Hacking Creativity to Sustain Diversity in Southeast Asian Performing Arts

Keywords

growth hacking, disruptive innovation, sustainability, ethnomusicology

Abstract

In this paper, the discourse on disruptive innovation and growth hacking is applied to concepts and approaches in the sustainability of performing arts. One of the principal applications of art is to reach an audience. Presentational art forms such as music, dance, and theatre have traditionally relied on word of mouth, newspaper, radio and television advertisements to reach broader audiences. In the era of disruptive innovation, however, technology platforms guided by artificial intelligence, data input and algorithms play a significant role in determining what content appears in front of users. For many emerging artists, finding an audience in the era of disruption means funneling through just five technology platforms that generate 80% of global mobile advertising revenue. How do Southeast Asian performing artists reach their audiences in a consumer-based society that is increasingly dependent on the immersive technology of computers and hand-held devices? Carefully designed cooperation between creative artists and growth hacking experts has the potential to help artists reach virtual and live audiences. Growth hacking, a process of rapid experimentation to identify the most efficient ways to grow, is particularly prevalent among startups and smaller businesses. Using the analogy of performers as small business, I explore the efforts of such arts as Kelantanese shadow puppetry, Balinese marching bands and cartoon satire to use unconventional marketing techniques where data analysis and creativity merge. Given that just five tech platforms are deciding what type of content is seen and why this oligopoly shapes audience preferences that tend to lean toward aesthetic uniformity. To counter this, I argue that an alliance between strategic growth hacking and creative artists has the potential to empower diversity in the performing arts of Southeast Asia.

Copyright

© 2019, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Made Mantle Hood
PY  - 2019/05
DA  - 2019/05
TI  - Hacking Creativity to Sustain Diversity in Southeast Asian Performing Arts
BT  - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Arts and Culture (ICONARC 2018)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 168
EP  - 170
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://www.atlantis-press.com/article/125911188
ID  - Hood2019/05
ER  -