CutTime is building momentum, increasing its capacity to make more new listeners find themselves reflected and eventually transformed by classical music. This music is a tool we choose to pick up or not. It is clearly an obstacle for those Americans who reject it.
So we created games that help bring the whole audience onstage to grasp the tool with us. CutTime feeds our souls, from a large and lively menu. It’s info-tainment, with a beat.
Bridging across the great divide
CutTime has a free event series for our many communities. With partnerships we can begin expanding the mission region-wide and beyond. We are a research-aware, rather than a research-driven effort, leaping at solutions using empathic deduction, psycho-musicology and collaborations. CutTime is guided in part by the audience in the room. With less than 1% of Americans regularly attending any classical music events, there is considerable curiosity about classical, esp. if we can suspend our judgement and give straight answers.
We are discovering what needs to be done. We can be networked into many communities around the city when we find ambassadors. By embracing the paradox of fine arts and the poor, we discovered that the future for classical is out there on the streets, among people who can’t/don’t always shower or speak well, or might accidentally spit when they do speak. We learn to love each other anyway, simply because we know pain. We deserve ALL kinds of music.
CutTime begins by showing up in unexpected places, dressed casually and talking as to family and friends. This way we expose people to LIVE music-makers, including a living composer. This tends to improve what people say about classical. Research is showing that personal stories, passion, mission and tech-applications trump data in generating enthusiasm, curiosity and appetite. (Note: they haven’t tested for information sharing yet.) An outcome such as newcomers pleasantly surprised to find themselves under the spell of classical may not be more important than wallets coming out, but it’s a good start.
