76. Why your art consumption style matters
Are you a butterfly or evergreen?
Hi friends,
In a recent conversation, someone described audience members who move around to various concerts, exhibitions, shows, and events throughout their cultural landscape as “butterflies.” In this context, they were comparing these “butterflies” to their opposite, which would be season subscription holders; people who always show up for a specific organization. (A theater, orchestra, concert series, museum, etc.)
“Butterfly” is a metaphor we’ve heard before. Last October I wrote about Social Health and referenced the writing of Kasley Killam, specifically her book The Art and Science of Connection: Why Social Health is the Missing Key to Living Longer, Healthier, and Happier. In it, being a “butterfly” describes one of Killam’s four primary styles of connection. Butterflies are people who thrive on frequent interaction and casual connection, which does relate to the above concept of being a butterfly in the way you attend events. On Killam’s spectrum of connection, the season ticket holders would be “evergreens,” or people who thrive on frequent interaction and deep connection.
The way you consume art reveals a lot about you:
Do you attend arts events frequently or infrequently?
Do you focus on specific arts groups, or do you move all around the cultural landscape?
Do you get a lot out of being heavily connected to an arts organization?
Do you enjoy moving from one art form to another, and one style to another, with a lot of variety?
The way you answer likely defines your cultural comfort zone. Here’s an example:
You may love a specific type of music. Let’s say jazz. You will go regularly to your local jazz club to hear live music. You buy jazz recordings and travel to jazz festivals. You have become friends with other jazz aficionados at your local jazz club, and enjoy meeting the musicians and learning more about their work. But if a friend suggests checking out the local symphony or opera, you bristle. It’s not your bag. You are happy in the jazz scene and have little interest in venturing over to a classical chamber music concert or anything like that. It’s ok - you are a vital member of the jazz ecosystem in your community and there is no reason you need to support everything. You know what you like and you’re sticking to it. Cool.
Another example:
You love a variety of experiences and learning new things. You may not love or even enjoy every work of art you come across, but that doesn’t stop you from continuously exploring. You are always on the lookout for something new and exciting. You don’t have the patience for or interest in getting a subscription for an entire season at your local theater company. You’d rather just see a show there once in a while, and spend your time also going to concerts, museums, and other theaters - looking all around, not just in one place. You don’t have a specific home base in your cultural life and that is ok. You support everyone a little and get a lot of variety. It’s the spice of life, after all. This can also be good.
There is no one right way to experience art. I opted to focus on two examples that involve frequent consumption. There are also people who only go out for creative experiences once in a while or rarely. They could be dedicated to a specific organization, or move around to different places, but they are infrequent attendees. This is also ok, though I encourage people to experience as much art as is realistic.
If you are a cultural butterfly, you have broad horizons and lots of experiences, but you haven’t truly invested in a specific artistic community. It might feel like leaving your comfort zone to buy a season subscription to an arts organization, but if you did, you might forge a much deeper bond with the art you are witnessing. It’s like following your home team. You check all the box scores, but you know the players on your team intimately. You know who is in a slump and who’s on a tear. You know who is injured and who might be traded. You’re invested.
I encourage the butterflies who are reading this to leave your comfort zone by connecting more deeply with an organization you value. Someplace you might go only occasionally, but would be interested in experiencing more frequently. See what happens when you build a deeper connection.
If you are a cultural evergreen, you have made that investment. You have your home base and you are a part of a community, which is fantastic. But what if you spread your wings a bit and go out of your way to experience something different? If you are that die hard jazz fan, maybe try the ballet. Or a museum. Find four or five art outings outside of your comfort zone and give them a try. See what happens when you put yourself out there for new experiences. Don’t expect everything to be a home run, but give it a chance. You might be surprised by what you discover.
When I began writing this, I was going to suggest being more like a butterfly. But the more I wrote, the more I realized that we really should be challenging our habits. It’s good to break patterns on occasion. If you are an infrequent attendee, maybe try attending two or three times as many events as you typically do in the coming months. See what happens when you get out there more often.
Breaking a pattern could lead to deeper connections or new discoveries - or both! You don’t have to change the way you live and experience art permanently. But every now and then, do something different. Get out and hear music, see art. Watch a play or ballet. Find something new, or invest in what you love. Most of all, experience creativity wherever and whenever you can.
~Russ