Virtual Engagement Research Project

Pentacle ran the Virtual Engagement Research Project (VER) in 2021-22 to learn about how virtual engagement has grown during the pandemic and impacted artists and their livelihoods. In partnership with three respected arts organizations - The International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD), Movement Research, and New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) - and with funding from the Jerome Foundation, Pentacle engaged arts consultant Michèle Steinwald to be the project lead. During the project, we conducted research on virtual engagement with a number of stakeholders via an online survey and one-on-one interviews.

In response to the global pandemic and the shift of dance engagement to virtual platforms, whether “live” or pre-recorded, presentational or educational, the field has had to quickly adapt to new media. While the technology existed to facilitate virtual engagement before 2020, the newness of the format resulted in a confusing marketplace, where artists and their presenter partners are operating without a clear sense of the value of this work or how to use it to engage with audiences.

Pentacle was on the forefront of negotiating the new virtual engagement terrain with presenters and advocating for fair compensation for our Roster artists in their virtual work. Pentacle’s Director of Booking Sandy Garcia first proposed conducting a Virtual Engagement survey in summer/fall 2020 when many presenters were turning to this format. In the first iteration of a survey with just a small sample of Pentacle artists, we soon realized that it needed to be more inclusive of dance and theater artists who use virtual engagement in different ways and for different purposes. In order to reach a wider artist demographic, Pentacle sought out partners from several organizations who serve different constituencies. In April 2021, with support from the Jerome Foundation, we convened representatives from four partner organizations: IABD, Movement Research, NEFA, and Pentacle to envision the project and map out next steps.

At its first convening, the VER partners agreed to engage an outside consultant who could design the artist survey for the group and carry out the research. This led Pentacle to find and engage Michèle Steinwald, principal of 44 Arts Productive, whose expertise in institutional and performing arts project management fit the focus of the VER Project. Simultaneously, Pentacle engaged Dr. Scott A. Shamp, Associate Dean in the College of Fine Arts at Florida State University with a background in performing arts, to be a consultant and advisor for the project.