Donna Walker-Kuhne asks “How can you make your venue warm and inviting? It comes from the heart, from the work you’re presenting, from how you’re training your staff. Make things fun for people coming in and be creative: your venue should be a playground.” In that spirit, some orchestras now have staff positions devoted to …
Marketing officers regularly refer to the “patron journey” that takes a prospect and moves them from initial sale to subscription. The journey may look different for new audience segments and may aim for engagement over ticket revenue or contributions. Once a first ticket has been purchased, Tori Fusinaz’s team at the Jacksonville Symphony activates an …
Recent research from WolfBrown, in partnership with the League, indicates the importance to Black, Latinx, women, and younger audience members of effective communication about the orchestra’s work in equity, diversity, and inclusion. And yet most current audience members report being unaware of their orchestra’s work to build an inclusive experience for all audience members. Demonstrating …
Research shows that, when it comes to retaining new audiences of color, diversity of representation is not enough. For existing audiences of color, programming undertaken with and for BIPOC communities is more important, and the process underpinning this work is at least as important as the resulting performance. A mutual partnership entails respect. “The community is …
“Ask the constituency you’re interested in connecting with what they’re interested in, then do that,” to quote New Haven Symphony Orchestra’s Katie Bonner Russo. Different demographic segments look for different offerings and ways to feel welcome. For example, as Donna Walker-Kuhne notes, older audience members typically look for comfort and kindness, whereas younger audience members …
After establishing institutional alignment, the number one strategy colleagues across the U.S. name for drawing in new audiences is to feature compositions and artists from diverse demographic backgrounds onstage. “It’s essential to be authentic. You can’t target a community without anyone onstage representing that community,” says Terell Johnson, Executive Director of the Chicago Philharmonic. Elias …
Establishing an EDI [equity, diversity, and inclusion] committee or council where plans are developed collectively among department representatives, often including musicians, was one of the most frequently cited audience diversification strategies among the colleagues consulted for this Guide. “Music director, executive, education, community engagement — we tag-team EDI work across the organization,” says New Haven …
“We’re succeeding if our audience looks like Chicago,” says Terell Johnson of the Chicago Philharmonic. With this overall goal in mind, it is important to track ongoing engagement, not just transactions: even without a ticket sale, curiosity can be inferred from segmented email click-through analytics and social media follows. Metrics also need to allow for …
Why diversify audiences? Simply put, “the mission of a nonprofit is to serve the public,” Jesse Needleman, Vice President of Marketing, Sales, and Communications at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, reminds us. “Society is changing,” says Dan Hart, President and Executive Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, “and we exist to serve the whole community, not …
The makeup of attendees at our events shows starkly how we matter to our communities. The diversity of those who attend is a key measure — perhaps the ultimate measure — of our impact. As orchestras face questions around the continued relevance of their work and its financial sustainability, many are recognizing the urgent need …