Tony Lankester, CEO National Arts Festival Grahamstown
“In 60 years time… Festivals will look differently. They will be structured differently. Art will be created differently. Audiences will have different expectations. Social Media is a hint of what lies ahead. We don’t have to like it – but we have to understand it.” With this statement, Tony Lankester, CEO of the National Arts Festival Grahamstown, opened the workshop on “Audiences building and the digital media” on 24 May 2012 during the Jubilee of the European Festivals Association (EFA) in Bergen, Norway.
He continued sharing “5 Inescapable Facts:
- It is not going anywhere
- It is very big
- It has fundamentally changed our audiences
- There is no point in trying to control it
- The debate is not about whether we engage with it. It is how we engage with it.
Tony Lankester indentified “5 things it can do for us”:
- Take our art to a new audience
- Deepen our relationship with our audience
- Help make our brands relevant in 2012
- Make Festivals realise their potential
- Give us platforms for funders and sponsors
Check out the complete presentation of Tony Lankester!
