Protected: Stories of Progress in Audience Engagement
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Audience Diversification – Jacksonville Symphony: Symphony in 60
Among the Jacksonville Symphony’s many series offerings is Symphony in 60, a one-hour concert preceded by a casual cocktail hour and featuring introductions to each work from the podium with multi-media visuals. These engaging concerts typically feature works that are shorter than those in the symphony’s Classical Series. Priced much lower than other concerts, the series appeals …
Audience Diversification – Charlotte Symphony Orchestra: Multiple Points of Entry
For the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, producing more concert series means appealing to more potential audiences. In addition to a Classical Series and a Pops Series, CSO offers a Movie Series and a Family Series, and its Create Your Own offer draws on all of the above. There are also On Tap concerts at neighborhood breweries, …
Audience Diversification – Johnstown Symphony Orchestra: Steel Mill Concerts
In 1992, Bethlehem Steel closed its operations in Johnstown, sending the economy of a major steel-producing city into a tailspin. Twenty-five years later, Johnstown Symphony Orchestra Music Director James Blachly conceived a plan to implement the board’s mission to “bring the symphony to the city” by performing downtown at an abandoned steel mill and, in doing …
Audience Diversification – Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra: HapaSymphony
In Hawaiian, hapa means half. HapaSymphony is a new subscription series at the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra that melds icons of Hawaiian music with orchestral repertory. And it has brought about that rare thing, a growing subscription base, as well as corporate sponsorship. Hawaiian Airlines now uses HSO recordings for inflight music. HapaSymphony foregrounds popular Hawaiian artists, including …
Audience Diversification – Virginia Symphony Orchestra: CommUNITY
The Virginia Symphony Orchestra has established a popular tradition in its CommUNITY Play-In and Sing-Along, an “annual event that embraces our community’s cultural richness and diversity, uniting people of all ages, faiths, and backgrounds through participation in music, dance, and spoken word.” It is held at Norfolk State University, a historically Black institution. People of …
Audience Diversification – New Haven Symphony Orchestra: Celebrating Helen Hagan
Composer, pianist, and teacher Helen Hagan premiered her Piano Concerto with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra in 1912. In that same year, she became the first Black woman to graduate from Yale when she received a degree from the Yale School of Music. Hagan grew up in New Haven; she began her studies at Yale …
Audience Diversification – Overcoming Challenges
Is it extra work to engage new audiences creatively and authentically? Joe Loehnis, CEO of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, rejects the framing of the question. “This is the work,” he insists. “If you’re not doing this, what are you doing? If you’re a board with fiduciary responsibility, a staff with a business to run, or …
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 …
Audience Diversification – Strategy 7: The Audience Experience
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 …