Breaking the Fourth Wall: proactive Audiences in the Performing Arts

TLDR: In this article, the authors present an overview of the debates on the proactive role of live performance audiences in the context of the Be SpectACTive! workshop in Barcelona, 2016, where the participants developed their vision of what participation means in culture, each in his/her field and disciplinary environment.

Abstract: This book gives an important place to the controversies surrounding the question of participation in the cultural and artistic fields. This debate gathers researchers who have developed through their work an original and documented point of view on the issue. Then, it brings together those who have been active in the Conference “The Proactive Role of Live Performance Audiences” (Barcelona, November 2016). The publication proposes a dynamic state of the considerations that accompany the Be SpectACTive! project (funded by the EU program Creative Europe). The book is structured in two parts. The first contains an introductory theoretical chapter by the two editors (Lluis Bonet and Emmanuel Negrier) followed by the contributions of researchers who develop their vision of what participation means in culture, each one in his/her field and disciplinary environment. Jean-Louis Fabiani analyzes participation in its historical context and shows the possible resulting sociological and political ambivalence. Franco Bianchini and Alice Borchi highlight the forms that participation policies in contemporary cities can take. Dafne Muntanyola-Saura focuses on ethics and aesthetics of participation in the field of visual arts. These three different contributions enrich our vision and open up a critical perspective. The second part of the book extends this perspective to seven main goals of participation in the cultural sector. Each theme was proposed to be discussed during specific workshops at the Barcelona conference on the proactive role of live performance audiences. We commissioned to the conductors of each session to write their own reflections on the issue. At the same time, the synthesis of the debates was made by a second group of experts. These are the titles of the seven workshop sessions and the names of the authors in order of appearance: "Artistic quality and audience empowerment" by Jaroslava Tomanova and Giada Calvano; "Risks and opportunities of active spectatorship from a management perspective" by Giuliana Ciancio and Ricardo Alvarez; "The interactive role of participatory creative residencies" by Felix Dupin-Meynard, Bruno Maccari and Rafael Valenzuela; "The challenges of artistic programming with active spectators" by Luca Ricci, Ricardo Alvarez and Janina Juarez Pinzon; "Prosumer Experiences in Performing Arts" by Luisella Carnelli, Jaume Colomer, Giada Calvano and Janina Juarez Pinzon; "The organizational challenge of audience development and engagement" by Alessandro Bollo, Bruno Maccari and Kinga Szemessy and, finally, "Real democratization: involving audiences with different cultural capital" by Arturo Rodriguez Morato and Rafael Valenzuela. In conclusion, Ben Walmsley, one of the very first thinkers about participation in the cultural sector, will provide his original contribution to this debate.