by Cindy Case
Giving it away: the way We've Been going
As quarantine took hold, companies around the world provided free access to dance videos--including full-length productions--to drive audience engagement and provide much-needed escape from the uncertainty and stress of social isolation.
This early approach brought the global dance community together, forging an important sense of connection even as we were separated. As time went on, however, we have flooded the market with an overwhelming amount of free dance content. Not that it was necessarily the right time to ask for payment. Writing donation appeals in the middle of a global pandemic is a challenging task for even the most articulate arts non-profit, and I'm certain that many organizations were afraid of sounding tone-deaf or inconsiderate of the financial and physical dangers their audiences were facing. Now that many U.S. states are opening back up and doing their best to find a new normal, it's time for us to pivot our strategies. We have to remember that our art has value. Unfortunately, devalued art is our status quo
Will it be easy?
None of this is to say that digital dance sales will be easy. Indeed, the revenue companies receive from online dance works may be more about the principle of the thing than a sizable chunk of our income. But to protect dance as a valuable, necessary art form during this unprecedented time, we must defend the work which goes into it.
If we don't stop offering content for free soon, it will be too late. Dance can learn a few lessons from the newspaper industry, which went down a similar path when they began offering articles on their websites. In a 2018 article from Media Shift, Mollie Bryant shares: "After the internet's rise caused media organizations to put their work online with no expectation of compensation, they inadvertently created a generation of news consumers who expect content to be free." Let's be honest with ourselves: how many times have we cursed a paywall on a news site, or switched devices when we've run out of free articles for the month? Bryant reports that the introduction of paywalls came too late to stop journalists from being laid off or their positions from being eliminated. Without ticket sales from digital patrons or generous corporate sponsorships, anything that dance companies put online will face the same struggles. How We'll do it
I have already noticed a shift in this direction over the last few weeks, with companies increasingly offering video footage as part of "virtual galas" and other events with the emphasis on supporting the institution.
To continue this push, effectively monetizing online dance will require a few things:
All of these tasks require a flexible, fresh approach. For this reason, I believe that it will be the current generation of dancers and choreographers who will be up for the challenge. Our nation's dance companies are working hard to stick around until it is safe for everyone--dancers, crew, and audience members--to return to the theater. To make that happen, we must work together to protect the value of dance.
1 Comment
Elizabeth Sutton
7/3/2020 07:23:02 am
What a challenge! The amount of free content available is going to make this a huge task...however I think a collective "we are artists and we have value" movement is coming...and I think people will pay for it! I wish you good luck!
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Author: Cindy Case
I am a professional ballet dancer, teacher, and content writer pursuing a Business Communications degree from Stevenson University Online. While this pandemic is going on, I'm helping to cook up something good over at Digital Dance Project. ArchivesCategories |