Can orchestras follow art museums and embrace "Instagram traps"?

The digital age, social media, and smart phones have changed so much of the world we live in and how we interact with it. This creates a particular challenge for all of us in the arts when people now want to interact and engage with art in a totally different way to what we’re used to and the format we’ve created.

The temptation with all this change is to shy away from it, to only allow people to engage with art on our terms. But what if we were to embrace this change? Well, it turns out art museums already have…

I recently stumbled across a video by Vox called “How ‘Instagram traps’ are changing art museums” and I’m totally fascinated by it and what it could mean for classical music.

I’ve written a very quick summary of the video below so you don’t have to watch it, but if you do have a spare 6 minutes, it is an amazing watch.

A very quick summary of the video…

“Instagram Traps”—installation art-ish environments built for social media—have become a serious cultural force with growing popularity. Popular examples include “The Museum of Ice Cream”, “The Museum of Selfies”, and “The Museum of Feelings”. This may all sound like a trendy fad, but they’re already changing how we engage with art.

These interactive art pieces separated into themed rooms are incredibly popular right now, but the idea isn’t new. It actually has its routes in “installation art” in the 1960s, where artists began to create 3d artwork designed for a specific space to be immersive and interactive. Yayoi Kusama’s work is a great example of this, and is now being exhibited to take advantage of the Instagram age by tradition museums.

The explosive success of “Instagram trap” pop-ups has made traditional museums rethink how they do things. This usually begins with museums photography policies. The Renwick Gallery started posting “photography encouraged signs” in 2015. About this change, Sara Synder of the Renwick Gallery says, “it was our way of saying, boldly: ‘its ok, you can be who you are, mediate your experience in the museum however feels right to you’”.

The impact of adopting this new digital and interactive approach is made greater when museums have taken a step further and hosted selfie friendly shows. The exhibit “Wonder” helped break the Renwick Gallery’s yearly attendance record in just six weeks. When the Hirshorn held a 3 month show of Kusama’s infinity mirrors, the museum increased its membership by a staggering 6,566%!!!

So, that’ the summary of the video, what can orchestras take from this?

The impact of embracing this approach is obviously huge. Which orchestras doesn’t want to break its yearly attendance record in six weeks?! The question for orchestras isn’t what the impact could be, its more about “what do you do?” and “how do you do it?”. For me, this can be broken down into three different areas:

Changes to the traditional concert experience
Producing specific interactive selfie friendly performances
Creating “Instagram traps” at concert venues that are outside the performance

First, let’s look at making changes to the tradition concert experience. Art museums did something that was unthinkable 10 years ago in encouraging photography, and I think it’s safe to say that encouraging this during orchestra concerts may feel the same. However, there are two levels of doing this, with one building on the other.

At a basic level, encouraging photography during performances allows audiences to capture their experience and share it on social media. In 2022 we’re all used to the etiquette of turning phones on silent in concerts and cinemas etc. We’re also now getting used to digital concert programme notes so using phones isn’t totally new. It’s always a good thing to encourage good behaviour though, so adding welcoming text to urge audiences to take photos, but also turn phones on silent and more importantly their screen brightness down is an easy win to make sure those who take photos and those who don’t all feel included. Then, adding a hashtag for people to use, interact, and engage on.

Taking this up a level, is having a live hashtag feed on a large screen above the orchestra during the concert. This definitely isn’t something for during the performance, but having the opportunity to see your social media posts on a large screen during the interval and at the end of the concert is a strong driver to get people to interact and engage. Something you’ll see on digital boards at any sports stadium. This is something I’ve helped deliver at multiple concerts on different continents, and as well as having the desired impact so far it has received zero complaints from audiences.

But I know for many that changes to the traditional concert going experience may be a step too far. Also, a limit of that idea is that “Instagram traps” are largely about putting the individual in the photo and selfies during these concerts would be pretty much impossible. So, what would another solution look like?

Taking inspiration from art museums in designing selfie friendly installations, what about creating performances with audience engagement and photography in mind? A concert that totally changes the audience format to allow for movement and interaction, and also a setting that is visually appealing which will look great in photos. This experiential format is something we’re already experimenting with in the sector, although I’m not sure how much the “Instagram trap” idea is considering in creating them.

My mind instantly went to concerts like “The Sound Within” by Southbank Sinfonia and “Inside Beethoven” by Aurora Orchestra, where musicians are scattered around the room and the audience can wander around inside the orchestra during the performance.

Events like this have the huge benefit of being able to create a bespoke experience where photography and selfies are encouraged, and they can be designed to be as photographic and Instagram friendly as possible. The potential with events like this is huge as it embraces the nature of what makes “Instagram traps” successful. The downside is that they are large scale projects that can take a lot of effort to create which may be a barrier for some organisations.

So, is there a solution that wouldn’t involve changing the traditional concert going experience or doing high effort large scale projects? If we think about the whole concert going experience being more than just the performance and the hall… yes.

The concert going experience starts well before the music starts, as audiences arrive outside the venue, go to a pre-concert talk, chat, go to the bar etc. So, why not use the time before the concert, during the interval, and after the concert for “Instagram traps”?

I saw some great examples of this at Dubai Opera, where outside the hall there was a large #DUBAIOPERA sculpture and an illuminated up water feature. Then inside there was a red-carpet area for selfies and plenty of other gorgeous backdrops and areas for photos. An Instagram experience for the Instagram city. Ideas like this are easy to implement, cheap to do, and don’t make any changes to the concert going experience.

We’re already starting to see some in classical music lean embrace audience members using social media. The Royal Opera House are a great example of an organisation that meaningfully engages with audience members who share their experiences on social media and will often share their photos on ROH’s social channels.

Even with concerns of how this changes the experience of concerts, the impact and potential of adopting this “Instagram trap” idea is obviously huge. The Vox video that inspired this blog ends with this:

“At the end of the day, even if social media is a big part of why so many people show up, they are showing up. And if this means more people engage with art they wouldn’t have paid attention to otherwise, that feels pretty promising for the future of art.”

If this is the case, isn’t it about time orchestras embrace it?

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