#DigitalpaARTicipationis

Audience - The Art of Listening?

An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or academics in any medium. Audience members participate in different ways in different kinds of art; some events invite overt audience participation and others allowing only modest clapping and criticism and reception.

Expedition - The Art of Discovery?

An event titled Digital Participation Expedition Launch was right up my street. My time with Audiences Europe Network has given me a desire to explore the nature of audience and what the modern age would do to its experience. As someone most comfortable in front of a keyboard or behind a sound desk participation in order to understand is a few degrees outside my comfort zone but no pain no gain!

I will always be an observer, never at home in the auditorium during show time. What has become of our audiences? Who are our audiences? Where do they hang out? How do we reach them? What do they want? What can we give them? Whats in it for us?

Let's discuss Passive vs Participation, Engagement vs Immersion.

Do we have a duty of care? Where does it begin? Where does it end?

PCM mini-vlogs

East Midlands Participatory Arts Forum

The East Midland Participatory Arts Forum (EMPAF) was formed ‘officially’ in 2006 but had existed for over 20 years before this as an informal networking group for the wide range of professional participatory and community arts organisations across the East Midlands.

EMPAF is a unique and nationally well-respected network, which is dedicated to championing the East Midlands as a Centre of Excellence for participation in the arts. We share practice and run joint initiatives to explore the potential for new methods and ways of thinking to enrich how people participate in creativity and culture. In the past we have run a symposium on ‘the Unselfish Artist’ and sent a delegation to the International Community Arts Festival (ICAF) every 3 years.

Digital Participation Expedition with EMPAF - SOURCE ARTICLE
01 Jul - 01 Oct 2019

EMPAF leads this expedition into the meaning and use of ‘digital participation’. Through a series of gatherings, EMPAF partner organisations, including QUAD, will be exploring examples of ‘good practice’, training, the work of inspirational digital artists, taking part in participatory digital sessions and starting wider and deeper debates about the role of new media in society in general and how this impacts positively or otherwise on our community and participatory work

Events are designed to inspire conversation and debate through practical participatory activities. This will include workshop demonstrations by digitally focused organisations and facilitators, group discussions on the role of digital in participatory practice and an event discussion with leading professionals and organisations on what we mean when we say “digital participation”.

The launch event at QUAD on 18 July 2018, the Digital Participation Expedition initiated the programme to explore the following areas...

Digital participation for people who do not access technology in the traditional way, looking at accessibility and user interfaces.
Inspirational artists who take their digital work further than ‘inter-action’ to ‘participation’.
How can organisations keep themselves online and in line with the digital age?
How do we manage and control ‘digital’ when it can manipulate the truth and shift culture?
What does ‘digital' enable us to do in our programmes that we couldn’t before?
Can it improve quality and access and enable people to work together?

You can follow all the developments of the project via the hashtag #DigitalpARTicipationis

If you have any questions or to would like to discuss this project please contact John Whall, Digital Participation Curator on:
E: johnw@derbyquad.co.uk
T: 01332 285425