Inspire

Jemima Rellie

Jemima Rellie, Head of Digital Programmes at Tate sees the PSP as a part of the emerging new model for performance, arts and culture based on collaboration and participation. She also believes the PSP has a strategic role to play, moving the cultural sector from thinking about digitizing collections to the point where institutions can work with their audiences to create original digital content and services.

The Disruptive Decade (1995-2005): the impact on museums

A cultural shift is underway - with a growth in cultural production accompanied by a growth in cultural choice. The trajectory of this cultural shift can be mapped through the example of museums and galleries. Museums have evolved dramatically over the last decade. Where once they were focused on objects in their collection, their attention has now turned to the audiences they serve. Where once they were preoccupied with constructing cannons and disseminating facts, they are now as interested in stimulating cultural exchange and debate. Over the last 10 years, museums have become more democratic and more popular. Two key factors have influenced this transformation: the emergence of disruptive technologies to support increased audiences and greater choice, and a political agenda centered on access. The average time spent online and the number of visits to cultural organisations' websites is growing, just as traditional broadcasting and newspaper audiences continue to fragment and decline. The most popular UK online arts site is a museum site, Tate, now attracting one million unique visitors a month and a 63% increase in visitors in 2005.

UK museums are leading the world in their adoption of innovative digital services to reach new audiences. This is exemplified in offerings such as the Nature Live Online initiative, which allows those unable to get to South Kensington a chance to watch live (and archived) presentations online and pose questions for scientists to tackle. This desire to increase reach through time and space has also been embraced to great effect and public benefit by progressive cultural organisations. A Philharmonia Live webcast, for instance, can touch an audience of over 650,000 people worldwide, while visitors to the BFI are now able to download feature-length art house films via the BFI Film Downloads space.

Collaborative Practice: towards a new cultural order (2006-2012)

If "access" was the word that best sums up public sector arts policy in the last decade, then 'participation' is the term that will shape the next 10 years. As the concept of participation picks up momentum as the ideal basis for the relationship between arts organisations and their audiences, so too is it accompanied by the development of new digital tools and technologies which support the evolution of this concept into reality.

Already in 2006, tools and technologies exist which make it possible for arts organisations and the public to collaborate in productive and meaningful ways. The V&A's Every Object Tells a Story encourages visitors to upload their own objects and stories to supplement the museum's collection; Stagework, the National Theatre's broadband site, allows children and teachers to manipulate an interactive scene builder to create custom productions and Visitors Studio is an artist's led space for real time, multi-user networked performances.

By 2012, with sustained support from the PSP, arts organisations will be able to build on these achievements to engage audiences in personalised, cultural dialogue that in turn stimulates innovation and aspirations, wealth and health. The PSP will provide crucial support, not simply in financial terms, but also in helping navigate the complex, emerging cultural landscape which is founded not just on collaboration between audiences and arts organisations, but also between disparate organisations themselves.

Digital Cultural Content: acknowledging the gap

The catalyst for the ongoing transformation of both arts practice and arts organisations remains digital technologies. Artists, arts organisations and arts audiences are all potentially empowered by digital technologies which facilitate cultural production and dialogue. Yet relatively little bespoke digital, cultural content currently exists. This is because no public organisation in 2006 is focusing on cultural content that goes beyond mere reproduction, and nor are any well placed in today's public service framework to take up this challenge. Some investment has been made in the digitisation and online dissemination of material collections (namely via the EnrichUK programme), but very little effort has been focused on the creation of cultural content that depends on digital technologies not solely for distribution but also for existence and meaning. There is a very real threat that without the intervention of the PSP, UK cultural content that is born and thrives in electronic networks will continue to struggle to register. The cultural shift will pick up speed irrespective of the PSP, but without the PSP its impact in Britain will be diminished.

Gaining from the Opportunity: encouraging digital culture to flourish

The PSP offers an unparalleled opportunity to implement a fresh and wholly appropriate framework within which digital cultural content will flourish. It is, for instance, in a unique position to establish, from scratch, copyright policies for commissioned content that not only allow but encourage interaction and re-use. The PSP also offers an opportunity to establish a flexible network for public service digital content that will support risk-taking and diversity, as well as cultural values.

Artists will benefit both from the financial remuneration of the commissions, but also from the greater artistic freedom and context within which they will create. Arts organisations will benefit from the support to focus on bespoke digital cultural content, as well as the encouragement to look and contribute beyond their own institutions. Audiences will benefit from new opportunities to explore cultural identity which allow and encourage active engagement as opposed to passive acceptance.

Conclusion

The PSP is a timely and powerful proposition for performance, arts and culture in the UK. By employing a distributed infrastructure, the PSP will be cost effective, comprehensive and authoritative. One of the key differentiators for the PSP is that it will ensure that a range of high quality, innovative cultural content is made publicly available to stimulate and inspire tax payers and artists alike, safeguarding both freedom of expression and the creativity of the British population. The PSP will ensure that British artists, arts organisations and audiences are both on-demand and in-demand.