Crescendo of Contribution

When we speak of isolation, we often first think of the elderly and disadvantaged. However, there's a hidden form of isolation affecting the youth, particularly in the realm of classical music venues. There's an increasing interest in classical music among younger audiences, but it's rare to find them in concert halls.

Many venues are now soliciting donations to tackle this issue of youth isolation. These donations are utilised in three key areas. This approach is under the theme of "Cultural Contributions for the Next Generation." These are the appearance of the classical concert hall we visited during the Across RCA period. 

Contrary to trends, why don't we see young people here?

Through questions like these, we conducted research on the consumption of classic performances in the UK. The result are as follows: classical audiences skew older, whiter and more affluent than the population as a whole. As you can see in the table 1. Below: in 2018/19 nearly 80% of audiences at live classical audiences were 55 or over.

The pandemic has accelerated an upward trend in the number of young people consuming classical music through on-demand streaming services. In 2021, 31% of Deezer’s Classical UK listeners were under 35yrs and this group is most likely to have listened to classical music during lockdown.

Experts say that a new generation of listeners is crossing the divide between popular music and classical music and trying some Beethoven or Mozart alongside their favourite tracks by Taylor Swift or Drake. By some estimates, as many as 35% of American adults listen to classical music, and nearly a third of current classical music listeners are under age 35.

The Swedish company’s year-end report, 2023 Sound of the Internet, indicates that the use of classical music tracks grew by 80% year over year from 2022 to 2023. Traditionally, Western classical music lovers typically associate their beloved genre with the concert hall, another atmospheric venue, and live performance. But the reality is that much of the music we hear on a daily basis is attached to online content.

To make sure they appeal to the younger generation, they'll play pop songs that sampled famous classical music before the performance. Then, when the recruitment is complete and the donation box is brought on stage to perform, the original classical music sampled by the pop song will be played.

• 26 million YouTube and TikTok videos that use music from the company’s catalogue;
• That translates into 30 billion views of the 100 most popular video tracks from 2023 on YouTube alone, which represents a 50% increase over 2022;
• An average of 40 million plays/views per day of tracks that use music from its catalogue through music streaming platforms;
• Seen another way, 2.5 billion views per day of video tracks on YouTube and TikTok that incorporate music from Epidemic’s catalogue.

Who gives?

Older people continue to be the most likely to engage in charitable or civic activities, but at lower levels than pre-pandemic. People aged over 65 are more likely than younger adults to engage in charitable and civic activities, a pattern consistent with previous years. Similarly, on a month-by-month basis, the UK’s youngest adults are also slightly less likely to have participated in charitable or civic activities so far in 2021, when compared to before to the same months in 2019 (i.e. pre-Covid).

The most common ways of getting involved, by age cohort (2020 average). Which, if any, of the following have you in the last 12 months?

<16-24 Years>

1. Signed a petition (64%)
2. Donated money to charity (49%)
3. Bought an ethical production (38%)

<25-44 Years>

1. Signed a petition (55%)
2. Donated money to charity (53%)
3. Given goods to charity (47%)

<45-64 Years>

1. Given goods charity (60%)
2. Donated money to charity (59%)
3. Signed a petition (54%)

<65+ Years>

1. Given goods to charity (68%)
2. Donated money to charity (65%)
3. Signed a petition (49%)

Which causes?

THE MOST POPULAR CAUSE TO DONATE TO IS ANIMAL WELFARE. The pandemic has done little to dampen the British enthusiasm for animal welfare. More than a quarter of donors (27%) gave to this cause in 2020, raising between them an estimated £1 billion. The second most popular cause was children and young people (24%).

Donating to charity

• The global philanthropy market is estimated to be £182 billion.
• People gave £11.3 billion to charity in the UK in 2020, up from £10.6 billion in 2019.
• 62% of people in the UK gave to charity via donation or sponsorship in 2020.
• The average monthly donation in the UK in 2021 was £49.

In our initial research into London's prominent concert halls, we gathered the following basic information. During this process, it became increasingly clear that, although there are numerous opportunities available for students like us, regrettably, many are unaware of these opportunities.

Throughout the course of our project, we have conducted field research and surveys, and have also continuously attempted to communicate with institutional representatives via email. However, we have not received any response.

Upon returning from our field trip, it became increasingly clear that the majority of the audience comprised elderly, and it was exceedingly difficult to spot younger people in that location. Young people were occasionally seen, but mainly in families. Even inside the venue, you can see that the majority of people around you are older.

In other, larger halls, we were able to find donation boxes. But felt relatively passive. Didn’t feel like we were actively being asked to donate.

<Insight>

• In cultural spaces such as galleries and museums, audiences of all ages could be found, but classical music venues were dominated by older people → Is this concentration natural in a country that is so culturally developed?
• If young people are interested in classical performances, but the majority of the audience is older, this is a problem that needs to be solved.
• We can start with a specific classical music venue and gradually expand the problem-solving research to other galleries, museums, etc.

Even from our preliminary research, we could see the efforts made by organisations to offer numerous benefits to students. However, it seemed that our peers and fellow students were largely unaware of these opportunities. In order to gain more accurate information and understand the perspectives of the younger generation, we utilised Google Forms to create a questionnaire. We then requested friends from various programmes to fill out the form. The first section asked which age group are they in and their classical performance listening experience.

<Target Place Selection>

We specifically targeted the Southbank Centre as it has a high number of young generation visitors and enough space to attract attention. There are also halls of different sizes within the Southbank Centre, so if a concrete design solution is subsequently developed, it will be possible to select a hall that fits the solution.

<The Ultimate Goal of the Project>

• Raising donations effectively
• Letting people know how donations are being spent

How?

• Maximising the joy that comes from the experience of giving and receiving (Receiving a gift from Santa Claus, Noblesse Oblige)
• What if we take insights from the orchestra performance process to design a way to raise donations and inform the fact that those donations are being utilised for the benefit of young people? 
• ‘Looking for members of an orchestra for the younger generation’
• Recruiting donors like recruiting orchestra members
• Once one cycle of recruitment is completed, simple orchestral music is played outside the hall to get the young generation interested in classical music performance.

After a simple concept building, we proceeded to sketch and ideate on what kind of product design we could propose. Since our goal was to promote a culture of donation by recruiting orchestra members and to effectively inform young people about discounts on classical music performances, we considered proposing two products with different functions through a unified design.

The first idea we tried to develop was to place a donation robot and a performance robot inside and outside the concert hall, respectively. Once the donation robot inside the concert hall completes recruiting members for a single donation round, the performance robot, which had been playing a pop song that sampled a famous classical music outside the hall, moves onto a small stage. It then plays the classical music used in the sampling and provides information on discounts for classical music concerts. However, we felt that the robots would not be able to function properly in the outdoors, where there are many unknown variables, so we decided to propose a design solution that utilised the features of the space inside and outside the Southbank Centre, which we set as our target space.

The final design came in the form of a table and a public bench. When waiting to attend a classical music performance in the Southbank Centre's concert hall, most senior visitors purchase drinks from the building's coffee shop and spend time near tables, so we decided that if the donation box was also designed as a table, it would blend in with the surroundings and make the donation box more accessible to the audience. Previously, the donation box inside the venue was not very visible even though it was centrally located, so we tried a seamless design that adopted the form of a table that people would naturally seek out. The height of the table was set to consider the average height of the senior audience.

Outside the venue, the public bench was designed to appeal to the younger generations who come to explore the Southbank Centre and spend a lot of time sitting on the surrounding features.

The table and bench serve as the donation box and media box respectively. As the senior audiences press the buttons corresponding to each orchestra member's position located in the centre of the table to make a donation, the pillar-shaped speaker of the senior's selected position rises from the bottom of the bench outside the venue, drawing the attention of the people who are taking a break.

As this interaction between the donation box and the media box is key, we wanted to give unity to the shape, material and colour of the proposed table and public bench. Both the table and the bench have a rounded shape and the physical interaction takes place in the centre, which is intended to attract the attention of people inside and outside the venue, while increasing accessibility and ease of use from all directions. We also wanted to use concrete for the table top and the seating surface of the public bench, as the design of famous venues such as the Southbank Centre and the Barbican Centre are based on British Brutalism.

In the centre of the table is a display with an embedded camera and card tagging device, as well as seven buttons representing the positions of the members of the orchestra. The seven instrumental positions were chosen as the minimum components of an orchestra for a classical music performance: violin, cello, flute, clarinet, trumpet, timpani, and contrabass. Senior audiences will be able to select the position in the orchestra they would like to play through the familiar analogue method of pressing a button. Once the button is pressed and the donation is made via card tagging, the display's camera captures the donor, and a simple illustration of the donor (to protect their privacy) shows them as a member of the orchestra on the display screen. For example, if a donor wants to donate as a violin player, they can press the button corresponding to the violin, pay for the donation, and then see their illustration as a violin player in the orchestra on the display.

A total of seven pillar-shaped speakers are located in the centre of the public bench, and the top is covered with glass to ensure that they can operate in the outdoors and withstand the climate change. The glass top is sealed so that the sound from the speakers can escape through the space below. Normally, the seven speakers are hidden at the bottom, but when a senior audience member presses a button to select the position of an orchestra member on the table that serves as a donation box, the pillar-shaped speaker corresponding to that position rises up. At the same time, the speaker's display shows a simple illustrated image of the face of the senior audience member who made the donation, so that the younger generation has a rough idea of who made the donation to ensure they can enjoy the performance.

When all six speakers corresponding to each member of the orchestra have elevated, the last speaker, a relatively large one in the centre of the space, which plays the conductor's role, elevates and a small classical music performance takes place. After the performance, the audience is invited to scan a QR code that appears on the display of the centre speaker to receive information and the opportunity to attend a classical music performance at a discounted price. Afterwards, all the speakers will retract back down to the ground and there will be a waiting period until the next performance.