Hannah Suarez

Me, a Critical Mass blogger Toby and many of his friends/colleagues attended Baroque Tarantella, a special performance by the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and L’Arpeggiata from Paris.  Had a brief chat with Toby before the performance and he was very excited to see the event – well, considering that he runs and owns a business called Simply for Strings (a full service violin shop!).  I have not seen ABO perform by themselves before and it has been 2-3 years since I last saw an orchestra at QPAC.  Actually the last event that I want to in that venue was Brisbane Festival’s Mariza and enjoyed my first taste of fado.

Entering the Concert Hall was a few musicians and Christina Pluhar with her theorbo.  Even though her back was to the audience, I could tell that it was Christina.  Also noted that everytime she stood up, she would gesture towards the orchestra while giving the audience a big, warm smile..and then she would sit down again and they would move on to the next piece.

Anna Dego and Lucilla Galeazzi (see this YouTube video) make an interesting performance together, alongside Gianluigi Trovesi.  There was this one piece where Lucilla literally mimicked my mum (whenever she had to lecture me about something) to Gianluigi…some sort of arguement…the audience sensed that this was a comical scene and laughed in surprise when Gianluigi kissed Lucilla in the cheek.  She looked surprised! Another standout was Anna Dego twirling, jumping, kicking the air, stomping and the audience visibly (and audibly) going woah!

See Baroque Tarantella tomorrow night at QPAC and you would want to check out Havana Club after as well.

Edit: Check out this writeup from Toby C!

Walked up the stairs and entered this temporary ampitheatre built for the Brisbane Festival. Alongside many others who have witnessed this venue with new venues despite having a 3D render available for viewing on YouTube or seeing a large scale 3D render on the Brisbane Powerhouse walls.

We decided to sit at the back row and even then the sound was fantastic.  The ‘visual’ (ie setting, actors..) hyperreal, maybe it was the lighting?  Or maybe it was the juxtaposition of the everyday – the man jogging along New Farm Park, or the CityCat rolling by, or the occasional airplane in the sky.  Or maybe it was because it was held out in the open so the sky becomes your ceiling and the Brisbane Powerhouse walls transforms (like during the Launch) into a unique backdrop for the play.  Not sure if ‘hyperreal’ is even a proper or real word (it was the first and only thing to come up) to describe it.  Again, you will need to watch a show to see what I mean.

Michael Gow opened the event.  I like Marcus Graham’s voice – it’s very suited to the character of Macbeth.  Lady Macbeth is fierce.  There’s blood and swords and glittering jewellery and…better not say more, you will need to see it.

It was my first dress rehearsal for Macbeth and I would love to attend their final show just to see how the actors settle into their characters.

Response to “Five stars in their eyes: can you trust unpaid theatre critics?”

First off, there is something wrong with the name of this article.  Since when did trust equate to being paid?  If I come across a paid salesman, does that mean that I immediately trust him or her?  Similarly, I have come across numerous volunteers who can be trusted to the right thing.  Indeed, absolutely wrong for the author to equate trust with paid or unpaid.

Another line that I have an issue with, “everyone is a critic these days” – well, I agree and I disagree at the same time.  I think that it is easy to publish – whether it is a blog, a tweet, a YouTube video – but there are still elements that separate and these are unique.  There is reputation – what are other people saying about you.  There is passion – why are you putting this amount of effort/money into your own work.  There is networks.  There is personal history and experience.  There is more to the separation of ‘wheat’ and ‘chaff’ beyond the name of the publication and beyond how much (if they are getting paid) there is involved in terms of writing.

I shudder at the whole “they are just a blogger” thing (from a blogger perspective) but at the same time I can understand why some are asking for media accreditation (from the events perspective).  It seems to be a case by case scenario – the sheer vastness of Edinburg Fringe is different to a two hour local conference which means that there is less grabs for tickets at the local conference compared to the numerous desireable shows at a popular, huge fringe festival.

My personal stance is – see the shows that you want to see, work with those who want to work with you, write what you think needs to be written and publish what you think needs to be published.

First and foremost, you have to believe in your work.  You need to be the first person to believe in your work at the very least.

Rant aside, there is a quiet important question posed – should amateur reviewers be more ‘organised’ (ie a formal code of practice).  I think that there is room for such, such as an industry body or even an association, but I don’t think there is a huge value in this other than that feeling of belonging to a group.

What do you think?

This will be my second round speaking at Ignite Brisbane.  There will be 14 speakers, including me, and some have spoken at the first Ignite Brisbane event that was held at the Queensland College of Art.

The format of Ignite is interesting in the way that you are basically not allowed to talk about YOUR company or business.  You pick a topic that you want to talk about, send a presentation pitch to the organisers and confirmed presenters need to get up on the night to speak.  Oh, and each slide must change at a set time (I think 20 or 30 seconds) and you have no control over this!

It’s almost like a fun game…unless you’re scared of public speaking…

This event is FREE however ticket registration is a must.

The Australia Business Arts Foundation Award is on at the same night but will be heading off to The Edge after this finishes.

I am currently waiting for my membership to the Australian Institute of Management to be approved.  I have known about the Institute for at least two years – back when I first started seeking out industry and professional development events for Brisbane Creative Industries (see the website).  Membership to these groups can range from being free to costing thousands of dollar depending on the entity that you are seeking to be represented as (a student, individual, business, association, fellow, partner etc), the institution/association/industry group itself and the industry.  Memberships have a variety of benefits.  The motivations of joining an industry body, association or institution vary – some will join primarily to take part in the Awards program (such as the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association‘s Amy Awards), some will apply to receive special membership discounts for themselves or for their entity and so on.

I have received numerous feedback about industry associations, groups, organisations and institutions and while the cost-benefit analysis needs to be made – ie I wouldn’t pay a $50 membership for a group that is semi-relevant but I would spend hundreds on a state group with great professional benefits.  There is also the interest factor as well as I also count industry/professional groups and organisations in a very broad category that can also include online properties (such as Digital Ministry, Brisbane Creative Industries) and other social media groups and networks.

I think that industry memberships are vital regardless on what stage you are at – whether you are a first year uni student or a professional with decades of experience.

http://www.eif.co.uk/

2003?

I receive my first ever mobile phone.  It was one of those big chunky bricks.  Actually, I didn’t own it, my parents did.  They let me borrow the phone one night for a debating competition.

2004/2005?

Ok, so I actually receive my first ever mobile phone.  My credit allowance was something like $20 or something.

2008

I started contract work as a tech evangelist and media research for a mobile start-up company (their software had something to do with social networking).

Challenges:

• Consumer attitude to mobile was predominantly negative. For example, spam practices that tainted ‘mobile marketing’, mobile web interfaces not user friendly like what we have these days, high fees for web usage.
• Mobile was still something that people use to either text or call – mobile was mainly seen in this way.
• Mobile web penetration was somewhere in the very early adopters/innovator stage.  Anything could happen.

However, it completely changed the way I saw mobile and there were nuggets of excitement which had me pondering:

• Imagine being able to view an image or download a song and be ‘mobile’ aka you are able to do it outside your computer desk (common reaction was basically – why can’t you just wait until you get to your PC?)
• Imagine being able to open up distribution of content beyond the PC or the laptop (common reaction – why can’t mobile just be for texting or calling?)
• Imagine being able to send content direct from your phone ie a photo and into a network like Facebook (common reaction – why can’t you just take a photo and upload it later?)

I also sign up to Twitter early 2008 but it was not until late 08 when I start using it within the mobile space.  Working for an arts festival, I made a tweet “Currently at the Brisbane Powerhouse – it’s free all day today, so check it out!” – I didn’t think about it much but that was an example of mobile marketing via social network and I do it all the time whenever I am at an event worth ‘tweeting’ about.

The iPhone completely changed the game, the environment, user behavior and attitude.  Then this was followed by mobile social networks.   Then a revamp of what the environment is like for ‘mobile marketing’.  And so on.

I attended an event on the edge of the GFC news exploding all over the news.  The presenter asked us to stand up and take out all the things that are in our pockets.  All of us, at least, had our keys and our mobile phones.  Lesson? We need to focus on mobile.

2009

Livetweets at events happened.  It mainly happened at conferences, seminars, workshops, artist talks but slowly moved its way to other areas.

Biggest turning point was experience of QBE Riverfire.  I spent several hours on Twitter (at the very least) looking at the conversations of a night which drew hundreds of thousands of attendees in place (and a lot more watching on TV).  I didn’t read an instruction manual, I didn’t get any orders to do this…I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for but my gut told me that it needed to be something that I should observe so it was mainly done out of curiosity.  I have never posted a ‘twitpic’ or ‘twitvid’ (basically, it’s using Twitter to post a photo or a video online on your phone right after you take it) before so I didn’t know what it felt like to want to post one but my musings were:

• Why are people tweeting / sharing their experiences of fireworks in real-time?  Either via tweets, twitpics, twitvideos, status updates.  My observation is that it has become an extension of words – a photo was an extension to a status update, a video can convey the awesomeness of the display more than a WOW can.
• What is the difference between an instant reaction (well of a minute or a few seconds..until the day someone figures out how to do real-instant mobile reactions) vs a reaction an hour later vs a reaction the morning after vs a reaction a few days after?

I now start looking into geo location applications with mobile thanks to services such as Foursquare.

I start looking for bridges between mobile-digital and print thanks to QR (quick response) codes which I have implemented on my business cards for BCI.  Calls of action on print and television to lead to mobile.  Other devices like campaigns with bluetooth.

2010 (mid)

I am a lot more preoccupied with mobile.  Quick writeups because it’s 2:10am:

• What are the content differences between mobile, website, print? (I can seriously just go on writing about this for hours and dedicate a whole bunch of blog posts about this)
• What are the call for action differences between mobile, website, print?  For example, print it will be “Turn to page x”, website it will be “click here”, what’s mobile? (I can seriously just go on writing about this for hours and dedicate a whole bunch of blog posts about this)
• What are the priorities for mobile users? (I can seriously just go on writing about this for hours etc etc)
• How to make mobile marketing more meaningful for audience? (ditto)
• How to engage WOM and social networks with mobile? (ditto)
• How to add more meaning of ‘being’ (in a broadcast way) at a certain location, in a certain point of time, experiencing a certain event and then connect it to a hybrid of marketing 3.0 and marketing 2.0 (this one’s going to be a whopper, watch out when I am able to talk more!)
• How has the iPhone (subsequently the iPad too) change the way we approach UI (user interface design) where it is all about touch and action rather than point and click (this relates to a November 09 X Media Lab event that I went to where a couple of speakers spoke about that)

Some new surprises for this year:

• Android mobile phone development is on an increase – actually saw a graph at a presentation and it looks like Android has overtaken the iPhone in terms of platforms for developers using?  Take this with a grain of salt as I need to find that graph.
• Younger generations are finding the touch interface of an iPhone and iPad very friendly to use.  What does that mean for future UI design?
• When I am looking for information, I am searching in Google and then in Twitter.  What does this mean?
• What is the impact of shortening the time span of event vs broadcast of the event?

Now it’s 2.30 am and I better go to sleep.

Seeing as I am off to bed soon

1. Real time broadcast of an arts experience
2. Finish uni.  On time (ie 3 years which is standard for a full time degree).
3. Engage in a Twitter debate.  It’s 140 characters, so what’s the point? #tweetseats have changed my mind.
4. Enjoy TV tweets.  This was disruptive, can’t help it if the people want to broadcast it, so it took me a while to get used to it.
5. Wanting to skydive more.

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/opera/opera-australia-lets-tweeters-rip-but-not-till-the-fat-ladys-sung-20100716-10e7e.html

Something that I am still trying to figure out is focus and where to draw my attention to when it comes to other commitments and also with side projects.  I think that this might be a response to information overload.  Think about it, I have six Twitter accounts and I use two a lot for information collection – @h_suarez and @hcsua.  With events/offline things, last night were three events that I would have loved to go to because it’s relevant to what I am interested in (one was on creative industries in general, one on entrepreneurship and business and another was on the design industry) and on Monday there are three events that are really relevant to me (one on theatre, another on mobile and another on social media).

I think that nowadays, I am more comfortable just focusing on a certain project or a certain issue at a time then if I want to, I can move on to something else.  Instead of skimming over lots of content, I can spend more time thinking about it,  seeing how it applies to a project or issue and if I’m happy with what I have so far I can move on.

If I am a bit quiet with you re: feedback or replies, I would say that’s the case…just me focusing on something else temporarily.