4C Interview
Kevin Smokler

Kevin Smokler

Writer, Editor, Consultant

Q.    Briefly describe your products and services

KS.  I’m the editor of "Bookmark Now: Writing in Unreaderly Times" (Basic Books, June 2005), a collection of essays by writers in their 20s and 30s that asserts and celebrates the continued relevance of reading, writing and literature in a media-saturated digital age. I also run the Virtual Book Tour (www.virtualbooktour.org), a booktour with weblogs as the tour stops and have a speaking/consulting practice (www.kevinsmokler.com) enabling artists and arts organizations to better use technology to reach new and diverse audiences.

Q.    What cultural trends are affecting your customers and end users?

1) Media Ubiquity and "Entertainment Debt." Arts consumers increasingly have a backlog of entertainment and culture (thanks to iPods, Tivo, Netflix) awaiting them at all times and forever growing.It’s very hard to fit into their cultural consumption schedule with something new when they chronically feel behind.

2) The taste of words like "technology" and "marketing" can mean "soulless" and "corporate" to artists and arts professionals. It’s an old-fashioned prejudice that still hangs around.

3) Generational shift. Artists and arts professionals who did not grow up with computers nor come of age with the Internet don’t know how technology can best fit into their outreach efforts and are worried that audiences of a similar generation won’t respond to it. I see this as less of an impediment and more of an opportunity.

Q.    What other market trends are impacting your business?

KS.  Sharp decreases in federal funding for the arts paired with an increase in "venture philanthropy" means artists and arts organizations must develop greater accountability for projects and demonstrate they are reaching not only intended audiences but bringing in new ones. It’s very hard to call yourself "cutting edge theater" to a grantor if your website gets updated every six months and was created by a board member’s nephew using Front Page.

Similarly, with their time stretched ever thinner, the audience likes to have some idea of what they are getting when they buy a ticket because no one is going to risk a night out (after finding a babysitter, wolfing down dinner and paying for parking) on something they "should see" rather than something they feel they "want" to see. The revolution in personal publishing (blogs, rss feeds, podcasting) is a fantastic sifter. It allows individual artists to not only brand themselves but create open communication and encourage feedback from audiences as never before, all inexpensively and more intimately than traditional marketing efforts. Result: An arts consumer may experiment with offerings off their radar in a low-risk, low time commitment way.

Finally, being "culturally sophisticated" still has huge social cache in the media (see The Bravo Channel, Miramax Films and The New Yorker magazine as institutions that live and die by this) while simultaneously being ridiculed in politics (see the dismantling of presidential candidate John Kerry). Readers, theatergoers, concert patrons and museum visitors often feel isolated and out of step with mass-culture. They are a sophisticated, busy, overworked audience who is still being reached in 19th century terms of arts and culture being "good for you" and not fun, with broccoli instead of chocolate. They want chocolate as much as the person watching "American Idol."

Q.    How is your company reacting to these opportunities/challenges?

KS.  When I consult with writers and artists, I first make sure they know that I am an artist myself and am not about proposing solutions that defy the spirit of their work. I also create price points and sliding scales knowing that 99% percent of my business comes from individuals and non-profits who don’t usually have "consultant" as a line item on their budget.

Second, I avoid jargon and technospeak at all costs and focus on results. Podcasting allows a community radio station to attract busy, preoccupied listeners not "increase audience share through deployment of alternative programming channels."

Third, I continually remind then that this is supposed to be fun. The future is a great big sandbox waiting for us all to dive in. Here’s your pail. Lets go.

Q.    Can you expand on what ‘end user’ trends are driving demand for your products?

Statistics say the arts are cash starved and neglected by upcoming generations. True. Yet arts and cultural consumption is increasingly how we spend our time, money, and how we even shape our identities in a global digital society. Your iTunes playlist is often more an indicator of your personality than your job, your religious affiliation or where you live. I help writers, artists, publishers and arts organization sit at this media feast and know they don’t have to spend a ton of money or have two years of learning curve to claim their seat, that the opportunity for relevance and vitality in the 21st century is there, waiting for them.

Kevin and New
York-based contributors to the book will be appearing at a reading
& NYC release party at Galapagos Artspace on June 7th.

The ‘4C Interview’ is a new regular section on PSFK where we ask senior
execs (and consultants) in a myriad of industries what cultural trends are facing their
business today. If you know of someone who’d like to participate in this column, then email Piers at piers@psfk.com. Thanks.