How can arts organizations engage new audiences while retaining existing ones? And can their efforts to build new audiences contribute to their work, mission, and financial health? Twenty-five large performing arts organizations explored these questions. A team at the University of Texas at Austin, led by arts researcher Francie Ostrower, studied their efforts.
Here’s some of what they found:
Accept there is no magic bullet. Cultivating audiences takes time and resources. It should be seen as a mission-driven investment that may require funding, similar to starting a new program.
Use data and test assumptions. Engaging audiences requires learning everything you can about them—and about how they perceive your organization. Knowing what a particular audience or community wants can help with programming, marketing, and communications.
Question beliefs and outdated practices. Industry-wide beliefs or traditional practices may not hold true for every organization. Audience-building must therefore be unique to each organization’s circumstances.
Be the change–and give it time. While building audiences is possible, it might not happen on an organization’s desired terms and may not yield immediate results. Organizations who want to change how audiences engage with them must first be open to changing themselves.
There is no magic bullet for growing audiences and boosting revenue. While it’s possible to engage both new and current audiences using a variety of strategies, successful audience building takes time, and results may not look exactly as expected—or pay off right away.
