the Author

Tandi Williams
Managing Director

Patternmakers’ Founder and Managing Director Tandi Williams is an experienced consultant and arts and culture research specialist.

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Patternmakers 7/2/17 Patternmakers 7/2/17

5 Data Trends for the Arts in 2017

We've been thinking about where arts and culture research is heading in 2017 so we're sharing the top five trends on our radar.

At Patternmakers, if we don’t have our heads down in data models, we have our heads up in the clouds – the data clouds, that is.

We’ve been thinking about where arts and culture research is heading in 2017, and here we share with you the top five trends on our radar.

1. Data culture

In 2016, we saw more arts professionals becoming curious about data, and in 2017, we’ll see a data culture begin to flourish in the arts. This will be evident everywhere from conference programmes to new job titles like Data Scientist and Arts Analyst, popping up in larger organisations.

But as the saying goes, the future is here, it’s just not evenly distributed, and some parts of the arts are more ready for data culture than others. We find it's less about resources and more about leadership – and we're going to see more data savvy leaders coming of age very soon.

2. Less surveying

That's right - we're predicting (and advocating for) less surveying in 2017. Yes, surveys will always play a role in research, but quite frankly our industry is over surveying and we're advising many of our clients to start scaling back. Respondent fatigue is one critical reason, but there are other reasons (like #3 below) that surveying is no longer likely to be the best methodology.

Survey Monkey has made it too easy for anyone to whip out a survey without setting aside the necessary resources and time to properly analyse the data. For a survey to be meaningful, it must align to a broader strategy which details how the results will be used and applied.

3. More ethnography

Instead of surveying, we’ll see more arts research projects use qualitative techniques. Interviews and focus groups are already standard practice – but we're predicting the rise of the less popular but cost-effective ethnography, with its digital cousins netnography and webnography.

Ethnography, which involves the systematic observation of people, we believe has enormous potential for helping us understand how people relate to cultural spaces and participate in the arts. We’ll also see more online focus groups and discussion boards which are gaining popularity in the private sector.

4. Experimentation and action research

As the pace of change accelerates, so too must our research methods. Action research involves a continuous process of action and reflection, where we test and learn rapidly by doing.

This is one of the best ways to extract tangible value from research, but it involves close collaboration between researchers and practitioners over time. We think the spirit of experimentation, though not for the faint-hearted, is ideally suited to the arts and its time is nigh.

5. Insights to action

If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail – implementing research insights and recommendations is just as important as conducting the research in the first place. But resources do need to be set aside for interpretation workshops, action planning and implementation to get the most out of research resources.

Think bigger picture when planning your research. When defining research objectives and drafting project plans, include what actions you will take, what you will do with the research insights – and importantly, how it will be managed.

What do you think about these trends? Are you noticing them in your workplace?

If you’d like to learn how to make the most of the data you have, or find out how the future of your organisation could benefit from these trends, have a chat with us - we offer complimentary 1-hr consultations to help you refine your ideas. Contact us today.

About the Author

Tandi Williams
Managing Director

Patternmakers’ Founder and Managing Director Tandi Williams is an experienced consultant and arts and culture research specialist.

Be in the loop

Patternmakers 7/2/17 Patternmakers 7/2/17

Beyond the Bio: Brooke Boyce

As you know, we like to dive deep to gather data so this time we decided to take a few moments by going beyond the bio with our resident Research Analyst Brooke!

As you know, we like to dive deep to gather data so this time we decided to take a few moments by going beyond the bio with our very own Brooke Boyce, resident Research Analyst at Patternmakers.

What exactly do you do at Patternmakers?

As the Research Analyst at Patternmakers, I support our Insight Director to deliver our clients’ projects – from the proposal to methodology design, project management and fieldwork, and analysis and reporting.

We are also creating more of our own content, and launching Patternmakers’ courses and events to inspire the future of arts and culture research – so I’m looking forward to being a part of that, too.

What does your average day look like?

I like to start my work day before the hustle and bustle of the City of Sydney begins. I work best in the morning – and it also means I can have the afternoon off to enjoy the fresh air outside.

No two days are the same at Patternmakers – but an average day (if you can call it average) involves working on multiple project elements – from report writing at my desk in the morning, to co-design workshops during the day, and doing immersive focus groups at night.

When I’m not working on our projects, I am a writer for a quiz show, and for a Western City publication.

What do you love about your job?

What I love about my job now is that we are working with our clients to positively impact the arts and culture space – a space that is so, so important for communities.

Research is continually providing new evidence to back up just how important arts and culture is for us. And I’m really excited to be working on projects this year that will add fuel to this beautifully burning flame.

Tell us your favourite type of cultural experience and why.

Historical museums – there is something magical about old places and old things, and the life they have led! And same goes for art mixed with history – the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam crafted an incredibly moving, spiritual experience through their audio guide that was unforgettable.

Where do you go for inspiration?

I grew up on the water in Queensland, so I tend to go to Bicentennial Park/Blackwattle Bay in Glebe, or to the Botanic Gardens to get my slice of fresh air, green, and water.

Favourite city or the most interesting place you’ve visited or travelled.

My husband and I spent most of 2016 travelling overseas – our absolute favourite places/experiences on our adventure were camping on Vancouver Island, walking the streets of Florence and Rome, and driving around Iceland!

What are you currently reading?

Bolshoi Confidential, a history of the Russian Ballet by Simon Morrison. My grandmother is Russian/Estonian, and I’m interested get a sense of what life in Russia must have been like for my great grandparents before they moved to Australia in the 1920s.

Biggest distraction from productivity?

Our ginger rescue cat Paddington. He put on a little bit of weight with us feeding him treats so he jokingly became Puddington and now he's just Pud.

I was really pleased that Patternmakers could make a donation to Sydney Cats and Dogs Home at the end of 2016.

Favourite quote?

Happiness (is) only real when shared – Christopher McCandless/Alexander Supertramp

Advice for Arts professionals doing research?

My advice to arts professionals when tackling research is that it’s not as scary as you may think. It’s a bit like a puzzle – you might have the borders, or some random pieces – and what research does is fill in those missing pieces for you to get the bigger picture. And if you break it down, step by step, piece by piece, it can be fun and incredibly rewarding.

As long as you (and your stakeholders) are really, really clear at the beginning on your research purpose, and always go back to those one of two sentences, you will end up with a meaningful and useful piece of research.

About the Author

Tandi Williams
Managing Director

Patternmakers’ Founder and Managing Director Tandi Williams is an experienced consultant and arts and culture research specialist.

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Patternmakers 7/2/17 Patternmakers 7/2/17

5 New Digital Projects Helping People Access the Arts

Here at Patternmakers, we love hearing about new ways for people of all ages to access the arts. Here are five new projects that caught our attention...

Here at Patternmakers, we love hearing about new technology offerings from cultural institutions. Below are five new projects that caught our attention because they not only offer new ways to experience culture, they demonstrate how technology giants are getting ever more creative.

1. Intel X Royal Shakespeare Company

Following a year of research with Intel and performance capture company The Imaginarium Studios, the Royal Shakespeare Company is delivering a new production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest that brings digital avatars to life on stage in real-time, interacting with live actors. Using technology that has most famously been used in films and gaming, they're able to capture an actor’s facial expressions and movements, ensuring the actor’s full performance is translated into the animated character.

Why we love it: The show brings together theatre-making skills with digital innovation, pushing technical boundaries to create a truly innovative production for a new generation. For more information, visit rsc.org.uk

2. Google X Detroit Institute of Arts

The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is using Tango, Google's augmented reality technology to give visitors additional information overlaid on real world art, connecting people with artworks in a global context beyond the DIA. Using the museum's smartphones, people can scan objects like an ancient limestone sculpture from Mesopotamia that has long lost its colours over the years and see how it looked before the colours faded, encouraging the imagination about the artworks in its original setting.

Why we love it: Museum goers can experience history in new ways through augmented reality, allowing them to see the unseen, understand how objects from the past were used and experienced in people's everyday lives. For more information, visit dia.org

3. Explorer X American Museum of Natural History

Explorer is more than just another app — it's a personal tour guide and curator to many curious visitors wandering through the expansive American Museum of Natural History. It offers fun facts, videos, and teaching tools for dozens of the most compelling items throughout the exhibits. According to NY Times Joseph Berger, it does things like “lets you hear the sound the real (blue whale) makes underwater” and also has “a Bluetooth-operated feature that guides you with GPS-like directions” to points of interest — apparently very helpful when looking for the bathroom or the cafe.

Why we love it: Explorer enhances the museum experience and in an environment where stillness is usually the standard, it awakens the senses and brings the artefacts to life. For more information, visit nytimes.com

4. Octava X Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

In-performance apps have previously been the subject of taboo, but this new offering finds away around the challenge of bright screens in a dark auditorium. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is now offering Octava, a digital app that delivers real-time programme notes to audiences’ mobile devices, aiming to introduce newcomers to classical music and enhance their concert experience.

Consider the app like a friend who can give you context for the musical ideas you’re hearing, translate the beautiful nuances of the language of the music, and let you know where you are in the performance so you can clap at the appropriate time. And the best part? Octava’s DarkscreenTM technology also allows information to be presented without distracting the user or those around them, and after 45 seconds, the screen goes dark. The user can re-engage if they so choose at any point in time during the performance.

Why we love it: Octava synchronises an old tradition with new technology, enriching the overall experience for concert-going newbies by providing in-depth details about the music and movements and possibly sparking a newfound love for symphonic sounds. For more information, visit rhinegold.co.uk

5. Samsung X Sydney Opera House

We all know the Sydney Opera House is an icon of Australia’s creative and technical achievement. Now with its Principal Partner Samsung, a stylish new social space called The Lounge features technology and art in a futuristic setting. Guests can comfortably sit and enjoy a number experiences ranging from historic architectural drawings and interviews with the Opera House’s architect Jorn Utzon to a thrilling virtual-reality experience of standing atop the famous sails.

Why we love it: The Lounge is an exciting alternative to a behind-the-scenes or backstage tour, and uses the latest technology so guests can engage with the Opera House’s history, art and culture at their own pace and in the comfort. For more information, visit sydneyoperahouse.com

Have you experienced any of these technologies?
Is your organisation experimenting with these technologies?

We'd love to hear from you.

About the Author

Tandi Williams
Managing Director

Patternmakers’ Founder and Managing Director Tandi Williams is an experienced consultant and arts and culture research specialist.

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Patternmakers 21/12/16 Patternmakers 21/12/16

10 things you didn't know about Christmas

Have you ever wondered what really goes on at Christmas?

This year, we decided to check our facts. Here we present (in no particular order) ten things we discovered about the holiday season...

Have you ever wondered what really goes on at Christmas?

This year, we decided to check our facts. Here we present (in no particular order) ten things we discovered about the holiday season.

Fact #1: Santa Makes 1 in 4 parents uncomfortable

One out of four (27%) Australian parents who have young children are “uncomfortable” with the discussions they have with their children affirming Santa Claus, according to research by McCrindle. I wonder how many will give the game away on Christmas Eve this year...

Fact #2: A lot of us have mixed emotions about gifts

In a 2014 survey in the US, majorities said buying and receiving gifts makes them feel joyful (83%) and generous (78%), but considerable minorities also said it makes them feel stretched thin financially (46%), stressed out (36%), or wasteful (23%).

Fact #3: 7 in 10 KIDS want an iPad for Christmas

"It's all about brands and electronics this Christmas, kids want the best of the best and will settle for nothing less", says Australian Retailers Association's Russell Zimmerman in response to Roy Morgan's Young Australian Survey. Out of 3,000 surveyed kids, Apple products top the 'cool list' with 69% of children voting the iPad as the best gift this Christmas. Just over half of children believe the iPhone would also make a nice stocking surprise. No comment.

Fact #4: 8 out of 10 Australians believe that shops jump the gun at Christmas

Research also suggests that shopping is the least fun part of Christmas, and 81% of Australians believe that the shops set up for Christmas much earlier than necessary. McCrindle's research also showed revealed 3 in 4 (74%) are most annoyed by over-crowded shopping centres. Most of us (69%) also rate commercialism as a top three Christmas gripe.

Fact #5: 140,000 Brits are petitioning for an end to the Boxing Day sales

UK Prime Minister Theresa May has refused calls to force all shops to close on Boxing Day, saying it is not the Government’s job to tell businesses how they should run their shows.

British MPs will hold a Westminster Hall debate on a petition with more than 140,000 signatures calling for a ban on all retail premises opening the day after Christmas, on the basis that it exploits low paid workers.

Fact #6: 1 in 3 plan to spend less than last year

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment survey points to lower Christmas spending across Australia this year. It found that 34% plan to spend less, 52% the same, and 14% said plan to spend more. But – this isn’t anything new. The authors point out, ‘Over the entire 42-year history of the survey, the sentiment lead-in to Christmas 2016 is in the middle of the pack’. So there you go.

Fact #7: Australians spend more on food than presents at Christmas

Notwithstanding the previous point, Australian shoppers will spend more than $48.1 billion in retail stores over the Christmas trading period this year, including more than $19 billion on food alone. On presents, Australians are expected to spend $8.8 billion, more than half of which will be spent on credit or store cards, according to a survey by peer-to-peer lender Society One.

Fact #8: US residents say alcohol is officially the worst present to give

In a Consumer Reports survey of 1,300 US residents, alcohol received the highest number of votes for ‘worst gift’ and 20% listed it as the gift they would least want to receive. Flowers came in next at 14%, anything ‘clearly re-gifted’ came in at 12%, while home decor items such as picture frames and candles received 11% of the votes. In total, 80% said they’d prefer to receive a ‘practical present’. Hope it’s not too late!

Fact #9: Not everyone feels merry at Christmas

One‑third of people responding to a Relationships Australia survey last year reported that their family relationships were highly negatively affected due to financial worries at Christmas. A similar proportion of the 1,900 survey respondents indicated that their family relationships were negatively affected at Christmas due to work-life balance factors.

Fact #10: 1 in 4 regret something they did at a Christmas party

A British survey conducted for Drinkaware by Opinion Matters, asked more than 2,000 people aged 25 to 55 to dish the dirt on their previous office parties. More than a quarter (26%) of us have regretted something we did at a work Christmas party in the past, and unsurprisingly, most of us think drinking too much alcohol was to blame for our questionable behaviour.

The most common regret suffered by Brits each year is kissing a colleague, or worse, trying to kiss a colleague and finding yourself rejected. Cringe.

The take-home lessons?

Ease up on the alcohol, skip the shops, and opt for quality time with the family - that is, if you can distract the kids from their new iPads.

About the Author

Tandi Williams
Managing Director

Patternmakers’ Founder and Managing Director Tandi Williams is an experienced consultant and arts and culture research specialist.

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Patternmakers 20/7/16 Patternmakers 20/7/16

Is evaluation truly accessible?

One of the most interesting and rewarding projects I’ve ever completed was conducting an impact evaluation of the Unlimited Commissions Programme for disabled artists.

Between July and November 2015, my co-researcher Morwenna Collett and I immersed ourselves in the UK arts and disability world, to learn the language, issues and challenges that disabled artists face, and answer the question ‘Is Unlimited making a difference?’...

One of the most interesting and rewarding projects I’ve ever completed was conducting an impact evaluation of the Unlimited Commissions Programme for disabled artists.

We gathered rich data from over 135 people – approximately 50% of whom identified as disabled – and the insights were fascinating. Meeting the access requirements of the research participants was challenging – but hugely rewarding, both for the research and on a personal level.

I learned the nuances of disability identity, and language that is inclusive and respectful. I learned how to write a survey that is suitable for those with visual impairment, and discovered interview venues that were physically accessible. But the biggest thing I learned was that accessibility is more than all of these things put together. It’s about having an attitude of inclusion and committing to reach out and hear voices that are too often excluded.

Today Morwenna and I are presenting a paper at the ACSPRI Social Science Methodology conference, to share our thoughts about what it means for evaluation practice to be truly accessible. You can read our abstract here (or get in touch and we’ll send you a copy of the full paper).

Providing access doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. Below we’ve assembled a list of access tips, facts and figures, and guidelines for doing research with people with disability.

One thing we want to get feedback on is our Access Statement for researchers and consultants. We used it at the beginning of the project to set the intention for the project, and plan what we would do to maximise access at every stage of the research (not just the outputs!).

It got us thinking… could something like this be useful for other researchers and consultants? Could it help others embed an attitude of inclusion upfront, and design research that was more accessible?

We’d love to hear your thoughts, so take a look and let us know what you think.

Access statement

Draft Access Statement for Researchers and Consultants

Access tips

Facts, figures and legislation

Research specific information/resources

National Disability Authority, Ireland, 2009, ‘Ethical Guidance for Research with People with Disabilities’
Department of Health 2005, Research Governance Framework for Health and Social Care
Centre of Disability Research and Policy, The University of Sydney 2013,Report of audit of disability research in Australia
McClimens, A. 2008, ‘This is my truth, tell me yours: exploring the internal tensions within collaborative learning disability research’, British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 36(4), pp. 271–6

About the Author

Tandi Williams
Managing Director

Patternmakers’ Founder and Managing Director Tandi Williams is an experienced consultant and arts and culture research specialist.

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Patternmakers 23/6/16 Patternmakers 23/6/16

The art of asking (good) questions

The speaker wraps up their presentation, thanks the crowd, everyone claps. Then comes the awkward moment when the convenor asks for questions. *Deafening silence*

Sound familiar?...

The speaker wraps up their presentation, thanks the crowd, everyone claps. Then comes the awkward moment when the convenor asks for questions. *Deafening silence*

Sound familiar?

As a researcher, consultant and Committee Member for the Sydney Arts Management Advisory Group, I attend dozens of presentations and panel discussions each month – and many a Q&A makes me want to #facepalm.

Asking good questions is hard – but I am realising it’s really important. And I’m happy to put my metaphorical hand up and say it’s something I want to get better at.

In education settings, questions are a critical tool for learning, and in professional forums questions can be the key to real understanding and knowledge exchange for mutual benefit.

But easier said than done, right? Eric Sanders at Big Think says, ‘Anyone can speak in public, but not everyone knows how to ask a good question. You will have a much better chance of having your question heard and receiving a clear response if you practice and improve your question-asking skills.’

So how exactly does one ask a good question? After some digging, here’s what I found:

Prepare to be active

This requires both homework and the right mindset. Reading up beforehand can help you anticipate what the session is about – and understand the context more fully.

If you’ve chosen to be there – really make a commitment to concentrate and stay engaged. If you’re late – or tuning out – you might miss the part where they already answered your question. Oops.

Just like at a performance, sitting at or near the front often helps me focus (and I find I get more out of it if I can see the whites of their eyes!)

Bring a notepad

Taking notes might seem like hard work, but it can help clarify and crystallise key take-outs. If a question forms in your mind – write it down as you go – otherwise they can disappear into the ether.

I find pen and paper often works better than jotting things in my phone – and I can more easily refer to my notes when it’s time to speak.

Remember that whatever age and stage you’re at, your perspective is relevant. You don’t need to have grey hair to be worthy of the microphone. If something is mysterious to you – it probably is to others in the audience.

Follow your gut – but do so respectfully. Science Professor explains, ‘As a spectator at a talk, I enjoy a well-posed killer question, no matter who delivers it, but I think that everyone, from first-year students to ancient professors, can be most effective at asking these questions if the questions are simple and polite.’

Devise your question

Mind blank? Ask yourself: if I were to leave this room and try to apply what is being talked about, what would I need to know?

Speakers are often leaders in their field and if there is opportunity to ask for help – we should be seizing it with both hands (or one raised hand, rather). It’s also an opportunity for them to understand YOU better.

Can you push the speakers to be more specific about recommending an action, or giving an example? Is there something inconsistent in what has been said? What have they missed?

Philosopher Guy Longworth says there are 7 types of questions, including ‘the clarification’, ‘the comparison’ and ‘the counter-example’.

If in doubt, ask them about their personal journey. Speakers often skip over challenges or failures, and asking them about their mistakes or lessons learned often yields interesting answers!

Put your hand up

ot really any way around this one. Don’t think, just do it. Nice and straight now.

When it’s your turn, remember to breathe. Public speaking expert Lisa B Marshallsays ‘when you take the time to fill your lungs, it’s as if your voice is riding on a supportive cushion of air, and your throat muscles can stay relaxed. Your voice will carry better and have a richer, more pleasing sound.’

A good trick from the acting world is to imagine that the inside of your mouth and throat are as large as the room you are speaking in.

Offer some details about yourself (name & role at a minimum) before you ask your question. This will help the speakers, and the rest of the audience, understand where you’re coming from. It’s often nice to thank the speakers for sharing and say what you found interesting about their presentation.

If you’re battling to express your question succinctly, give a brief example of what you mean. Research shows that telling a story helps create empathy – and is more likely to be remembered.

Leave it open-ended

Asking open-ended questions will get insights and additional information you might not have known existed. Lifehack explains that questions with “would,” “should,” “is,” “are,” and “do you think” all lead to yes or no. Questions with “who,” “what,” “where,” “when,” “how,” or “why” lead to people giving some thought to their answers and provide much more information.

Tip – make sure you actually ask a question. There is nothing worse than someone who starts with ‘this is more of a comment than a question’. Even if you have an idea to share, and loads of experience in the area, finish with a question to throw it back to the speaker.

Listen

If you haven’t quite got what you’re looking for, don’t be afraid to probe a little more – ask them a follow up question such as, “What makes you say that?” or “Why do you think that?”

But in general – listen. SAMAG Committee Member Alli Burness said, ‘if it’s anything like user experience interviews, you should listen at least twice as much as you speak, and don’t interrupt.

Once you’ve had your go, say thank you and let the moderator move on. You can always approach the speaker after the session to discuss in further detail (and most speakers enjoy the attention too).

Now give yourself a high-five for asking a great question. Next time you’re at a public forum – remember how good it feels to contribute.

About the Author

Tandi Williams
Managing Director

Patternmakers’ Founder and Managing Director Tandi Williams is an experienced consultant and arts and culture research specialist.

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Patternmakers 1/6/15 Patternmakers 1/6/15

Culture Insight and Innovation News

Thank you for your support and feedback on our first issue, and welcome to all of you who signed up for this monthly dose of insight & innovation news.

May 2015 has been an eventful month for arts funding and technology, ensuring our second issue is chock full of fresh insight. If you enjoy it, and think others might, please feel free to share this post.

Digital innovation and the role of government

Sensis has released their latest (super-rich!) statistical report on Australians’ use of social media. You may or may not be surprised to hear that the proportion of people using social is no longer growing (69% of us have a profile, same as last year) but we’re definitely using it more intensely than ever before. In fact, almost half (45%) of us now check it first thing in the morning, and a similar proportion (41%) check it last thing at night. In terms of platforms, Facebook still dominates (check out the graph below) but some other services are growing faster, particularly among younger age brackets who favour visual platforms like Instagram and SnapChat.

Whilst social networking is stronger than ever before a new report from Ernst and Young says slow and expensive internet is now hurting ‘all aspects of business, government and the community’. 60% of digital opinion leaders surveyed for the report believed the Australian digital economy is less advanced than other leading countries. Despite some positive actions, such as establishment of the Digital Transformation Office (DTO), the report insists the Australian Government is not doing enough to drive digital innovation.

Earlier in May, Minister for Communications Malcolm Turnbull delivered a speech at the CeBIT e-government conference outlining plans for the DTO. Reading the transcript, I was shocked to learn that Australia ranks 29th out of 30 OECD countries on the proportion of large businesses that collaborate with universities on innovation. We are missing a trick!

Ironically, in the same month we learned that the Australian Government will no longer be funding academic commentary website The Conversation. Sad news when concise communication of academic research appears to be more important than ever before.

Arts + technology

Mid-month the Thinking Digital conference in Newcastle brought together a really diverse range of speakers to share their way of working with digital technology. The (great quality) livestream is still available to watch online. For creative types I recommend having a listen to data illustrator Stefanie Posavec, who I had the pleasure of working with on the Native magazine cover artwork, and Sam Aaron, who is the genius behind brilliant music coding program for schools, Sonic Pi. Hollie Goodier from BBC Digital also has some great stats about TV & digital audiences. Word is next year they are planning an arts specific conference…

*Stefanie Posavec’s work Touching Air, based on data from large particulate (PM10) sensors*

The luminous Martha Lane Fox has produced a new two-part radio series exploring how technology is changing the arts, which aired last week on BBC Radio 4. The first focuses on how musicians are going online to create and distribute their work as network speeds increase. The second is on the visual arts, and how artists like James Bridle are using the internet as a medium, a creative material and a means of collaboration. Both are available via the iPlayer – well worth a listen.

A host of fresh digital projects reached the public domain in May. Some of my favourites are the Lovereading Bookmap, a Google maps mashup which plots locations and places in literature on a map of the world (think Harry Potter at Kings Cross Station), and Citizen Ex, a piece of software which illuminates the jurisdictions we traverse when surfing the net.

Arts funding developments

Major arts funding changes are afoot in both Australia and the UK. Australian Minister for the Arts George Brandis will be re-appropriating $110m funding over the next fours years from his own arms-length funding body the Australia Council, to establish a new program within the ministry. The news came as a shock to the sector, sparking protests. RealTime has taken a closer look at the news.

*A dance protest at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. Twitter pictures: Chris Johnson*

Meanwhile this week Darren Henley the new CEO of Arts Council England is expected to announce changes to geographic allocation of Lottery funding. The current 70% which is spent outside London will increase by at least another 5% within three years. The newly re-elected Conservative party have promised tax relief for the creative industries, whilst speculation abounds about whether they will maintain overall funding levels.

In the same month, an online platform that helps arts and heritage organisations with funding bids has won Nesta and the Open Data Institute’s (ODI’s) Heritage and Culture Open Data Challenge. Culture Everywhere is a web platform which helps users access publicly available data sets including the UK Census, Index of Multiple Deprivation and grant giving from Arts Council England. There’s a short video explaining the idea, and it’s already open for business (good timing in light of the above!).

In both countries, emphasis on alternative revenue streams will no doubt continue to grow. The Guardian has released a new resource on business plans, with tips for arts, culture and the creative industries, and this week’s Remix summit in Sydney will see hundreds gather to explore the latest thinking on culture, technology and entrepreneurship. I’m working at the event, so make sure to say hello if you’re heading that way.

About the Author

Tandi Williams
Managing Director

Patternmakers’ Founder and Managing Director Tandi Williams is an experienced consultant and arts and culture research specialist.

Be in the loop

Patternmakers 1/5/15 Patternmakers 1/5/15

Introducing the Culture Insight & Innovation Newsletter

At the end of March ACMA released Australians’ digital lives, a useful snapshot of internet use across the country. It shows half of us now shop online, and that wifi hotspots are the fastest growing location for internet use...

Each month I round up an eclectic mix of arts management insight and publish it in newsletter form. You can expect plenty of useful stats, some technology news, a dash of marketing and a little policy analysis from around the world.

Art in our digital lives

The digital marketing landscape continues to evolve with recent changes to Facebook newsfeed, which may affect the reach of anything but amazing content. Earlier in the month Google also began favouring mobile-friendly sites in search results (Stuart Buchanan has the low-down for arts organisations).

The Economist reports on the meteoric rise of online messaging serviceslike Whatsapp (and the decline of the much-loved SMS), which makes me wonder what the creative possibilities of such platforms might be.

Speaking of mobile, Blast Theory’s interactive-performance-art-app ‘Karen‘ and Punchdrunk’s warhol-theatre-vodka-game-app ‘Silverpoint‘, both now in the App Store, are very exciting developments in this area. Worth a look!

Future of museums

It’s been a big month for museum trendspotting. MuseumNext conference in Geneva filled our hearts, minds and twitter feeds with delicious insights for innovation in museums. If, like me, you were far from the action, analytics guru Chris Unitt has compiled a round-up of round-ups, and you can check out one of the most-tweeted-about presenters (and cheeky copywriters) MuseumHack here.

Earlier in the month Museums and the Web announced the ‘Best of the Web’ winners for 2015. Among the awardees was Museum Victoria’s Field Guide to Australian Fauna apps. Browsing the full list of awardeesmakes for an inspiring 10 minutes, and lots of them are really good fun, like VanGoghYourself and my personal favourite, Tate’s 1840s gif party.

For those thinking of starting a new digital project (in any sector), Anna Dinnen from England’s Digital R&D Fund for the Arts has some sage advice for getting started on the right foot. The Guardian also has some nice tips for creative enterprises seeking scale.

Funding the future of culture

In case you missed it, in March the Australia Council released Arts Nation, a new overview of the Australian arts sector, which I was lucky enough to advise on for the past year. Among a broad range of indicators, it shows that consumer spending is the main source of income to the arts (eg ticket sales for performing arts events generated $1.5 billion in 2013!). There are some nice looking and informative fact sheets for your pinboard, too.

Despite the dull title, Radio National segment ‘How important are Australia’s second major theatres?’ has an interesting discussion about experimental theatre, artistic tension and audience development in Australia’s major cities, which is worth a listen over lunch (20 minute audio).

Ahead of the upcoming UK election, analysis by academic Ben Walmsleytracks the decline in government support for the arts (falling over £100 million since 2009-10), with the sector increasingly reliant on growing lottery funding and local government decisions. A policy review of the creative industries insists government should be ‘sustaining and reinforcing state support of the cultural offer’, noting that the creative industries has grown faster than the rest of the economy during difficult times. Arts Council England has summarised the cultural recommendations in each of the party manifestos here.

Economics geeks like me might be interested to check out the recent US Arts and Economic Prosperity IV release, which underpins an impressive advocacy resource for American arts organisations. It combines recent estimates of culture’s contribution to the US economy ($699 billion in 2012; more than the $530 billion construction industry) with case making tools, templates and an impact calculator to help cultural organisations leverage the findings for advocacy in their local areas.

Insight calendar

The conference calendar is filling up with plenty of exciting opportunities to hear fresh insight. In the next few months I’m looking forward to Remix Summit on culture, technology and entrepreneurship, and the rest of the Vivid Festival in Sydney. The Australia Council is hosting its Marketing Summit over the same weekend in Cairns, and ArtsHub has just announced its second annual conference to be held at Doltone House in Sydney in June. Museums and the Web Asia conference is also coming to Melbourne this year from 5-8 October.

Finally, I’d like to thank Lisa Burns, Stuart Buchanan, Bridget Jones, Rachel Smithies, Fenn Gordon, Chris Pope, Mandy Whitford, Nick Herd and Kristy Wandmaker for their sage advice in my first month of operation as a freelancer. Your support is like oxygen to my newborn business – thank you.

Thanks also go to some of my ‘newsletter heroes’ Storythings, IFACCA, the Australia Council, Native and the Audience Agency who have inspired and informed this newsletter.

About the Author

Tandi Williams
Managing Director

Patternmakers’ Founder and Managing Director Tandi Williams is an experienced consultant and arts and culture research specialist.

Be in the loop

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Patternmakers 10/4/15 Patternmakers 10/4/15

Diane Ragsdale: Influencing the Culture Change

In June 2014 I had the pleasure of interviewing Diane Ragsdale on behalf of Native, the online magazine of the Digital R&D Fund for the Arts. Diane is based at Erasmus University in Rotterdam researching and talking about cultural economics with a specialism in the performing arts. She previously spent six years at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and is one of the leading thinkers on arts governance of our generation...

Photo courtesy of Joshua Feist

Here is a copy of the interview, originally published in Native, in which we spoke about technology in the changing context of arts leadership – how technology is no longer something to fear, but a tool that can help the arts deepen its influence and contribution to society.

TW: You’ve worked in the arts in various capacities since 1988, how do you think the relationship of the arts to society has changed in recent years?

Diane: Over the last 30 years, several changes in society have made things more challenging for arts organisations. On a basic level, there has been a loss in the sense of legitimacy. Many arts organisations in Europe and in the US came into their power and bloomed in a time when it was taken for granted that the arts were important and a key part of civil society. We are increasingly put in the position of needing to defend the value of the arts.

Second, audiences and their tastes, the ways that they like to participate in the arts, and what they consider to be art, have also shifted. Some of that is related to technology, and some is related to other forces.

Third, we’ve seen income inequality grow in many regions, which arguably serves some arts organizations, who depend upon private contributions from the very wealthy. , however, Ultimately, the two trends puts pressure on those arts organisations that have historically catered to the upper middle class to work harder to bridge economic divides and to serve the greater good, rather than a minority elite. These are real shifts in the larger environment that we have to deal with – and many issues have become more acute in the last few years in response to the recession.

Technology could be used to open things up, to enable funders to be more present in the world, more responsive, and more engaged and on the streets—rather than locked up in ivory towers, as they are often perceived to be.

How is technology changing the arts? And how are arts leaders dealing with changes in technology?

Digital technology is helping us overcome geographic, time and financial barriers. One really exciting ramification: we could mean reaching millions of people – rather than hundreds. New formats and forms of art could also lead to the possibility of more intimate and dynamic experiences for people. Finally, technology is making it possible for organisations to not just communicate with their communities on an ongoing basis but to be more deeply in tune with what the community needs, and take the needs and input of the community into consideration as they take decisions.

One other anecdote: I recently worked with a number of departmental leaders from arts organisations on scenario planning for the future of the arts. I was amazed to see (though should not have been) that almost all of the small teams built scenarios based on a future assumption that a primary way in which people will receive artistic experiences is digitally, through either large screens or small. We’re seeing a generation of leaders come up for whom digital (rather than live) distribution is not something to be feared, but rather is seen as quite legitimate.

Arts organisations are now forced to decide whether they will exist exclusively to perpetuate the live experience, or whether they will, instead, seek to evolve themselves in response to the new and varied ways that artists want to make work and audiences want to experience it. They also have to think about how their live and digital strategies work together.

What kind of future for the arts would you like to see?

We need to be in the centre of civil society, not at the margins. The question that I’m always asking myself is ‘How do the arts matter more to people, or matter to more people?’ I’d like to see a future in which greater percentages of the population having a meaningful relationship with the arts – and I don’t buy into the notion of large segments of society being ‘disinclined’ to arts and culture.

I believe everyone’s life could be improved through some kind of participation (and we must thing broadly about what we mean by arts participation); moreover, it’s the role of subsidized arts organisations in particular to collectively try and reach as many people as possible through options that are as diverse as possible. Arts organisations need to take responsibility for educating people and helping them develop a taste for various forms of art and comfort with participation.

What excites you about digital technology in the arts?

I’m most excited by the potential for technology to change the governance practices of arts organisations. Boards set policy, hire the staff, the staff educate the board and make strategy recommendations that boards generally adopt – it’s a closed circuit. These days, it is rather rare for the public to have influence on the strategic direction of an arts organisation in any coordinated way.

Nina Simon, author of the book ‘The Participatory Museum’, and executive director of The Santa Cruz Museum of Arts and History, is modelling what it means to be an organisation that chooses to grow in response to a continual feedback loop of information on how people are or are not engaging with each other through the museum. This information comes to her and her staff through small experiments with new tools and methods, or just active, ongoing observation and reflection upon people and their interactions while at the museum. She’s using all of this information to drive an incremental and ongoing evolution of her organisation in response to the public.

Though this might not represent a shift in the formal governance structure of the organization, it does signify a willingness to invite the public to have influence on the organisation. Nina still has a vision and is strong and clear about what she is trying to achieve, but she is continually watching to see what happens as a result of the various actions she takes, and is adjusting to how people respond. It’s clear such a “participatory shift” is a difficult, or even controversial, one for some organisations. However, even if organisations have traditionally been more closed – it seems it is possible to slowly shift that orientation—to make a conscious choice to open up one’s organisation to the public.

You’ve previously criticised funders calling for innovation in the arts, can you tell us more?

First, there has been a ‘fetishisation’ of innovation in the sector, often driven by foundations. What does it mean to organise in order to be able to innovate? How can we make sure innovation doesn’t feel like something foreign and ‘one-off’, and is made possible because of the resources, people and processes that are allocated and structured to foster it? The processes that lead to innovation deserve more consideration. Additionally, we must know why we are trying to innovate – what problems are we trying to solve? It’s important to understand the social or artistic goals that we hope to achieve through innovation.

Second, sometimes funding processes end up rewarding ’known entities’—that is, historically leading organisations—which are not necessarily the most innovative or the most willing or able to experiment and fail. Another problem is that when funders invest in innovation they tend to shine a light on projects that are still being incubated and that need the opportunity to fail. High profile funding seems to put pressure on organisations and funded projects to succeed; I worry that this constrains genuine experimentation and leads to limited learning.

Arts organizations often lack the appetite, board support, and resources for risk. This is hardly surprising, if you consider that arts organisations are often undercapitalized. The values of security, stability, and self-preservation pull in the opposite direction from those of daring and experimentation. Arguably, funders should play a role in creating space for the experimentation and failure that are often critical to the process of innovation. They could provide money that it’s okay to lose—funds that may not have an immediate return other than the organisational learning that comes from trying something new, whether or not it succeeds.

How can funders best support arts organisations to make the most of technology?

More than 10 years ago I worked in an organisation and the Paul G Allen Foundation gave me a grant to attend a two-day session on strategic technology planning. It fundamentally changed my thinking at a critical point in time. Not only was I given guidance in how to undertaken a process of risk assessment, but I began to think about the goals and issues that we faced more broadly, and how technology could help us achieve those. I also realised how we could engage different parts of the organisations and partner with other organisations to make progress towards common goals.

The implications of technology are wide ranging, and need to be dealt with strategically and holistically. When I was at the Mellon Foundation, we received many proposals requesting funds for technology projects; however, too often the necessary deep thinking wasn’t happening and the technology strategy was being outsourced to others rather than being brought into the overall strategy of the organization.

This is difficult stuff to wrap your head around. In addition to supporting experimentation, fstructured opportunities for arts organisationsget off the treadmill; gain knowledge from those (in other industries) who have successfully (or unsuccessfully) transformed their business processes, relationships with customers, and value propositions; think deeply and systemically; engage in debate and discussion with their stakeholders; and develop new visions and strategies.

What advice can you offer funding bodies in relation to technology?

Some funders are difficult to communicate with at times, and can seem a bit out of touch with the world. Funders expect non-profits to be more transparent and open, to communicate with more people and give stakeholders the opportunity to provide input into their processes and programmes; however, they are often reluctant to undergo similar changes. By-and-large, private foundations, at the very least, need to have greater transparency about how they are setting their priorities (including the factors and people that are influencing those priorities). In addition, I think it would be transformative for the field of arts and culture if they would consider opening up their formal and informal processes for making funding decisions.

How can the arts maximise the potential of technology?

No doubt, technology is one of the driving forces that has changed the ways people create and consume and commune and communicate, and that is at the heart of the matter for arts organisations.

There was a time when we all looked at technology as a challenge to be overcome, but I think we’re moving into the stage where its seen as something beneficial. It can help us achieve goals, and it’s not something that has to be feared. I’d like to think there is an enthusiasm now, a willingness to embrace technology, rather than a fear that we’re going to cannabalize ourselves by going down this path.

In 2008 I gave a talk ‘Surviving the culture change’ even the title of it suggests a sense of ‘threat’. Now, I think more about how we are influencing the culture – not just preparing for it or surviving — how we are jumping into it, and wrestling with it in a really dynamic way, talking back to it, and bringing our own tools and ways of working to it. This is what arts organisations do best. We need to see ourselves as powerful agents who can influence and contribute to the culture, as much as respond to it. Technology can be a tool for us to have even greater influence, and that’s a really exciting thing.

You can read Diane Ragsdale’s popular blog at artsjournal.com/jumper and follow her on Twitter as @deragsdale.

About the Author

Tandi Williams
Managing Director

Patternmakers’ Founder and Managing Director Tandi Williams is an experienced consultant and arts and culture research specialist.