Audience Development and my subscribers

Happy Friday to you!  I wanted to start my new program that is a special thank you to all of my blog subscribers, and you know who you are!  I want to invite you to type in a question you may have for me about audience development in the reply box below.  I will be picking one question a week to answer.  Again only subscribers to this blog will be able to participate.  If you want to join in on the fun, please click one of the subscribe options in the right column and you will be added to the list.

Thank you again, and I hope to see some good questions soon!

Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana

Shoshana Fanizza

Audience Development Specialists

http://www.buildmyaudience.com

“Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.”
~James Stewart

Although we are not a non-profit, if you would like to support ADS to continue our work, you can donate here.

New eBook!  The How of  Audience Development for the Arts: Learn the Basics, Create Your Plan

Participatory Classical Music Webinar – Recording

 

Audience Development and 3 ways to use Meetup Groups

I am sitting in a coffee shop during a Meetup called “Sit Down, Shut Up, and Write!”  in order to focus on my next book (with the goal to have it released by the end of this year).  After 50 minutes, I need to switch to a different project.

Since blogging is perfectly legal for this group’s rules, I wanted to share three ways MeetUp groups can be used as a tool for audience development.

1. Audience development is about building relationships with people.  Most of us are having a more challenging time finding people that we click with.  When you meet people at a Meetup, you generally are meeting in conjunction with a shared interest/topic.  This way, it is an easy way to meet others that may be a good fit.  For example, not only am I in a Meetup with other aspiring authors, but I have joined a classical music meetup as well as a tea group and a fictional reading group.  I have met some fantastic people this way that I can keep in touch with and further my relationships with them.  You can start a Meetup to help your audience members meet others that they will click with!  This can be a new service that you offer as a benefit to your audiences.
2. Meetups can be a great way to get to know your audiences better.  Consider starting a meetup group that has a special topic your audiences would enjoy.  You can create meetups to invite specific audience groups too.
3. You can use the Meetup group to introduce your audiences to your art, organization, concert schedule, subscriptions, etc.  Getting face to face time for introducing something new (or old) is priceless.  You might have certain audience members that would love to give their opinion or help you to develop a project.  Meetups are wonderful for getting your audiences more directly involved. Consider these meetups as a casual focus group.  You will receive on the spot feedback and suggestions from existing and potential audience members.  Also, people may bring a friend with them which is extremely valuable for audience development.

So I challenge you to quit hiding behind your website and other marketing materials and instead start meeting your audiences face to face.  You will be adding social elements and opportunities to your audience development plan.  Meetups can make a huge difference for audience development if you commit to them.

Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana

Shoshana Fanizza

Audience Development Specialists

http://www.buildmyaudience.com

“Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.”
~James Stewart

Although we are not a non-profit, if you would like to support ADS to continue our work, you can donate here.

New eBook!  The How of  Audience Development for the Arts: Learn the Basics, Create Your Plan

Participatory Classical Music Webinar – Recording

Audience Development Webinar – Participatory Classical Music

I wanted to make sure all of my readers were invited.  You are invited!

There are many reasons why I wanted to start the webinar series with “Participatory Classical Music.”  Here are some of my thoughts:

• The classical music industry has been the same for over a century.  There have been slight changes here and there, but as a whole, we haven’t strayed from the familiar formats.
• We do need to breathe new life into classical music since the next generations are not as fond of these familiar formats.
• I wanted to present a discussion with ideas, examples and solutions.  We have been talking in circles for decades, bemoaning our shrinking audiences.
• There are little tweaks we can apply to the classical music format that will not turn the art form on its head.
• I wanted to visit the “new” possibilities in a safe atmosphere.
• John Steinmetz, our guest speaker, has some big thoughts on this topic.  I have enjoyed chatting with him, and I know others will like his refreshing, open yet thoughtful style too.
• Classical music is my main background.  This is the art form that started my love for the arts in general.  I want to be a part of the solution, and I would love others to join in!

Again, please do consider yourself invited, and I hope to see you there!

Friday, January 20th  – Noon ET/11CT/10 MT/9 PT
Participatory Classical Music
How can we build classical music experiences that will also build our audiences?  Participatory performances, designing events with your audience members, using music as a social force, nurturing your audiences, and increasing demand will all be discussed.

        

Shoshana Fanizza, Audience Development Specialists
Co-hosted with John Steinmetz
Co-produced with David Weuste, Rosebrook Classical

To Register: Click Here!

 

Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana

Shoshana Fanizza

Audience Development Specialists

http://www.buildmyaudience.com

“Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.”
~James Stewart

Although we are not a non-profit, if you would like to support ADS to continue our work, you can donate here.

New eBook!  The How of  Audience Development for the Arts: Learn the Basics, Create Your Plan

Audience Development and breathing new life into classical music

I am currently researching for our upcoming webinar, Participatory Classical music.  In my research, I have found that there seems to be two camps that have formed in the classical music world, those that are open to attempting new music, new formats, new ways of allowing the audience to participate, and those that simply want the art form to remain the same with focus on educating the audiences again to listen to the masterpieces.

I happen to be right smack dab in the middle of these two camps.  On the one hand, I understand how classical music is an art form that requires the patience to listen in order to really understand and enjoy.  I love listening to the “classics.” However, I do agree that times have changed and we need to change too in order to reach new audiences to keep the art form alive.  So, how can we breathe new life into classical music?

I’ll tell you one thing, we cannot keep standing on our pedestals and expect the audience to be trained to come to us and to listen quietly with hands folded in their laps.  The audience numbers are proving that the next generations rather not.  The newer generations want a new experience, their own experience.  This means that our art form needs to change as well if we still want an audience that will support us.  Can we be true to the music by sharing the music in new ways?  Can we be true to the music by introducing new music?  I think we can.

Classical music has been resistant to change for decades.  I was reading an article where it states that Bartók is considered “new music” in terms of programming. Bartók?  Béla Bartók passed away in 1945, close to 70 years ago!  There are composers in our time that are still alive, and they are clamoring to be heard, yet we rarely allow music of today to be programmed.  Why does classical music stand in its own way of being open to the new?  Yes, the current audience may take offense to some of the new works, yet they won’t know what new works they would enjoy unless we help to guide them.  In our attempts to appease our current audience, we are failing to educate them and expand their horizons.  The other art forms are open to new works of art, in fact, they welcome new art.  New art can bring a new audience.  Premieres are exciting and keep the other art forms hopping.   New works can breathe new life into an art form.

Do you think Beethoven would only want to listen to Beethoven if he were alive today?  He would want to be challenged by new works.

We are failing our potential audiences too.  When we take a stance to not attempt new presentational formats, we are closing the door to these new audiences.  We can look to Mozart in considering the format of classical music presentation.  Do you think Mozart would want his audience to be dead silent during his performances?  He liked to feed off of his audiences’ reactions. It improved his performance. He also loved to improvise.  Your performances can feel more active too when your audience is more active, which is a major benefit.  Musician lethargy is apparent in many performances.  Our being open to the new will help musicians come alive too.  Our audiences will like this.

Mozart traveled to share his music.  I am happy to see more organizations traveling and performing at a variety of venues (even at local bars) to reach new audiences, but we can do so much more as a whole.

New works, new formats, new venues.  Think of it this way – we need the new so we can keep the masterpieces alive.

During my research for the upcoming webinar, I am finding examples of new formats and new ways of getting your audience involved.  Not all new formats need to go to the lengths of having the audience be on stage or be physically, vocally active during the performance.  Although, there have been some very effective attempts. What matters more is implementing ways where the audience is part of the process, before, during and after.

Audiences, in general, want to be more involved.  Some members rather simply listen passively during the performance, but before and after, they may want to be more active.  Others rather be participating during the performance. We have a new range of audiences to be considered now, but the fact that they all want to be more involved is prevalent.

The death of classical music has been brought up for decades.  The only way we can continue to keep this art form alive is to allow some wiggle room for the new.  I am confident that we can breathe new life into classical music, if we want to.

Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana

Shoshana Fanizza

Audience Development Specialists

http://www.buildmyaudience.com

“Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.”
~James Stewart

Although we are not a non-profit, if you would like to support ADS to continue our work, you can donate here.

New eBook!  The How of  Audience Development for the Arts: Learn the Basics, Create Your Plan

 

 

Lulu has no audience development features…

I have had 2 people purchase my book. If it was you, please let me know. Lulu has no follow up features.

The How of Audience Development for the Arts: Learn the Basics, Create Your Plan

Good news everyone!

My eBook, The How of Audience Development for the Arts: Learn the Basics, Create Your Plan, is now published and available!

I have learned a great deal from this process:

• Friends and family can be extremely helpful when writing a book.  I had people helping with editing and acting as sounding boards to bounce material off of them.
• The eBook process, albeit free (or close to free), is not free from hassle.  The next time I will breathe a little bit more and allow a great deal more time for the conversion process.
• ePub/eBook readers are not perfect either.  I have a file that looks fairly good in my main reader (Adobe Digital Editions), but it will look different in the other readers.  I have to let this go for now until the industry is a little more standardized.
• An eBook can be a good exercise for a perfectionist like me.  I am learning that I will need to let go of all the little snafus that have happened due to the format being far from perfect.
• I have wonderful friends and family that are already forwarding the link to my eBook.

I want to thank you for your support.  I will be returning to my regularly scheduled 1-2 blogs per week starting this week.

Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana

Shoshana Fanizza

Audience Development Specialists

http://www.buildmyaudience.com

“Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.”
~James Stewart

Although we are not a non-profit, if you would like to support ADS to continue our work, you can donate here.

 

2011 – End of the year ADS news for future arts audience development

This will be my last post for 2011.  I am wrapping up my blog for this year to spend some time on getting my eBook published.  The next time you hear from me I will be announcing that the eBook is available for purchase.

2011 has been an amazing adventure for me and ADS.  I want to thank you for being a part of the journey this year.  I have had some huge successes and have learned from the few failures. For example, I have learned:

• PowerPoint presentations are so last year.
• You need to take care of yourself so you can take care of others efficiently.
• Listening to your audiences gives you the best information for success.
• It is good to plan yet appear spontaneous at the same time.  ;O)
• Bringing focus to a goal with targeted time and effort works wonders!
• Checking your ego at the door establishes the best foundation for beneficial collaborations.
• Everyone has their own style, and it is best to work with others in accordance.
• Ideas are born on their own time.  You can’t force something to happen, but if it is meant to be, it will happen soon.
• Never get a major hair makeover before a big event.  Instead, allow months for a transition.
• Everyone needs a support base, including me.

The good news is that I will be pressing on for another year with new services!

In 2012, I am starting a webinar series that will run every other month.  These 6 webinars will feature a guest speaker for a specific audience development topic in our arts industry.  The webinars will be co-produced by our new partner, Rosebrook Classical.   I hope you will join us for one of the first two webinars that are planned:

January 20th  – Noon ET
Participatory Classical Music
How can we build classical music experiences that will also build our audiences?  Participatory performances, designing events with your audience members, using music as a social force, nurturing your audiences, and increasing demand will all be discussed.

        

Shoshana Fanizza, Audience Development Specialists
Co-hosted with John Steinmetz
Co-produced with David Weuste, Rosebrook Classical

To Register: Click Here!

March 16th – Noon ET
Working with Mobile Technology to Develop Your Audience
With the rapid adoption of web-enabled cell phones, smartphones and tablet computers, what options are available to arts professionals who want to engage their audiences via mobile devices? How can artists and organizations implement these options cost effectively without taking focus away from the art?

        

Shoshana Fanizza, Audience Development Specialists
Co-hosted with David Dombrosky
Co-produced with David Weuste, Rosebrook Classical

To Register: Click Here!

Also in 2012, three new products will be born: Audience Development Projects, Audience Development Groups and Blog Subscribers Q&A Forum.

Audience Development Projects will be projects that will target specific audience development issues.  Artists and arts organizations can “invest” in these projects by signing up (shared fee for my time), and grants will be sought out to cover any of the other costs for the project.  As a group, working with me to spearhead, we will be creating a plan for each artist and arts organization for developing their audiences in accordance with the particular challenge.  Group conference calls/webmeetings will be scheduled, and follow up discussions and surveys to track progress will be planned as well.

Audience Development Groups is a more casual group program.  For a small monthly fee, artists and arts organizations can sign up for a group.  Your group will consist of 10 people.  During the months time, everyone in the group will be able to bring forward a particular audience development challenge, and the group will help you brainstorm solutions.   Four weekly group conference calls/webmeetings will be scheduled, and follow up discussions and surveys to track progress will be planned as well.

Blog Subscribers Q&A Forum is a thank you gift for my blog subscribers.  If you want to be a part of this group, all you have to do is subscribe to this blog.  I want to ask my subscribers at this time to start sending me questions for discussion.  I will choose particular questions, one per week, and I will do a Cinchcast (mini-podcast) or a vlog (video blog) to answer these questions.  Again, only subscribers, people that are on my subscribers list, will be eligible to participate.

Last, but not least for 2012, we are working on regional workshops that will cover specific issues for each region.  Currently, a California workshop tour is in the works for late April: L.A., San Jose, and Sacramento.  I have hopes that Chicago, Portland, and Austin or Houston will be added to the roster.

Please stay tuned for the launch of these new and important programs. 

We will be continuing the services that have been established in 2011, including the majority of our free services, such as the weekly blog posts, audience development tip of the day Cinchcasts, ADS ARTicles on Twitter, quarterly e-Newsletter, and daily Facebook page posts.

2012 holds a great deal of promise for ADS and for audience development.  I wish you and yours all the best for a very prosperous New Year!

Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana

Shoshana Fanizza

Audience Development Specialists

http://www.buildmyaudience.com

“Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.”
~James Stewart

Although we are not a non-profit, if you would like to support ADS to continue our work, you can donate here.

Become an audience development agent -11 gifts to help artists this holiday season

Happy Hanukkah and Happy Holidays to all!   This holiday season, I have been challenging my Twitter and Facebook friends to buy responsibly this year.  I am a firm believer that if you want change to happen in our world, we need to start voting with our money every day.  This means that we need to make better choices as to where we place our money.  Instead of buying at a big box that lines the pockets of corporate CEOs that don’t need the money, consider buying with F.A.C.E. values: Fair trade, American/Artist made, Charities paid, and Environment saved.  This means that you will need to be more aware about who is behind the products you are buying and who is behind the stores you purchase from.

One great way to ensure that your money is going directly to real people is to buy from artists.  Here are 11 ways you can become an audience development agent for the arts by purchasing directly from artists:

1. Find your local arts and crafts galleries – You can purchase charming one-of-a-kind gifts at your local arts and crafts galleries, and the money goes to the artists that made the art.

2. Buy music on CD Baby - CD Baby has a bunch of cd’s from indie artists.  Their database can lead you to local musicians or music of a particular genre.

3. Purchase tickets or gift certificates to a local arts company – Instead of buying cheaply made stuff from China, why not purchase an experience for your friends and family. Whether they like music, art, dance, theatre, there is sure to be a local event that they will enjoy.  This can include tickets to a performance or a gift certificate for a workshop to teach them how to be an artist.  Remember, the Chinese product will fall apart in a few years, but the memory of the arts experience will last a lifetime.

4. Commission artwork just for them – There are many artists that can do a piece especially for you and your loved ones.  If you have admired the art of an artist, find out if you can commission a special artwork piece this season.

5. Hire artists for your special holiday party this year – Nothing comes close to live art.  You can hire a small music group, a few artists, or actors to provide entertainment for your holiday party.  Your holiday party will become a prized event for years to come!

6. Buy on Etsy this season -  There are tons of artists from around the world that supply affordable arts and crafts on Etsy.  Each purchase will help support an artist.

7. Bring-a-friend to a performance or workshop – This is similar to purchasing tickets or gift certificates, but instead, you are enjoying the experience with your friends and family. Again, the memories that result are priceless!

8. Frame them this season – I happen to be someone that purchases art, but I usually have several pieces that are in need of framing.  I can’t be the only one.  If you know someone like me, offer to frame their art this season so they can start enjoying their artwork.

9. If your friends and family members like worldly gifts, buy Fair Trade items this year – If you Google “Fair Trade Artisans,” you will find a variety of Fair Trade sites where you can purchase well-intentioned gifts.  The purchases help people from all over the world who have hand crafted gifts with love and care.  Ten  Thousand Villages is one of the finds on this Google search and looks to have some amazing gifts!

10. Do you have a special photograph of a memory, loved one, or cherished family pet?  There are many artists that can turn your photograph into a work of art. Ask your local Arts Alliance for help in finding an artist, or look for local workshops that teach you how to do it yourself!

11. Hire a photographer to do a special photo shoot for your holiday gathering – We may think we know how to take a picture, but there are talented photographers in your area that will turn your memories into artistic memories.

Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana

Shoshana Fanizza

Audience Development Specialists

http://www.buildmyaudience.com

The Quarterly E-Newsletter is scheduled to go out next week!  Sign-up for ADS’ E-Mazing Audience Development newsletter soon.

“Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.”
~James Stewart

Top 10 Blogging Tips for audience development

Last night I went to an Advanced Blogging class hosted by Boulder Digital Arts.   Our instructor, Beth Hayden, aka local blogging guru, gave us many pointers for producing a more popular blog.  Some were good reminders for me, but a few suggestions were new.  I won’t give away all the details since you had to be there, but I do want to share a few tips that had me thinking.

1. Spend time on your headlines.  You want your headlines to pop and be attractive for people to click on.  They can have a keyword or use one of the formulas for attracting attention: list headlines (odd numbers are best or top 10), how to titles, guide titles (Guide to…), Warning/Alert titles (The 7 Warning Signs…).
2. In some blogging software, you can create your own page (post) url, which is also called a permalink, but you want to do this before you publish.  Make sure it is memorable and keyword friendly.
3. Make your email subscribers feel special by emailing them once in a while with an offer just for them.  I loved this idea.  If you are reading this via email, do not be surprised if I send a little special something.  If you would like to be included in receiving the little special something:  You can subscribe here!
4. Create incentives to get people to subscribe to your blog.  You can create a free download to get people to sign up. I’m not too thrilled with pop-ups, but these can work if not too obnoxious.
5. Be sure to use your RSS feed to hook your blog to other outlets.  Most social media has the option of sharing your blog this way.
6. Comment on other people’s posts and include the link to your blog.  Link love can do amazing things. Also, make sure you comment back in a timely fashion to the people that take the time to reply to your posts.
7. Ask to guest blog on other blogs that make sense for attracting new audiences.  Be sure to research and spend some time looking at their blog content.  Figure out which posts are the most popular.  If you find a good fit, you can contact the owner and submit a few headlines and samples of your writing.  Don’t take it personally if they reject your idea or if they do not get back to you.  A softer way of doing this is to ask your friends that have blogs to do a blog post swap.  This way, you can help build both your audiences.
8. If you ever wonder about making money via your blog, ad programs are not the best route.  Instead, develop products (eBooks for example), look for affiliation opportunities (choose products that are a good match), and offer your services as a public speaker on your topic.
9. Register on blog directories such as Technorati.  You can google “blog directories,” and a bunch of other options show up.
10. Use Google Adwords to find the best keywords and then use these for SEO.

Beth went into detail on each of these points.  She also talked about some other ideas that were fabulous.  Again, you had to be there.  I do recommend signing up for her blog.  She’s one smart cookie!

The one thing we did not discuss was how to get more people to comment.  I would say that compelling, quality content helps boost comments.  What do you think?

Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana

Shoshana Fanizza

Audience Development Specialists

http://www.buildmyaudience.com

The Quarterly E-Newsletter is scheduled to go out in two weeks!  Sign-up for ADS’ E-Mazing Audience Development newsletter soon.

“Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.”
~James Stewart

50 Winning Tweets from the 2011 NAMPC (many about audience development)

There are still some tweets and such floating around after the National Arts Marketing Project Conference – Winning Audiences.  Today I saw another tweet about the 50 Winning Tweets from the 2011 NAMPC.  I not only enjoyed the collection of tweets, but the format via Issuu, a free online publication program, is worth the mention too.

Enjoy!

Click Here to view what I am talking about!

Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana

Shoshana Fanizza

Audience Development Specialists

http://www.buildmyaudience.com

The Quarterly E-Newsletter is scheduled to go out in two weeks!  Sign-up for ADS’ E-Mazing Audience Development newsletter soon.

“Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.”
~James Stewart