In Monday’s (8/8) Chicago Tribune, John von Rhein writes, “Like performing arts organizations everywhere else, the heavy hitters of classical music in Chicago are desperately seeking new ways to connect with wired younger audiences.… Some say social media such as Facebook and Twitter are offering classical music groups—traditionally among the most change-resistant organizations—some exciting and potentially fruitful new ways to jump aboard the interactive-digital bandwagon that’s rolling across our cultural landscape. Some of the same people also have misgivings. Nick Pullia, director of communications at Ravinia, says that while the festival is not planning on taking up the Pacific Symphony’s ‘tweet-cert’ concept—in which program notes are sent to audience members’ phones during the concert—for its own outdoor classical events any time in the future, ‘we are using social media where we can.’ … the dangers of wedding social media to an old art form are as real as the potential benefits. Indeed, the very idea of allowing audience members to use smartphones and tablets during indoor classical performances met strong opposition from every one of the local arts executives surveyed by the Tribune. They regard the practice as antithetical to music and to what classical concerts are all about.”
Posted August 9, 2011
