Développement Communauté AdG

Perception! The Situation -

Nathalie — Thu, 20 May 2010 14:40:00 GMT

In Washington , DC , at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule.

About 4 minutes later:

The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

At 6 minutes:

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

At 10 minutes:

A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent - without exception - forced their children to move on quickly.

At 45 minutes:

The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

After 1 hour:

He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $200 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.

This experiment raised several questions:

In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?

If so, do we stop to appreciate it?

Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made . . .

How many other things are we missing as we rush through life?

And, I will add; this is part why the arts and their artists are having a hard time, society has neither time nor extra money to better support the arts. I'd love to hear your comments...anecdotes & stories...suggestions and how we can remedy and help each other succeed in the arts through this social network.

Defragmenting the art industry, attracting the masses...

Nathalie — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:16:00 GMT
Artistes du Globe wants to be the convergence of artistic expression and digital content delivery combined on a social network built for the performing and visual arts. I believe that the art industry is fragmented and if artists from all genres were meeting and representing themselves through one main platform, they have a much bigger chance to attract traffic on their sites and sell, rent their art through a system built for them. Opera, Symphony, Dance organizations need a boost, funding is scarce and digital content delivery is available but we, in the performing arts, need to get our acts together. Diversity, quality of content is attracting and I would love to hear from you on this concept.

Direct payment and digital content

Nathalie — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:42:00 GMT
We have structured an approach that brings the critical elements of easy consumer access, security of the content, and mechanism to perform the royalty generating powers of the Artistes du Globe service. All stakeholders are paid in real time when content is streamed by the consumer and viewed on their computer, TV or LCD screens in homes, offices, spas, airports, etc. Artistes du Globe is first of all by the arts and for the arts. Combining a social media community platform with the Art-Serve platform is the first meaningful step towards solving a genuine pain point in the arts in both production and consumption. How do you thrive safely in the digital economy?