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Recent technological advances have dramatically transformed the creation and organization of social contexts, as well as the production and consumption of cultural products and services. These changes have redefined the roles of producers and consumers in the creative process (Ritzer & Degli Esposti, 2020; Toffler, 1980). Participation practices are evolving—more people are involved, their roles are increasingly active, and co-creative production methods are becoming more critical and widespread (Shirky, 2008)—not specifically in the cultural sector but here as well (Nakajima, 2012). For cultural providers, this raises the question of how artistic programmes can be designed to take account of these new conditions and how cultural management can respond to this development.
Our study examines this question through the investigation of four virtual Twitter (now X) theatre events at the Vienna Burgtheater, initially implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic to maintain audience engagement despite lockdown measures. The Burgtheater invited audiences to use Twitter to collaboratively narrate a fictitious evening at the theatre. Beyond initial content cues, the evolution of the plot was left entirely to the audience, who crafted the occurences and content via Twitter.
We adopted a mixed-methods approach, integrating network analysis of the tweets and the participant network with content analysis of the tweets, interviews with theatre staff, and netnographic participation in the events by one of the authors.
Our results suggest a shift in the self-perception of the theatre from a provider of cultural offerings to a facilitator of exchange and encounters, i.e. a „hub“ (Wiid & Mora-Avila, 2017) where cultural experiences can be made. In this understanding, the theatre acts as a moderator, initiating, channelling, amplifying, and regulating interactions. A key element in content design is a shared frame of reference—in this case, theatre conventions—which acts as a recognition grid for identifying potentially engaging content cues. Coupled with the limitless potential of imagination that written communication on Twitter allows, a distinctive entertainment value is generated, fostering a genuine creative experience rather than merely replicating live experiences. Contrary to the prevailing view in the literature (e.g. Pöllmann & Hermann, 2019), our study suggests that genuine digital cultural offerings do not necessarily require explicit strategy development but rather benefit from implicit strategizing through ongoing experimentation, keeping conditions open for community input as long as possible. This represents a significant paradigm shift for supply-oriented cultural management.
References
Nakajima, S. (2012). Prosumption in Art. American Behavioral Scientist, 56(4), 550–569. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764211429358
Pöllmann, L., & Hermann, C. (Eds.). (2019). Der digitale Kulturbetrieb. Strategien, Handlungsfelder und Best Practices des digitalen Kulturmanagements. Springer Gabler.
Ritzer, G., & Degli Esposti, P. (2020). The increasing centrality of prosumption in the digital capitalist economy. Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie, 45(3), 351–369. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11614-020-00422-z
Shirky, C. (2008). Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations. Penguin Books. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp09x420437
Toffler, A. (1980). The Third Wave. William Morrow and Company.
Wiid, R., & Mora-Avila, P. (2017). Arts Marketing Framework: The Arts Organisation as a Hub for Participation. Journal of Public Affairs, 18:e1657. https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.1657enter code here