KCMETROPOLIS.org
Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

In a recent blog entry on the Techonology in the Arts website, writer Amelia Northrup interviewed marketing guru, Ron Evans from Groupofminds, to discuss how cell phones and mobile applications are changing the way we view the arts. 

I recently came across this phenomenon when I saw Straight No Chaser at the Lied Center last month.  They encouraged the audience to take photographs with their mobile phones during the performance and in turn photographed the audience.  Once the pictures were uploaded to the SNC Facebook page, audience members could "tag" themselves.  The only possible reason to do this would be to prove to your friends that you were there.  Is that a big deal?   The idea is genius in that it spreads the word about the concert and creates the elusive buzz that drives people to attend. It must be working because that was the only packed house I experienced in 2009.   Would that trick work in the classical realm?

Ron Evans makes a distinction between mobile accessibility and mobile applications.  With accessibility, the organizations entire website is available via mobile browser, looks good on the small screen and functions well. This is an absolute must have for performing arts organizations and KCMetropolis fits the bill. Applications (apps) on the other hand, are specific software products that can be downloaded from sites like iTunes.  The limitation is that each application can only work on the phone it was designed for so different apps would need to be created for iPhone, Nokia, Blackberry, Droid and the like.  According to Evans, programmers are working to fix this problem so different "flavors" of apps would be easily available.

Apps have the ability to connect patrons with similar interests in tight knit communities that not only look for each other at intermission via cell phones, but also join each other after performances for drinks and dinner.  They can post comments from their phones about what they heard or saw and how it affected them. 

The Artsopolis Network recently conducted a study to find out how patrons wanted to use apps.  Among patrons aged 48 to 64, information about parking was a major consideration.  They were also interested in information about nearby restaurant options, pre and post concert activities, directions and ordering tickets with a possible discount.

Apps from arts organizations are out there.  I recently downloaded the Susan Graham app for my iPod. If you have a favorite mobile app, tell us about it.  If there is information you would like to see KCMetropolis provide in an app, we'd love to know.

By Megan Browne Helm

Classical, Vocal and Theatre Contributor

Megan Browne Helm grew up singing, dancing and acting.  Inspired by Emma Kirkby as a high school student in St. Louis she went on to study voice and sing with the Collegium Musicum at the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio where she also had a radio show of contemporary classical music on WOBC.  At the University of Kansas she had the pleasure of working with former Kings’ Singer, Simon Carrington in his Collegium Musicum and Oread consort. Years later, she was a choral fellow at the Yale School of Music’s  Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.  She is currently singing with the Kansas City Symphony Chorus under the direction of Charles Bruffy. 

 As a freelance music and culture writer her work can be found on KCMetropolis.org, presentmagazine.com, the Lawrence Journal World, Shawnee Magazine, Leawood Lifestyle Magazine and KC Parent.  She was one of 26 journalists in the country chosen as a NEA Institute Fellow for Classical Music and Opera at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. 

Her current interest is how classical music remains relevant through active collaborations with artists in different fields, including science.  She also sees a connection between classical music, travel and food as a way to engage all of the senses in a 360 degree cultural experience.  She blogs at raworganum.wordpress.com.