Audience Diversification – Strategy 8: The Third Space

The concept of the “third space,” a communal space apart from work and the home, has taken hold as a way of making orchestra halls more inviting to new and especially younger audiences. New and renovated hall lobbies, like Disney Hall in Los Angeles and David Geffen Hall in New York, have become destinations in themselves — friendly, comfortable places where people can socialize, work or simply hang out, enjoying livestreamed music from the hall.

Some orchestras are producing in alternative spaces, recognizing that their main venues can seem forbidding to new audiences. Tori Fusinaz at the Jacksonville Symphony says that events in small venues often engage new attendees better, especially for orchestras that do not control their main venues or their front-of-house staff.