Today I’m talking with Joe Perkins, Creative Director at Chaptr, a web design agency that specialises in a UX led approach.

The internet is going through big changes at the moment. Web traffic from search engines is already in decline, and the world of AI and AI overviews in search results means this decline will only increase. It’s going to be harder and harder to get people to visit our websites. In order to be successful, websites are going to have to adapt.

I thought that Joe would be the perfect person to talk the future of websites and the web. I previously collaborated with Joe and Chaptr in working on the website for Leeds International Piano Competition, and was fascinated with their UX led approach and the impact it can have for organisations of all sizes and even individual artists.

We talk about the role of websites in cultural organisations, the importance of user experience and stakeholder engagement, how to write a strong website brief, what makes an effective homepage, the impact of AI and Google Zero on website traffic, the growing importance of mobile-first design and payment tools like Apple Pay, how smaller organisations and musicians can build powerful websites on a budget, and why accessibility, inclusivity, and digital strategy are essential for the future of the arts.

Right, that’s enough from me, let’s jump in.

Guest: Joe Perkins

https://chaptr.studio/

Today, I‘m talking with Sam Jackson, Controller, BBC Radio 3 and BBC Proms.

The BBC Proms is the world’s largest and longest-running classical music festival, taking place over 8 weeks each summer. With concerts broadcast on the radio and on television around the world, and with international artists and orchestras performing, it is one of the most important, visible, and impactful parts of the classical music industry.

However, everyone has an opinion on the Proms and the BBC itself. For some, the festival is guilty of dumbing down, and for others of not doing enough to be more accessible. The BBC Proms is always an easy target for clickbait articles, and as a full confession, I’ve written a couple myself.

But with the digital world continuing to impact the world of broadcast, changing consumer trends, and real-term cuts at the BBC, there are some challenges that the BBC Proms faces that are worth looking at.

So, with the BBC Proms about to start on July 18th, I thought it would be great to dive into it all with the person in charge, Sam Jackson. We spoke about how the BBC works and making decisions as part of a large organisation, what impact for the proms looks like, and the challenge of programming a festival for a broad-church of audiences when what the Proms means to them and what they are looking for can sometimes be very different and even conflicting things.

We also dive into some more challenging areas, such as whether the BBC Proms has fulfilled its potential in the digital world, whether the broadcast of the Proms has kept up with advances elsewhere in the industry, and AI and innovation.

I’d like to thank Sam for being up for the challenging questions, and I certainly learnt a lot from the answers.

This is one of my favourite chats I’ve had for a long time, andI found it really enlightening. I hope you do too. Let’s jump in.

Today, I‘m talking with Alexandra Robinson, Social Media and Content Manager for the Minnesota Orchestra.

Social media is ever-present in our lives and has redefined the society we live in. Despite this, many orchestras have been slow to adopt social media and continue to make basic mistakes. However, there are a few orchestras doing great things. If you’re a follower of the blog, you already know just how much I love the Minnesota Orchestra.

They are exceptional online, creating incredible and funny audience-centric content, and Alex is the driving force behind it and one of the leading social media and content managers in the industry. If you’ve seen their posts, you know their musicians are front and centre of the content, and if you’ve not seen them, I can highly recommend you go and check their socials out.

In this conversation we spoke a lot about how to build trust, with musicians, guest artists, and the organisation to be able to create and implement an audience-focussed strategy. We also spoke about balancing audience focussed content with the need to post about concert tickets, developing an organisational voice on socials when it can be so different to the corporate voice, some of the tools used to create, schedule, and manage content, and how to avoid being overwhelmed as a social media manager.

Honestly, this episode was a blast, and Alex drops some incredible thoughts and advice throughout, I can’t wait for you to listen. Let’s jump in

Guest: Alexandra Robinson