New media, new audience?

The Arts Council of Ireland is hosting a one day working seminar on the arts, new media and broadcasting on 25 November 2008 in Dublin Castle entitled New Media New Audience? (A disclaimer here – I have consulted to the Arts Council on the organisation of this event). The purpose of the day is to explore the ways in which artists and the public are adapting and adopting new ways of producing, presenting and promoting the arts. The keynote speakers are Charles Leadbeater and Andrew Keen and there will be a workshop presentation from international arts blogger Andrew Taylor as well as a series of panel conversations, some hands on workshops on social media and podcasting and there’s also space in the middle of the day for attendees to organise their own discussions on matters of interest. As someone who has wondered out loud for some time about why so few Irish arts organisations are using social media, I’m particularly pleased that the Arts Council is leading out on this discussion. I hope there will be a diverse group of people there on the day (and there’s free wireless internet access so I’m looking forward to participation on as well as offline) taking up the opportunity to explore the challenges as well as the opportunities presented by all kinds of new media.
Registration for the event is free – the conference website is here and you can download a pdf version of the conference agenda here.