Category: Arts & Culture

by Brooke Landers-

In Blacksburg, Virginia, live music permeates every nook and cranny of the small college town atmosphere. It’s not hard to find a band playing in a small apartment or a downtown bar on the weekends; there is always an opportunity to find live music.

In the heart of downtown, the Milk Parlor offers food and drink with a stage that is occupied nightly by local or small touring musicians. These acts include student-led bands or larger touring bands like Short and Company. Tickets can be acquired in advance or at the door if there is still availability. Milk Parlor never fails to attract a diverse crowd of music lovers, no matter what level of experience the performer offers.

On a smaller scale, younger bands will play in local apartments or houses with just a cover fee for entrance. These shows often include multiple bands that are student-led and perform at an amateur level. Finding out about these house shows happens through word of mouth or flyers posted around town and on social media. 

If one is looking to watch their favorite artist perform or view a popular international touring act, it will take a short road trip, as Blacksburg is out of the way from any city listed on a tour schedule of a big musician. For sought-after artists like Paramore, the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina is about the closest they will get to Blacksburg. For even bigger artists like Taylor Swift, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania will be the next closest place to witness her performance. Blacksburg is in a hole when it comes to being within reach of seeing artists of a high caliber, as these artists need populous cities with venues big enough for them to perform in. Southwest Virginia as a whole remains far away from such cities. 

Yet, for a Blacksburg resident, good music is never that far. There is always a chance of stumbling upon an open mic on Henderson Lawn or a guitarist playing at the local Rising Silos Brewery. These acts are free and open to the public. 

When it comes to finding live music, one just has to keep an open mind and open ear. Find a show to attend at the Milk Parlor and learn more about local acts or just look out for flyers advertising smaller local shows. Though Blacksburg may not host Taylor Swift, it still has a lot to offer in terms of good live music.

by Hannah Williams-

The ways the entertainment industry consumes and disperses art is quickly changing as technology develops more each year.  With a rapid rise in streaming services, like Netflix, theaters and performing arts centers are having to adapt to survive. As a result of such services, these establishments are dealing with issues like reduced attendance and low ticket sales.

Streaming services began growing in 2005 with YouTube, a video-sharing website, and its success in the entertainment markets has skyrocketed since then. The biggest catalyst that drew people towards streaming services over theaters and performing arts centers came during the COVID-19 pandemic. AMC Entertainment reported a loss of $4.5 billion in 2020 after having to close all of its theaters for public safety. Cinemark and Regal Cinemas also closed their theaters that year.

Another factor in this shift is ticket costs. The Statista Research Department reports the average price of a movie ticket in the US in 2021 was $9.57. Twenty years ago, it was $5.66. Locally, B&B Theatres in Blacksburg currently prices 1 adult ticket for around $11, while the monthly cost for a Netflix subscription starts at $6.99 and features a wide range of movies and TV shows.

Due to rising costs, some stay home to watch movies, even if it means waiting longer for them to release on streaming platforms. Although, some films, like “Dune”, are released on streaming services the same day as in theaters. 

“More movies are being promoted alongside streaming services,“ says Nicholas Powell, a concessions worker at B&B Theatres. “Just about everyone has, or knows someone who has, access to every streaming service. So when those movies come out, I see significantly low amounts of attendance.”

Ticket prices vary for live performances. At Moss Arts Center, prices tend to steer on the higher end. Depending on the seat location, student status and demand, tickets cost anywhere from $10 to upwards of $100.

Kristen Kim, a box office attendant at Moss Arts Center, says finances greatly impact attendance, particularly for students.

“College is hard. There are times when performances don’t cost $10,” Kim says. “You actually have to save up to buy [tickets]. Going to performances is a luxury from a student perspective.”

When the Moss Arts Center sees a high amount of sales, it suffers with follow-through and ticket buyers showing up. Margaret Lawrence, the Director of Programming at Moss Arts Center, says this is the center’s current concern.

“We’re hearing that students are attending fewer events, much less than before the pandemic,” says Lawrence. “We are concerned about students who have gone through the pandemic having to stream everything and have hit this different stride where going to a big thing in person with all these people doesn’t feel as comfortable anymore.”

The growth of streaming services continues, with 83% of consumers having a subscription to video-on-demand platforms. As the effects of the pandemic still loom, there is much uncertainty about where the entertainment industry is headed.

By: Ryan Schork

The comic book industry has surged in sales and widespread popularity in recent years. When thinking about comic books, many people think of Marvel and DC heroes like Spider-man, Batman, and Superman. However, the increased sales volume and popularity of comic books can mainly be attributed to manga.

Manga are Japanese comic books that serve as the source material for animated cartoon shows and movies, called anime. Manga reached record sales numbers in 2020, earning an estimated $5.6 billion in Japan alone, according to Megan Peters. Meanwhile, that same year American comics earned $1.28 billion in North America, according to a joint survey by ICv2 and Comichron.

Just one year later in 2021, comic books generated a total of $2.075 billion in America, with manga making up $1.47 billion of that total. This means that Japanese manga is not only more profitable in Japan, but even in America they are selling better than American comics.

“I think a lot of that has to do with the actual animated cartoons [anime] and then people want to come in and actually read the source material,” said Adam Sutphin, manager of Big Lick Comics in Roanoke.

Sutphin also attributed popular streaming services like Netflix and HBO to the rise of manga. This is due to anime getting much more exposure in America, leading consumers to want to delve deeper into the stories by purchasing manga.

“It’s not really just hitting the scene, it’s kind of becoming more mainstream,” said Sutphin in regard to manga. “I think with a lot more access to the animated movies [anime], it’s getting a lot more eyes looking at it.”

Major book-selling retailers like Barnes & Noble, have started to phase out shelving space for American comics, opting to give manga more space. While this is certainly due to better sales, Robert Jones sales representative at B&D Comics, believes there are other factors.

Jones claims that manga books are much easier to store, stock and re-shelf than American comic books. This is because manga books are printed in a similar fashion to paperback novels. Whereas comics are flimsier and more prone to damage.

Jones also believes that people are more inclined to buy manga over American comics because of the amount of content held in each book. “Instead of just a small comic book, you get an entire volume [with manga],” said Jones. Rather than just a singular issue of a few pages, customers prefer to buy a book of manga that contain hundreds of pages and multiple chapters.

If one thing is clear, it is that manga is here to stay. “I think it’s always going to be around, and I think it’s going to keep increasing,” said Sutphin. It will be the American comic book industry that must yield to manga or adapt to maintain relevance.

By Kate Haas

In an increasingly digital world, all kinds of industries must adapt to changes in technology and innovation, including the world of art. Immersive art museums reimagine the traditional museum experience through interactive and immersive exhibits.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the museum industry suffered heavily. Museums were forced to close during 2020 and most of 2021. When social distancing guidelines were lifted in late 2021, artists and curators needed to find a golden ticket to spark interest in the art world again. 

The golden ticket: immersive art.

Around the world, immersive art museums gained extreme popularity after the COVID-19 lockdown and transformed the museum experience for both visitors and artists. By stepping foot inside the exhibition, visitors become art.

Immersive art museums reimagine the traditional museum experience through interactive exhibits. Museums like the Artechhouse and WNDR Museum, all provide a multi-sensory showcase of art and technology. Their goal is to make 2-dimensional static art interactive. 

With locations in Washington D.C., New York City and Miami Beach, the Artechouse is a pioneer in the field of digital and experiential art. Their current exhibit, “Intangible Forms” by Shohei Fujimoto, combines choreographed kinetic lasers, moving lights, strobe lights and haze lights to blur the lines between what is imaginary and what is not. 

The 2021 exhibit that took Artechouse’s claim to fame was at their Washington D.C. location. In a city famous for its spring cherry blossoms, the Artechouse used cutting-edge interactive technology to bring “Hanami: Beyond the Blooms” by Yuko Shimizu to life. 

The exhibit teleported visitors into a flourishing world of cherry blossoms. There were several rooms with digital walls of flowers created by Shimizu that moved with every hand wave or movement. Parts of the museum that were not digitized were immersed with thousands of dangling pink and purple blossoms. This exhibit transformed the art museum scene in Washington, D.C. and proved the breadth of immersive art. 

The WNDR Museum is a popular interactive art museum with exhibits in Chicago, Boston, San Diego and Seattle. Unlike the Artechouse, WNDR includes exhibits with artificial intelligence programs that will fill the room with digital art based on prompts visitors submit. 

The WNDR Museum combines avant-garde technology with art. The experience of each immersive exhibit would be incomplete without visitors to the museum. 

Art museums around the world are constantly rethinking and rejuvenating their spaces to keep up with ever-changing industry trends. With immersive art becoming more mainstream, more and more traditional art museums might find their experience to be more self-directed and immersive.