On Thursday we had an hour long chat with fundraising coach, Marc A. Pitman, on how we can show our appreciation for our donors and supporters. Please do click on the link above for new ideas and thought provoking conversation!
Have a super weekend!
-Shoshana
Filed under Arts funding, Audience Development, fund raising, Fundraising
What do fiscal cliffs and landfills have to do with audience development for the arts? Quite a lot actually. Allow me to explain.
The priorities in America and possibly the world are all mixed up these days. When countries are being run by greed for power and money, what is really important in life is not being funded. The arts, in my opinion, are important to our lives. We would be living life in the dark without the arts. There would be no color in our world, no design,creative sciences or inventiveness, no music, no plays, movies and television shows, no historical reference, no spark to our lives. How am I certain that the arts are one of the vital ingredients for humanity? Because of the Landfill Harmonic:
Landfill Harmonic film teaser from Landfill Harmonic on Vimeo.
A country that has no means, but has the human spirit to create is making instruments out of remnants from the landfill. The arts are a basic need, a basic desire that has to be filled. This video showcases that the arts are a priority in our lives.
If the arts were to be a part of the fall off due to the fiscal cliff, we would still find a way to create and perform. However, think about what we could do if we finally got our priorities in life straight. What would the world look like if the greed for power and money were gone? There wouldn’t be a fiscal cliff and there probably would be the means for funding of the arts more fully. We as a human race tend to take the arts for granted. It’s only when the arts are gone from our lives that we find that we need to sift through the rubble, the garbage, to find a way to express ourselves again.
This taking the arts for granted can be flipped on its head too. We as artists tend to take our audiences for granted. I hope non-profits of all kinds will take a moment to ponder this point too.
We are taking our audiences for granted. We assume that if we create, the audiences will be there. You can call this the Field of Dreams Syndrome. We take it for granted that the right people will show up and start to support us, and then we fall flat with doing the work to build the relationships to create the support that we need.
For example, I receive donation asks from a variety of organizations. I might have given in the past, I might not have. The organizations that are targeting me based on who I have given to in the past have not started a relationship with me. They are asking without knowing who I really am as a person. I rarely give to these random asks. The ones I have given to the past are organizations that caught my attention through a variety of avenues, such as tabling at an outreach event. I have at least spoken to a representative, gone to a show, or volunteered for their cause. I gave to these organizations since a relation has been established.
I only choose to continue to give if the relationship continues. Many organizations at this point will take me for granted and continue to ask without any personal contact with me. The only organizations I continue to give to at this point are the ones that treat me like an individual person and not just a number on their mailing list. They make sure to thank me and contact me to keep me in the loop before asking for another donation. They send me updates on how my money is being used. They may call me to thank me personally. I did receive a call from a board member on one of these organizations. I only gave $25 that year too. Wow!
To tie this random post up into a nice gift with a big red bow for the holidays, you can trace back to the initial thought. We have our priorities mixed up. Instead of taking the road of hard work and thoughtfulness for others, we are taking the path of laziness and greed for money and power. People will not see the value of our art and organizations until we start valuing people as individuals. The world will not see the arts as a priority until they see the arts become more a part of the world in ways that are helpful and supportive to their communities. Perhaps if we started acting as individuals and support the people in our lives through solid two-way relationships, we can start adding a positive voice to the collective for a better, common sensed, prioritized world.
If you ever wondered why getting the arts funded has been so darn challenging, now you know.
PS These thoughts are my own humble opinion. Feel free to challenge, add, and consider your own thoughts and post as a reply!
Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana
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.
Filed under Arts, arts advocacy, arts management, Audience Development, fund raising, Fundraising
As reiterated at NAMPC, putting fun back into your audience development and marketing is important. It is also a great way to run a fundraising campaign. Is it simply a coincidence that “fun” is a big part of the word “fundraising?” I often have wondered about this.
Since it is the time for the majority of our end of the year asks, I thought I would give you a few of my fundraising pointers:
1. Establish a campaign that is branded for fun and purpose – If your campaign is dulls-ville and does not express your purpose for the funds in easy to understand terms, people will also lack the energy to give. Don’t forget to add a thank you program that is also fun for your funders.
2. Set an obtainable goal – Funders want to know that their money is going towards a winning campaign. Setting a reasonable goal is part of the strategy.
3. Get one or more of your main supporters to do a match program – Matched fundraisers are often successful since every dollar counts more.
4. Add visuals and video to capture the true value of your art and ask – Make your ask visually appealing to add energy and fun to the campaign. Allow people to discover the joy of your art and why investing in it will be worth their time and money.
5. Sign-up for a service that allows you to create an online base for the ask and ask others to join in! – Audience development is about getting your audience more involved. Believe it or not, some people have fun asking for money, especially when it comes to supporting a cause near and dear to their hearts. Find a service that has a central online location for your campaign and allows others to share and create fundraising pages for your cause as well! The more people you have out there asking, the better off your chances are for reaching your goals. In Colorado, we have Givingfirst.org.
Do you have a FUNdraising tip for our readers? Has a particular idea worked really well for you to raise money for your art/organization? Please reply in our comment box to keep the conversation going!
Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana
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.
Filed under arts management, arts marketing, Audience Development, fund raising, Fundraising
I have noticed that when I post tweets about arts organizations that are going bankrupt, I always tag it #auddev needed. I know some people are questioning this and feel it better to attribute the downfall of these organizations to simply bad management. Why would I continue to shout out about audience development?
To me, audience development is not just a method or technique of arts management, but an entire philosophy about how to run a business today. In an age where crowdsourcing and social media are popular, the days of us dictating art are no longer valid. Our business models of producing, marketing and fundraising without thoughts of our audiences are unraveling. It is not wise to fall back on old business practices, and instead, it is better to be creative, engaging and involving with the people around us.
Some of us believe that the invention of the light bulb changed the arts from inclusive to entitled. Elitism crept in to the point that the (benchmark) arts are not perceived as for everyone. All of a sudden, the masses are not supporting the arts, and we have tiny niche markets that have developed due to this, well, development.
Audience development, true audience development, can change the way an arts business functions due to one very big reason. Audience development is inclusive and focuses on partnering with audiences. It is a team philosophy that not only includes everyone on your staff, all your volunteers, donors and sponsors, but it also includes your audiences. This means that everyone will be on the same page working to support your business.
For producing and marketing, this is far different than simply placing an ad that professes (from your spinning marketing team) that your show is “something for everyone!” “spectacular!” “other marketing byte here!” Instead, when partnering with your audiences, you can incorporate their perspective beforehand instead of attempting to sell something that they might not enjoy in ways that will be ignored. A flop from the start is rather expensive to work with. Wouldn’t it be better to produce something that has more promise?
In regard to fundraising, your audiences will help you to raise the money since they are a part of your team. Your board members and staff will now have added energy to keep them going too. Everyone that is a part of your team will be helping to raise money for your business. This team mentality for fundraising makes more sense than the “we are great, give us money,” shouted by a few people, views of old. Plus, with all the people power combined, you can brainstorm new ways of asking for money. Let’s face it, annual campaign letters have become trite and disposable. You need to turn some heads and inspire some hearts!
I do hear one concern which I will quickly address. I am not saying that the audiences are now in charge. You still have artistic license and the ability to create your own strategic plans. The difference is, you will no longer be creating in the dark after knowing your audiences. With this philosophy, you will be able to take more risks and produce new work that will have more of a chance of being successful. Your programming, marketing and fundraising can become fresh again.
If you are squeamish about this new way of producing art, and you rather be the sole creator without any feedback, perhaps use audience development to build the right audiences that will enjoy your art – find the best audiences for you! Please do use audience development for your marketing and fundraising though in any case since you still need a team for support.
So, is audience development the answer? It does sound like audience development can promise the moon and the stars, and in a sense, it can. With hard work and determination to build relationships and build your team of community support, I see a brighter future for the arts despite the light bulb.
Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana
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
Today I do not have a guest blogger planned. I thought I would fill in the gap with a variety of thoughts (and questions) that I have been thinking over the past week (in no particular order). Let this serve as a summary of blog posts from past and future.
Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana
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
Filed under arts management, arts marketing, Audience Development, fund raising, Fundraising
Today for my guest blog post, I came across a post with some interesting information about the future of crowdfunding. Enjoy!
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Crowdfunding
by Grace Williams
April 23, 2012
I read an article by Craig Newman on Crowdfunding this week. Before I read this article, I was not really familiar with the term “crowdfunding.” I assumed it was referring to fundraising efforts such as Kickstarter. However, Kickstarter doesn’t really bring in serious investors since your return is just the incentives given with specific dollar amounts. This speaks more to investment opportunities in which you get an actual financial return. Bills are apparently making their way through the House of Representatives and the Senate that will allow investors to buy small businesses’ stock online. The article speaks to the great opportunities that come from this, but also cautions readers that it could be used to defraud investors.
I see the great opportunities that could potentially come from the passage of this bill, not just for small businesses, but for the entertainment industry as well. The latest Broadway production of the musical Godspell was funded in entirety by small donations from individuals. This allowed the production to focus more on the artistic side of the production instead of worrying so much about what the investors would think. However, this process could have been streamlined with the passage of these bills making their way through the House of Representatives and the Senate. Instead of donating money, they would be investing. Instead of just getting their name listed in the playbill, individuals across the country could see a return on their investment. Record companies could also fund projects by enlisting the help of the general public. Upon further research, I saw that this bill has been passed. Hopefully the government will be able to regulate the investments to keep investors from being defrauded. It will be interesting to see how this progresses in the next year. [:O)]
Grace Williams is a senior at the University of Southern Mississippi pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Entertainment Industry Management. She hopes to someday be a part of this great wide world of theatrical management. She is passionate about live entertainment.
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Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana
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
This week I was truly a happy audience development geek when I found Capterra’s ticket software filter. If you are looking for a ticketing solution, this filter is the best for discovering what you can get for your budget. Instead of being caught up in the better marketing of some companies, you can now compare features to features to find exactly what you need!
A ticketing program is very important when it comes to audience development. In fact, it is more important than people realize. Your ticketing system can either help you or harm you when it comes to audience development. It is best to have a system where you can track and segment to reach the right people for each particular show or event. I also feel it is important that the system can track your efforts. I am a big fan of having the system be able to handle your fundraising and membership tasks as well. The more you can get closer to an “all-in-one” system, the better off you will be.
It used to be that a system of this nature cost a ton of money. Only the bigger organizations could afford to buy. The good news is that during my research for smaller to mid-size organizations (and budgets), I found a list of very affordable solutions that are feature rich and could translate into fantastic audience development opportunities if used to the solutions’ potential.
Here is the list of requirements I wanted for under $7,000, 2-9 users, and Windows/Web based/Mac capable:
One feature I decided to cancel on my search was “Online User Selects Seats.” This would be a nice feature, but if you are budget conscious, I think for now it is best to think of all the other features first. If they need exact seats, they can call.
I must say that I am not endorsing one over the other, although I have my opinions. Here is the list of all the ticketing solutions I found that had these features (in order of Capterra’s list, not mine):
Glitnir Ticketing – Glitnir Ticketing System
TICKETsage – TICKETsage Custom Solutions
Box Office Solutions (Hardware and Software). [Learn more]
If you are windows or web based only, there were a few more ticketing solutions in this price range that came up. If you are on a really tight to non-existent budget, I really liked PrimeTix for the lowest costs. If you want audience development features that a Brown Paper Tickets or EventBrite solution does not have, I would say this is a great alternative to start building relationships with your audience members:
In my opinion, a ticketing solution needs to be user friendly, have the ability to track your efforts, be customizable when it comes to the data you input (and export), and be able to keep as much of your organizational functions in one system as possible. Having fundraising, membership, and volunteer management combined with your ticketing, makes sense to me. You need the ability to capture a complete picture of your audience members in order to be able to build the best relationships with them. This is why choosing your ticketing solution is important and well worth the time spent on getting it right!
PS I have spoken to a few of these services. Look for more volunteer management and class management additions on the horizon!
Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana
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
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
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
After practically no sleep, I was still excited about the last day. This was the day I was scheduled to present!
8:45 Engaging Audiences through Collaboration and Innovation
I had a great team to work with. Our moderator was Kory Kelly, Director of Marketing & Communications at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Also presenting with me were Sam Read, Deputy director of Theatre Puget Sound in Seattle, Washington and Greg Fiedler, President and CEO of the Greater Flint Arts Council in Flint, Michigan. We decided to tag team our presentations so one would lead into another.
I started off the morning of our Engage Audiences through Collaboration and Innovation with an overall look at the variety of collaborations you can achieve. Each type of collaboration had a case study story to give an example – the case study pointed out how it engages with your audience. This presentation was from the view point of one organization working with many other arts and community organizations. This was a milestone presentation for me too since I vowed to never do another “PowerPoint” presentation ever again. You can hold me to it!
My audience was a little sleepy during the beginning of my presentation, but I could see them waking up in the middle. 8:45 am? Much too early, right?
Sam Read took the ball and presented Arts Crush. This festival is full of creative ideas on how to get the different disciplines of the arts working together and working with the community. Innovative programming, venues, and audience development can result when a community gets together to co-create an arts festival. His presentation was exciting and the theme of collaboration and innovation was demonstrated perfectly. One of my favorite quotes – Move beyond the butt!
Greg Fiedler had a video presentation that spoke about the Parade of Festivals that his Arts Council is responsible for. The point of the presentation was to not only show how different and interesting festivals can work together to build audience, but also how the arts are changing the perception that surrounds Flint, Michigan. Unfortunately, almost everyone raised their hands (before the video) when asked if they heard something negative about Flint. Fortunately, everyone raised their hands when asked if the video gave them a more positive perception of Flint. The arts are making a difference in Flint, and through collaboration (and innovation), the difference is noticed!
10:45 Closing Plenary with Sam Horn
This was an interesting move since this talk tied together all the elements of the conference – marketing, development, audience development. We all seemed a bit brain dead and Sam Horn was speaking in codes, or rather acronyms. The messages of her talk were extremely valuable. Some of her main points are as follows. When relating to people – don’t just tell them what you do – tell them an example of what you are doing. Tell stories instead of relying completely on facts and figures. Get them to raise their eyebrows by asking “Did You Know” questions and supply them with some of the most interesting details about your organization. Lastly, relate your message to who you are speaking to. Instead of a typical elevator speech that states your mission, which is the same for everyone, first find out who they are and then give them something to relate to about your organization. Even though I was dog tired and ready for lunch, I got the messages and agree wholeheartedly.
Lunch
My last little session of hanging with some great people. A group of us went to hotel sports bar and grill before we left in our cars, taxis and eventually our airplanes toward home. It was a fantastic ending to the conference – down time with folks that understand you.
Overall Impression
I have to say that all in all, NAMPC was an amazing experience. The people I met, the presentations, the building of relationships – all factors were well worth it. I will also say that I am proud of myself for presenting in front of my peers (which can make you a Nervous Nelly). I am also proud of all of us that attended (well most of us) for leaving our egos at the door and being able to share our good ideas with each other.
I look forward to keeping in touch with the many people I was honored to become associated with during the conference. If asked again to be a part of this experience, of course, I would say yes!
Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana
Audience Development Specialists
http://www.buildmyaudience.com
“Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.”
~James Stewart
Filed under arts management, arts marketing, Audience Development, fund raising, Fundraising
Sometimes it is good to take time off, step away from the day to day in order to get a fresh perspective. After a few days away, I have a few thoughts to share about obtaining new audiences. These are thoughts in no particular order with hopes to open much more conversation.
Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana
Audience Development Specialists
http://www.buildmyaudience.com
“Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.”
~James Stewart
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