Creator, Educator, Curator, Sustainer? Defining audience development as music education work

Creator, Educator, Curator, Sustainer? Defining audience development as music education work

Performing arts organisations such as orchestras and opera companies are increasingly dedicating significant human, financial and artistic resources to the work of audience education, engagement and learning outreach. The legitimacy of such projects is frequently underscored by the urgency to secure future audiences to ensure the ongoing legacy and sustainability of artforms that currently attract diminishing and greying audiences. However, despite a plethora of practice, an ontological, epistemological, and philosophical understanding of what underpins education as audience development and therefore how it advocates for and defines itself remains enigmatic amidst a thicket of terminological dispute. As a result, the aims, basic tenants, and values implied within such work remains ambiguous and at times in conflict with itself. These fundamental issues furthermore makes imagining the future of the field, articulating the necessary skills and knowledge needed by creators, educators and curators difficult at best.

This paper draws together literature from applied musicology and philosophy informed by the findings of recent research projects, and current practices of audience development, engagement, and outreach. These frames of reference are used to conceptualise and articulate how and where education sits in relation to creating and curating public musical events in the performing arts. The discussion focusses on deriving an ontological and philosophical foundation for this vital work and highlights the nuanced tensions that creators, curators, and educators work within to advocate for sustainable and authentic arts learning experiences for audiences. It is argued that conceptualising audience development as music education work, specifically as an issue of pedagogy, will serve to highlight the complexity of this creative work, define tacit understandings, and provide sustaining guidance for practitioners, researchers and music educators willing to have a go at audience development alike.

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