New Research: Arts Organizations and Digital Technologies

PEW INTERNET PROJECT
By Kristin Thomson, Kristen Purcell, Lee Rainie

"Icarus" by Henri Matisse

A survey of a wide-ranging mix of U.S.-based arts organizations shows that the internet, social media, and mobile connectivity now permeate their operations and have changed the way they stage performances, mount and showcase their exhibits, engage their audiences, sell tickets, and raise funds. “For most of these organizations, technology suffuses their operations and their engagement activities with their communities,” noted Kristen Purcell, research director at the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, and a co-author of the report. “They are using the technologies to expand their offerings, grow and diversify their audiences, and bring technology users into the act of creating art itself.” [link]

Tied to this embrace of technology is a widespread sense among arts group leaders that digital technologies are critical to the spread of the arts:

• 81% of the organizations in this survey say the internet and digital technologies are “very important” for promoting the arts 
• 78% say these technologies are “very important” for increasing audience engagement 
• 50% “strongly agree” with the statement that the internet “has increased engagement in the arts by providing a public platform through which more people can share their work” 
• 65% say digital technologies are “very important” for fundraising 
• A majority of these organizations also agree that the internet is “very important” in increasing organizational efficiency (63%), and for their engaging in arts advocacy (55%) 

Most of the participating organizations strongly or somewhat agree with the statements that technology and social media have made art a more participatory experience (92%), and that they have helped make art audiences more diverse (83%).