Does the Clubhouse App Have a Place at Your Museum or Cultural Organization?
GuestUser · February 17, 2021
As many museums begin to reopen their doors to visitors, they are facing new challenges: social, commercial, and informal learning spaces will remain closed, which may encourage museums and cultural organizations to continue using virtual channels to complement their in-person offerings. In a crowded market for social media, Clubhouse offers special possibilities for bringing artists, cultural organizations, and audiences together into the same room.
Although Clubhouse lacks the same ubiquity as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and the youthful appeal of TikTok, it may hold promise as a dynamic space for museums, curators, collectors, artists, and fans to connect and socialize in a laid-back, audio-only space.
If you want to get in on the conversation with Clubhouse, here are some pointers to get you started:
What is Clubhouse?
Clubhouse is an invitation-only, audio-chat social networking app that has quickly become one of the most buzzworthy social apps in the Apple Store. Since its launch in April 2020, it has grown to 600,000 users. Although this is modest compared to other social media giants, Clubhouse has a “quality over quantity” mindset reflected in its invite-only membership structure. Clubhouse is becoming a popular place to connect and network in a laid-back environment, and it is clear that the founders would like to attract celebrities, online influencers, and leaders from diverse industries to the platform.
Launched just under a year ago, Clubhouse has quickly become one of the most-discussed social media apps because of the unique space it offers to users. Unlike other apps that require focused attention on visual media, Clubhouse encourages varied levels of attention, promoting content creation, relaxed eavesdropping, spontaneous socializing, and new kinds of engagement.
After receiving an invite by text from a member (new users are given two invites), a new user sets up an account and can then enter “Rooms,” where they can listen or join in on conversations that are happening. Rooms range in size from just a few members to over 100. Multiple users can join to form “Clubs,” which can generate a following and host one-time events and regular gatherings. In a Room, visitors can raise their hands to speak, ‘clap’ for comments they agree with, or quietly leave when they want. Hosts moderate and decide who gets to speak.
Should you jump onto the Clubhouse bandwagon?
Clubhouse has the potential to connect content creators with networks of collectors, curators, and thought leaders across the culture industry. Cultivating a limited space creates the opportunity to shape conversations around niche topics and to expect interest from leaders and specialists within that sphere.
Regular events promise interesting conversations on topics ranging from art to crypto-currencies, from electronic music to energy healing. Celebrities, leaders, and cultural influencers like Tyler Perry, Drake, Oprah Winfrey, as well as Elon Musk, are on the platform. Users can casually listen while working out, or they can raise their hands if they wish to speak. Companies and institutions in the cultural sector like Artsy and museum professionals from SFMOMA, Kunstmuseum Basel, and Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Bergamo are using Clubhouse to generate followings and to host Q&A sessions, panel discussions, and informal gatherings among specialists. Listeners can raise their hand to ask for a chance to speak, allowing for some online networking outside of Linkedin. There are no images or text messages in the app and when a meeting is over, nothing is saved. The experience feels somewhere between a podcast, a conference, and casual house party.
Clubhouse offers a level of intimacy and exclusivity that appeals to older generations and people looking to delve deeply into a subject, rather than fiery debate and meme sharing. As many prominent celebrities and online influencers lead regular groups, it offers a place for those in the arts and culture space to rub virtual elbows with artists and collectors. Now may be the time to find a way into Clubhouse.
How are museums and cultural organizations using Clubhouse?
Clubhouse offers the sort of space where communities of curators and artists can generate ideas, network with one another, and engage with the public. Museums thrive when they bring exciting works into their halls and galleries, but when they engage with their audiences and create opportunities for reflection, conversation, and connection, they can build even stronger relationships and nurture their supporters.
Just this week, a group of curators and artists hosted an event called, “Immersion: Creating Experiences for Visitors,” that asked questions like, “Is that art or is that a spectacle?” and “How does technology shape the expectations of visitors?”
On Clubhouse, you can partake in “Museum Tea,” a weekly Q&A hosted by SFMOMA’s Chief Exhibitions and Collections Officer, Tsugumi Maki and NYC-based art historian, Kerry Gaertner Gerbract, on topics ranging from curating in an online environment and deaccessioning.
A recent event hosted by Club Artsy followed the premiere of the HBO documentary, Black Art: In the Absence of Light, with a lively discussion on contemporary black art and the documentary’s potential impact.
Clubhouse shows potential for those artists, musicians, and cultural organizations who truck in non-visual media, allowing for sound artists, storytellers, and art historians to build a type of deep listening that seems increasingly lost in the digital age.
Mirjam Baitsch, Head of Marketing and Development at Kunstmuseum Basel, said, “Museum professionals and others are all on there, but so is our audience—it breaks down hierarchies that you would normally have between them,” she says. “It is a real chance for the art world to have a dialogue with others.”
In the era of COVID-19, traditionally hands-on museums like the Brooklyn Children’s Museum are leveraging novel approaches to sound to engage visitors. As Atiba Edwards, Executive VP & COO at Brooklyn Children’s noted, “We have 30,000 objects in our collection, how do we use sound to tell a story that overcomes the barriers of the written word? When we put things into sound, it doesn’t accomplish everything, but it allows for a shared experience.”
Clubhouse has the potential to take experimental approaches to sound and dialogue at cultural institutions to the next level.
It’s a crowded market for social media apps, how is Clubhouse different?
TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook might be more obvious platforms for museums, due to their emphasis on visual content, and their appeal to younger people, who are more likely to make a virtual visit to their local museum. However, for tech-savvy millennials and people in their 40s and 50s, many would rather engage in dialogue and conversation.
Audio-only apps like Clubhouse offer the space for museums to recreate the spontaneity of a small gallery opening, the easy informality of a chat over a cup of coffee, or the conscientious reflection of a lecture series. After less than a year, it has grown to more than half a million users and continues to grow. The founders say that they will eventually do away with the app’s invite-only function, and they plan to find new ways for creators to monetize content on the app, but for now its exclusivity seems to be generating the most interest.
While still in its early days, Clubhouse is proving to be a great space for hosting exclusive, but informal gatherings, panel discussions, and digital conferences, since it offers users the ability to chime in from anywhere, and to meander through different rooms without the pressure of a video presence. As museums strive to continue their role as informal educators, Clubhouse could bring creators, curators, and the public closer together in a new way. As museums continue to seek creative and engaging ways to reach their audiences, now may be the time to experiment with this new avenue!
Further Reading:
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