Communicating the Arts (CTA) is a global network of passionate and creative professionals who believe in the transformative potential of culture. CTA has served as a hub for communication professionals from a variety of disciplines, including the visual and performing arts, social history, and heritage, for more than 20 years, and this year will host its 28th annual Forum, Communicating the Arts 2023, in Singapore.
Ahead of the Forum, which will be hosted by the National Gallery Singapore from 20 – 22 November 2023, blooloop speaks to CTA founder Corinne Estrada. She talks about the organisation’s vision and its evolution over the past two decades. She also gives a sneak peek at what attendees can expect from this year’s Forum.
Corinne Estrada: the connector
Corinne Estrada founded AGENDA, a global communication agency specialising in the arts, in 1995. Since then, she has worked with world-renowned organisations like Tate, the Victoria and Albert Museum the National Gallery the Guggenheim Bilbao, developing international communication PR campaigns. In 2000, in partnership with Tate, she created the Communicating the Museum conferences.
Explaining the origins of Communicating the Arts, initially called Communicating the Museum, Estrada says:
“AGENDA was the communication agency for institutions such as Tate, the National Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum. They wanted international PR, especially in Continental Europe. In 2000, Tate’s expectations were to show that they were the cultural model of the 21st century and share our best practices with their peers. Therefore, one month before opening Tate Modern, we hosted the first conference at the Louvre in Paris talking about branding. That was the big trend in the years 2000.”
Over the last 23 years, CTA has grown into a network of 20,000 professionals. Its Forums give them a platform where they can share best practices in communication strategy.
Changing the name to be inclusive
The reason why Estrada and her team changed from Communicating the Museum to Communicating the Arts in 2018 was because they felt like many people see the word museum as a Western term.
“Also, we wanted to expand our network to performing arts and heritage. We sought to be more global and more open to other disciplines, not just museums.”
She adds that museums and cultural organisations can learn from the wider attractions industry. “Attractions are usually very good at data analysis and marketing, while museums I feel are very good at branding and communication. So, we can learn from each other.”
From this first Forum in 2000, CTA soon expanded to become an international network:
“From a very small group of seven museums, 12,000 professionals and 1000 speakers have since then attended our Forums,” says Estrada.
For the first 10 years, the programmes were focused on museum branding. “Then from 2010, we talked about the visitor experience. From 2015 to 2020 the main concern was social engagement and museums beyond walls. After the global COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and the Black Lives Matter movement, conversations are more oriented towards well-being and militancy. Cultural institutions have become champions of activism.
CTA’s mission: Change To Act
The mission of Communicating the Arts is to assist professionals working in the art world to gain the tools they need to succeed in their mission and keep up with what’s new in a fast-changing sector.
“It’s very much about professional development. Topics cover a large spectrum from leadership and management to digital strategies. During the Forums, we have a good mix of topics; we talk about fundraising, communication, and public engagement; It’s very much about how you run a cultural institution.”
CTA aims to give cultural institutions the tools they need in order to become more sustainable and better connected with their audiences. Since the early days in Paris, Communicating the Arts conferences have taken place across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific.
“We’ve been to 50 cities and five continents. I like to balance small cities and world-class cities. So, we’ve gone, of course, to New York, Paris, Los Angeles, and Berlin, but also Dusseldorf, Malaga and Canberra, which is a capital but a small city. We wish to be inclusive and target all types of destinations”.
In 2013, Estrada opened a branch in Australia to develop conferences in the Pacific zone. She has relocated to Sydney since then.
Why Singapore for Communicating the Arts 2023?
This year’s event will be hosted by the National Gallery Singapore.
When it came to choosing the venue for Communicating the Arts 2023, Estrada says Singapore was a strategic choice between Europe and the Pacific.
“We’ve done conferences in Europe, America and Australia but had not explored the cultural landscape in Southeast Asia yet. Singapore is a young city-state, building a strong museum branding. I felt like it was time to investigate that part of the world. Asian museums are very inclusive. They have a very dynamic public engagement policy.
“They have a different vision of culture than European and Western museums. We can learn so much.”
Arts+Technology
Singapore is also an appropriate host city given this year’s theme, Arts+Technology, as it is known as a centre for cutting-edge developments in the tech world. The Communicating the Arts Advisory Board, which brings together 10 experts, has designed the four sub-topics for the 2023 Forum:
- Transform the Institution
- Embrace Diversity
- Create Synergies
- Imagine the future
Talking about the themes, Estrada says:
“Things move so fast in technology that it is hard to keep up. Museums have to keep training their team on a regular basis. That’s why we picked this theme about Arts + Tech; we wish to help connect them with new technologies and provide a wrap-up of what’s going on in the digital world.
“More specifically, we wanted to investigate what’s going on in immersive experiences. I feel that public engagement is very high in immersive exhibitions. People are going in millions to see shows like Van Gogh Alive or attend the Atelier des Lumières in Paris. What can we learn from their business models and their marketing strategies? How can we get the curators to buy in to highlight our permanent collection in the same ways?
“Cultural institutions have to embrace transformation. We live in a very exciting moment where we have to be agile. Singapore is a perfect place to talk about immersive experiences.”
See also: Singapore’s ArtScience Museum: where art and technology intersect
Communicating the Arts 2023: a selection of 50 expert speakers
Communicating the Arts strives to bring together a wide range of speakers, including experts from outside the arts and culture industries. Estrada says that these insights can help attendees to set new benchmarks and to learn something new from outside their comfort zone.
“For example, we have previously invited Air France to talk about yield management. We’ve invited Airbnb to talk about their marketing strategy, and ING to talk about leadership. We invite people from outside, to nourish and give us different perspectives which are always insightful.”
When it comes to this year’s agenda, Communicating the Arts 2023 will have several highlights for attendees to enjoy. From the local area, speakers include Honor Harger, vice president at the ArtScience Museum and Kevin Lim, director of innovation & technology at the progressive National Gallery of Singapore.
“We also invite experts from Europe to speak. We have Selma Toprak from the Centre Pompidou, Marion Carre CEO of Ask Mona, the French expert in artificial intelligence in cultural institutions, Philippe Riviere, director of digital at Beaux-Arts and from Canada we have Charlene Belanger, head of education and wellness – research, development, innovation at the Museum of Fine Arts of Montreal.
“Also, Scarlett Hu, assistant director of Getty Digital at the Paul Getty Trust and Miranda Carroll, director of public engagement at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, will bring another perspective explaining their collaboration with high-tech giants.
“The respected Sarah Kenderdine, teacher of innovation at EPFL in Lausanne and Professor Natalia Grincheva, program leader at LASALLE College of the Arts with her art students, will explain the NFT world. They will present the experimental projects that they conduct in Southeast Asia.”
Aside from the meticulously planned agenda of educational sessions, one of the key benefits of attending a CTA event is the opportunities that delegates have to make connections with their peers.
“It’s always so inspiring to leave your desk for a few days and dive into an international melting pot. It’s a chance to see the bigger picture of what’s going on and what can we learn, what can we bring back home. Communicating the Arts Forums are a great platform to inspire people and to be inspired.”
30 Under 30: an international mentorship programme
Aligned with professional development, Communicating the Arts has launched a mentoring programme for 2023. This is called 30 Under 30 and is designed to assist young leaders to thrive in the cultural sector.
30 promising leaders under the age of 30 will be supported by this new mentoring initiative. It is designed to advance their leadership skills and career development over the course of four months. Mentors will be able to improve their leadership abilities and experience personal and professional fulfilment. Meanwhile, mentees will experience meaningful career acceleration, enhanced confidence, and self-awareness. This program is supported by G&A.
“Our new mentorship programme will cross nationalities, genders and sectors, so that’s very ambitious. We will have experts training young leaders about public speaking and leadership. Mentors will introduce Mentees to their network because that’s the main challenge when you start your career. So, we are providing access, and we’re helping them with those first steps. It’s all about professional development, and that’s our mission.
“We also feel that we have to learn from the younger generations. They will be part of the CTA programme and will make presentations. Crossing of knowledge between generations is a vital step.”
What’s next for Communicating the Arts?
Looking ahead beyond 2023, Estrada says that Communicating the Arts will continue to visit a varied selection of host cities. Next year, the CTA team will add another continent under its belt as a strategic partner of a new conference organised in February 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa. This, she says, is significant, given the amount that the network could learn from this new part of the world.
Finally, Estrada also plans a European return for the annual Communicating the Arts Forum in 2025 which is where she started this long-time adventure.
To book a place at Communicating the Arts 2023 in Singapore, please click here.
Top image: Universe of Water Particles Transcending Boundaries on display at ArtScience Museum. Image credit teamLab
