PREVIOUS FEATURED ARTICLES 
6/17/2013
This post by Rick Lester is cross-posted on the blog Analysis from TRG Arts.
Terry Teachout, the drama critic at The Wall Street Journal, suggested a few weeks ago a correlation between regional theatre’s “play-it-safe” programming strategies and the collapse of the American theatre subscription.
He wrote: “(T)here seems little doubt that the [subscription] model itself is going bust.” Citing Theatre Facts 2011, Theatre Communications Group’s (TCG) annual...
5/31/2013
Recently I’ve been following with great interest the discussions about diversity taking place in the arts blogosphere. Roberto Bedoya, Nina Simon, Clayton Lord, John Moore III, and several other smart people have made many valid and interesting points. All of these individuals have been in the field of cultural participation for quite a while and I assume all of them were born in the U.S. For full disclosure, I've been a U.S. citizen for 6 years now, and I've lived in this country for 16...
5/14/2013
Is earned revenue from outside rentals something your arts organization is looking to increase? Do you find yourself as an arts marketer being tasked with marketing space to renters for special events, performances, and more? Alongside your other responsibilities this may seem overwhelming, but promoting your rental space can easily be integrated with your marketing strategy.
In my role as Director of the Spaces program at Fractured Atlas I help venues connect to renters through online...
4/29/2013
The majority of arts organizations don’t have a problem bringing in new audiences; we have a terrible time retaining them. I find over and over that arts presenters have two sets of audience members; the deeply engaged (read subscriber) group who come again and again, and a very large group (in aggregate) who come once or twice and never or rarely return. Those patrons’ lack of return isn’t primarily related to lack of engagement. So what’s the trouble? ...
4/15/2013
One of the most frequently asked questions Rory and I hear from arts marketers is “How can we attract audiences that are totally new to our organization?” It seems to us that organizations have gotten better at drawing current audiences – the “low hanging fruit” - back to attend additional events but brand new patrons are elusive. Some of the most exciting approaches we’ve seen are Carnegie Hall’s annual festivals– once a year citywide...
4/2/2013
Authored by Tim Baker and Steven Roth
Einstein’s theory of relativity (which isn’t going to be the subject of this article) can be applied to just about anything. This article is about how even the rational, reflective mind can play tricks on us because of the difficulty we have in assessing absolutes and our tendency instead to make relative judgements.
In Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely reproduces the adjaent classic optical illusion to show how our relativistic...
3/20/2013
In this era of rapid-fire technology growth, social media has become the darling of marketing communication. Traditional direct mail, with its rising costs and diminishing returns, has become the ugly duckling and first up on the chopping block when marketing budgets must be cut. But according to the Direct Marketing Association, this may not be the wisest course of action.
A DMA study of 2013 response rates for postal mail and e-mail showed that responses to mail were 30 times...
3/4/2013
Powered by community is one of the main themes of this year's NAMPC. I had a conversation about what “powered by community” means - through technology and engagement, we will strive for building stronger, well connected communities for our art and organizations. Our conversation took a turn toward the future. What will the arts look like in the future? How will technology and engagement push us closer to the ideal management of our arts businesses?
This had...
2/20/2013
Probably the most frequent question I am asked is if I believe subscriptions are dying. And if you would have asked me five years ago, I would have answered in the affirmative. I, like many others, believed the subscription model was outdated--a worn out old chestnut that needed to be replaced. I even had data to prove it. From our peak in 2002 until 2007, Arena Stage had lost 40% of its subscriber base! I was convinced we had held onto a failing business model for far too long, until I...
2/4/2013
The Geffen Playhouse is currently running a hit sleight-of-hand performance called Nothing to Hide. At its core, the performers manage to communicate the result of an action without explaining its course. How did that playing card end up there? No audience member knows but they all agree it arrived.
The way customers communicate with arts institutions can be similarly illusory. Furthermore, patron expectations – different and largely unstated for each constituency – can be...
