Museums, matchmaking and the new media

Plugged into learning: Several exhibits at the Creative Discovery Museum, use sophisticated technology to engage children in scientific exhibits. Still, the CDM’s Jayne Griffin says the technology must be deemed “developmentally appropriate” for museum visitors and relevant to the educational purpose of the exhibit.

Do kids and the arts require a high-tech connection?

By Janis Hashe

One of the biggest concerns shared by traditional arts organizations is the “graying” of their audiences or visitors. How to reach out and include teenagers and kids is a subject of discussion for boards of directors across the country.
Many organizations are turning to social networking tools and other new media, communicating with young people in the ways they communicate with each other.
Beyond marketing and PR, arts organizations and artists are exploring how new media tools might be incorporated into the way the present their work. Some artists, like Will Pappenheimer (see sidebar), now describe themselves as “digital artists” and their work as “participatory art.”
We spoke with several local institutions about their role in a new media future.

To tweet or not to tweet

At the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera, Executive Director Molly Sasse explains that the CSO believes most of its audience needs to mature before finding them. Therefore, there is no new media effort, either in marketing or in programming, specifically reaching out to kids, pre-teens or teens. Families who are engaged in classical music, either as listeners or musicians, already attend CSO performances, she notes, and the more than 200 kids in the Youth Orchestras are also actively engaged. (The CSO has commissioned a local composer to write a new piece specifically for the YOs.)
Next season the CSO hopes to draw a young crowd without high-tech help; its “Pops” series will include an evening featuring music from the film trilogy The Lord of the Rings and the ongoing Harry Potter movie series. Sasse says she expects a large turnout of kids and teens for that evening.
At the Creative Discovery Museum, Director of Education Jayne Griffin, EdD, says firmly, “We don’t market to children.” Because visitors to the museum are generally young children, she says, the CDM considers their parents the decision-makers. Having said that, the CDM is exploring ways to reach parents who use Twitter, blogs and Facebook, Griffin says.
And many forms of technology can be and are effective in supporting the goal of education about the physical sciences, she says. “We are not at all anti-technology,” she says. “But we always ask ourselves, ‘Is it developmentally appropriate?’ and ‘Will it help a child explore the educational objective [of the exhibit]?’”
A new exhibit at the CDM will use both Wii Fit and Dance Dance Revolution—both popular, highly interactive video games—to promote the idea of good health, she says. “They show kids that even if you are inside on a rainy day, you can actively play. They’re not just there as a ‘Wow.’”
Another exhibit uses stop-motion animation, with which children can interact.
Griffin mentions that as an educator, an issue she sees with too much emphasis on technology is “it does not encourage non-verbal communication. We want to provide an atmosphere that stimulates social and emotional growth as well.” But she foresees that the CDM will continue to incorporate new media and technology in appropriate ways.

Exploring all electronic angles

At the Hunter Museum of American Art, Hassan Najjar, manager of school and outreach programs, says the museum is pursuing multiple ways to reach out to kids and teens, some of which involve social networking tools. The museum takes seriously feedback from some young people that indicates a museum “is not for them” and “they would feel out of place if they were there,” Najjar says.
The Hunter has formed its own teen advisory council, and Najjar says he fully expects to quiz members on what works in new media, both as marketing and art. “Twitter has exploded this past summer,” he notes, and the Hunter might well be tweeting and using its FaceBook page to put out the word about its Teen Open House on Oct. 1. The museum is planning another event aimed at young people on Oct. 25, featuring the upcoming exhibit, “New York Cool.”
Incorporating new media into exhibits is also under discussion, Najjar says, pointing to a game used by the Smithsonian, in which clues would be sent via Twitter, but participants needed to be in the museum to participate. “A lot of new suggestions were made at the American Association of Museums conference,” Najjar reports.
Asked about some art professionals’ concern about the use, or overuse, of new media, he says, “We don’t believe in a ‘kitchen sink’ tactic—throw everything in and see what happens. We’re considering what supplements our goals and what might hinder them. But younger kids have grown up multitasking out of the womb. Social networking tools have their place, and we’ll be looking to see what the possibilities are.”

With the “graying” of arts patrons, museums and arts organization are looking for new ways to engage a new generation.

For more information about the arts programs mentioned in this article, visit:

The Chattanooga Symphony & Opera: ChattanoogaSymphony.org
The Creative Discovery Museum: CDMFun.org
The Hunter Museum of American Art: HunterMuseum.org

Sidebar (optional—can use with photo tagged “arts mood ring”, no cutline necessary):

Color us artists

Last year’s Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla., featured a work of art by Will Pappenheimer, an assistant professor of digital art at Pace University in New York, and collaborator Chipp Jansen. Inspired by Pappenheimer’s discussions with his students, the 25-foot-high “Public Mood Ring” was modeled after the groovy 1960s-era rings that changed color based on skin temperature. It was wired so that online visitors could pick an emoticon, and then a color, and the sculpture would change color.
People of all ages participated, Pappenheimer says, including families and an entire high school class. “We used a simple messaging service that ended up being much like Twitter,” he says. “People sent very short thoughts, like ‘I’m feeling good today.’”
Works that include or are about new media are inevitable, he says. “Twitter has become ubiquitous.” However, new media artists are still a relatively small group, although, as Pappenheimer points out, “participatory art has been happening since the ’60s, with events such as Allen Cohen and Richard Bowen’s “Be-In” and author Umberto Eco’s The Open Work being predecessors of today’s work involving audiences. “What is new is the idea of a virtual community,” he says.
From an engagement standpoint, “Every museum and arts organization is trying to get kids involved,” he says. “As an artist, I’m interested in reaching the widest audience possible, both inside and outside the art world.”