This Week in Audience 04.24.16

Our roundup of stories chronicling evolution of thinking about the relationships between artists and audiences. Stories on why donors stop giving to the arts, how the physical world gets in the way of audiences used to the ease of clicks, and some skepticism about “diversity and democratization” in the arts.

When Algorithms Choose Your Music For You, Something Is Being Lost

“I do feel that if the great push of the smartest minds in this business is moving towards efficiency in curating for you, in delivering you what it knows you will like from the great abundance, well, something’s being lost, isn’t it? Isn’t the thing that’s being lost you and your efforts to figure out what you like and you respond to?”

Library Anxiety (Yes, It’s A Thing)

“That term is hardly a household name among students, but say it to a college librarian, and he or she will know exactly what you’re talking about. It’s the feeling that one’s research skills are inadequate and that those shortcomings should be hidden. In some students it’s manifested as an outright fear of libraries and the librarians who work there. … ‘Why would anyone think we are intimidating?’ writes Michel C. Atlas. ‘What is intimidating about a master’s-prepared professional earning $35,000 a year?'”