conectom – Ximena Garnica & Shige Moriya

conectom is a free artist/audience virtual network that maps the connections between time-based artists and their followers. conectom currently has almost 900 members and an active event listing calendar. We use conectom to carry out discussions related to LEIMAY activities, feature interviews with our resident artists, and to place our work at CAVE and LEIMAY within the greater context of NYC performing arts.

Though these on site activities had a meaningful impact on our audiences, we felt the need to expand the limits of these programs by prolonging discussions to the Internet. As a platform to achieve this, we launched a beta version of conectom in September 2012.

conectom is an artist/audience network and online publication. It aims to map the intersections between dance, the ever expanding field of time-based arts, its creators, and its enthusiasts. Moreover, conectom fulfills the need to centralize LEIMAY-CAVE’s current audience engagement practices on one elegant platform that can maximize their full potential.

About
Credits

conectom has two main components: A. An artist/audience network consisting of: 1) A portfolio showcase and artist directory 2) A forum area, 3) an audience soapbox, 4) An event directory, 5) LEIMAY Vortex 6) An online store (in development) B. An online publication: the magazine focuses on contemporary performance and installation works. With the rising interdisciplinarity in the performing arts today, we find it necessary to use a new language to discuss them. In addition to further connecting with our audience, we aim to use the publication to make the LEIMAY-CAVE ecosystem more visible and accessible. The publication is organized in five sections: Interviews, Perceptions, Process, Essays, and Online AcTS. (live and recorded videos) Starting July 1st 2013 and ending June 30th 2014 , we plan to follow six themes that will fit into our organized sections once per month, adding up to six articles published the second week of each month. The themes are: installation art, contemporary performance, LEIMAY-CAVE lodgers and residents, LEIMAY Vortex, (the company itself) the LUDUS master teachers, and Online AcTS. conectom currently has 460 members. Since the launch of the beta version, we have published over 40 articles and featured over 100 events in the NYC area. We hope to continue growing these numbers in the future. Our goals are to raise membership by 100% each year. We launched a beta version of conectom in September 2012 with these goals in mind. Currently, conectom has 431 members, a number that is growing every week. Our magazine section has a staff of six contributing writers, all working on a volunteer basis, who have published together over 40 interviews, critical essays, process journals, and perception pieces. The event listing of conectom tracks NYC dance, theater, and performance art and has featured over 100 happenings in the city. We choose themes to write about based on each writer’s discretion as well as editorial decisions regarding what is pushing the limits of visual and performing arts. Internally, LEIMAY-CAVE uses conectom as a home for the company blog and as a place to gather reflections and ideas from all of our previous activities. For example, our Movement Research/New Museum residency used conectom as a place for dancers and guest choreographers to share their thoughts on the findings of the residency and to propel the discussion further while also allowing time for reflection.