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Audience Engagement: Research from The Wallace Foundation

The Wallace Foundation

Building Audiences and Reimagining the Future of the Arts

The Wallace Foundation supports audience-building efforts by arts organizations, including orchestras, and commissions research to understand what works, what doesn’t, and why.

Learn more about Wallace’s Building Audiences for Sustainability initiative.

The Wallace Foundation’s newest series, Reimagining the Future of the Arts brings together leading experts in the field to facilitate conversations around some of the most pressing issues facing the arts sector today. Each conversation is grounded in research commissioned or supported by Wallace.

In July 2021, The Wallace Foundation announced a new initiative focusing on arts organizations of color.

Proximity and Performing Arts Attendance Read article

Learn Audience Engagement

February 6, 2026

Proximity and Performing Arts Attendance

This brief from The Wallace Foundation looks at whether someone’s distance from a performing arts venue has an impact on whether they will attend live events.
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Organizational Sustainability

New Media

Learn Audience Engagement

February 4, 2020

How New Media Got New Audiences at Seattle Opera, With Wallace Support

Can technology enhance the classical music experience for today’s connected audiences? Seattle Opera, which produces five operas each year for an audience of more than 100,000, began using digital and social media to engage audiences several years back, with a boost from a $750,000 Wallace Foundation Excellence Award, which provided funds for four years of experimentation between 2009 and 2012.

Learn Audience Engagement

March 31, 2015

Extending Reach with Technology: Seattle Opera’s Multipronged Experiment to Deepen Relationships and Reach New Audiences

“To engage audiences, the Seattle Opera used technology including simulcasts, interactive lobby displays and behind-the-scenes videos.” – Author: Bob Harlow

Young Audiences

Market Research

Family and Women Engagement

These resources are made possible by The Wallace Foundation. The League is pleased to be working in partnership with the Foundation to help share ideas and practical solutions to problems in building audiences for the arts.

Banner: A standing ovation for the Grant Park Orchestra in Chicago’s Millennium Park. Photo courtesy of Grant Park Orchestra.

Family and Women Engagement: A child dances along to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Relaxed Performance for neurodiverse audiences on April 27, 2019. Photo: Jag Gundu

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