Inspired by the article, The changing face of opera, posted in the Oxford University Press’ blog by Meghann Wilhoite, I give you my first mini-podcast for 2013.
Have a great weekend!
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
Oh dear! The headlines today were not very encouraging. More orchestras are locked out, one opera company has to shut down until their bills are paid, and the woe is classical music stories keep popping up too. Yes, we are in the midst of dealing with changes that have already happened, and the classical music world in general is scrambling to get back on track.
In my area, there have been cuts too. Many of the organizations have downsized their concert schedules to deal with their funding cuts. I know musicians across the country are not happy with all that is happening. The musicians blame the management. The management blames the musicians for not understanding. It’s a vicious cycle of finger pointing.
I myself am wracking my brain to figure out how orchestras and classical music can start thriving again. I have already chimed in with my suggested action points.
In the article about the Minnesota Orchestra, the management wants to cut musician salaries and at the same time they are raising money and spending money on a $52 million renovation. The management views this as accessing support from big donors. Wouldn’t the big donors rather donate to secure the best musicians for their orchestra instead? I can see why the musicians are protesting this factor. Unless the hall was in such a severe state that renovation was imperative, perhaps money that pays the musicians that create the “product” for the organization would have been better raised and spent.
I have been on both sides of this fence. I have been a musician grumbling that I haven’t been paid enough, and I have been on the management team attempting to secure funding to keep the organization functioning. An orchestra or opera is an expensive endeavor. The economy and lowered demand due to the change in times are a downfall to these organizations, but these challenges can only account for part of the deficiency.
If it were up to me, I’d blame everyone! Not that I want to blame anyone. The real problem here, as I mentioned before, is the lack of team mentality and lack of functioning as a real nonprofit business. In times of trouble, all line items need to be evaluated. All salaries including the management, all fundraising, all audience development, outreach and marketing efforts, have to be looked at with honest eyes. Priorities for the business need to be established. For example, the $52 million dollars that was raised for renovations, I do not see this as a bigger priority than making sure the musicians are paid fairly. It’s a similar mentality that our country is going through. Our veteran soldiers are not being provided for fully after their duties have ended. The musicians and soldiers are doing the work. Are we taking care of them or are our priorities out of balance? Are we are raising and spending money on the wrong types of initiatives?
I have witnessed some classical music organizations that have decided that one of the top priorities be keeping their musicians happy. Without the musicians, they reason, there would be no music. These organizations are still doing well. The audience wants happy musicians. Happy musicians provide the concert experience they desire and pay for. Happy musicians perform better too. The audience knows this.
I plea for organizations to start surveying their audiences if they don’t believe me. I once structured a question on my survey to ask, “If you were king of the orchestra, what changes in management would you make?” We had several come back commenting on how they would like the musicians to be paid fairly. The audience knew what is going on as much as the supposed behind the scenes management. In our world of further transparency, paying for $52 million worth of renovations is not going to delight your audiences as much as having top quality musicians to perform the music they love.
I will say this though, coming from the side of management, I feel the musicians now have to be part of the team for reaching new audiences. Everyone needs to be a part of this initiative. We now need some support for outreach efforts, word of mouth marketing, and other audience development programs to increase audience and demand. The management is not able to perform these outreach concerts for the musicians. A management team can only spread the word so far. It now requires more and more circles of people to spread the word. The musicians need to step up too, and even volunteer in troubled times, to make the music for awareness of the music to happen.
It needs to be a team effort, all hands on deck, if you want to become a healthy nonprofit arts organization.
So, evaluation of budgets, prioritizing line items, and becoming a team to bring awareness to and further your mission is what it is going to take to be healthy again. Good old fashioned hard work by everyone! I hope more arts organizations become aware.
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 funding, arts management, Audience Development
I remember going through one round of union negotiations that was as nail biting as the ones I am seeing in the news about the Atlanta Symphony. We didn’t know if we would be able to have a full season. Cuts were on the table. And, this was during the season, not before it, so even more crucial that decisions be made.
I watched as the decisions to shut down the office for two weeks, to have a pay cut for the staff for a month, to scale back a full orchestra concert to a chamber concert, and to issue cuts to musicians’ pay were enacted. I didn’t feel this was the right answer at the time, but at the time, it really was an emergency. How did the orchestra get to this point?
In a polite way, it takes good team arts management to run an orchestra. Good team arts management consists of everyone thinking about the delicate balance of revenue and expenses at all times, and not letting either side cave in. Here’s the funny part about arts management of old. It is not a team mentality and instead it is run by groups of separate minds.
The revenue is comprised of money from the music or the product (and people believing in the product to invest donations). This product is made by the orchestral employees of the business. The employees rarely have a say in the product, with the exception of the music/artistic director. The product of live music isn’t something manufactured and then placed on a shelf to sell. The musicians have to create the product time and time again in a live fashion. Without the musicians, you would not have a product!
The staff and board are responsible for obtaining extra revenue to keep the budget in balance and for selling the product. The board and executive staff are responsible for the overall budget, expenses and revenue. The musicians do not really have a hand in this side of the business, although they may have opinions that might be voiced in the form of an orchestral committee.
If the orchestra does not balance their expenses and revenues, they will be in big trouble, which is what we are seeing these days in the news. Running an orchestra is costly. Obtaining funds for an orchestra year after year can feel like a monumental task. The solution that the boards and executive staffs seem to implement every time when times are tough is to start making cuts to the staff, the music and the musicians. This means they are cutting into their product and making cuts to the people that can sell the product. This does not make sense to me. I never see a company in trouble actually cut their product in half and place it back on the shelf to sell. The marketing team would need to spin how fantastic the half of a product is while the consumers know full well they are getting half a product which is not valued as much. Since it is likely that cuts are made to marketing/development/box office during this phase, it is less likely the orchestra will have a solid staff to carry out this impossible task anyway.
I do hear of talks about looking into raising more money. However, it is rare when I see the boards and the executive staffs step up enough to make good on their words.
All of the above leaves the audiences feeling sad, angry, not very secure about their orchestra and how they handle their monetary support. Many of the audience members will side with the musicians since they know that it takes musicians to create the enjoyable night they are paying to see. The audiences will be less likely to want to donate or volunteer when it gets to this point.
So, who can fix these messes? Everyone.
1. The board and executive staff need to step up and secure donations, sponsorships, and stronger leadership. This means that they need to acknowledge that they may need extra help to get them out of this mess.
2. The executive staff needs to allocate some of the budget for audience development programs. Audience development programs can create more audience and more donors and volunteers. This also means having the money for outreach events and for paying the musicians for these events. If there is no money to allocate (usually there is, but for devils advocate sake), the musicians would be wise to volunteer for a round of these outreach concerts until money will be set aside for their pay in the future.
3. Everyone needs to start connecting with people again and becoming part of the community. More collaborations need to be made at this time. More implementing of programs that show you care about your audience through this tough phase is crucial.
4. Everyone needs to start connecting with each other in order to run the business properly. Since the musicians create the product, maybe they should have a little more say in this part of the equation. Since the board and staff are responsible for the budgets and for selling the organization and product, the musicians need to listen to them as well. Everyone in a non-profit needs to step up, donate and volunteer at some point. It takes a team to make a non-profit business successful.
5. If cuts are being made to musicians and staff pay, cuts should also be made to executive pay. If you do not act as a team during this phase, people will simply remain resentful. Everyone should take the hit. In our age of easy transparency, if someone catches wind that the executive staff is not taking any cuts, it will look bad for the organization.
6. The board needs to be responsible for the overall health of the organization. If the organization isn’t healthy, then you need a different board or different board dynamic. The challenge is that the board is in charge of themselves (similar to how our congress runs in America). It will take a mighty strong leader to start implementing board evaluations and making changes that are necessary to get the board functioning properly again.
7. The organization needs to realize that every component is important for running an arts organization. Cutting off one part will hurt the whole, which is why we see some of these organizations going into bankruptcy and closing their doors. Until everyone works together and does their job to correct the imbalances, the organization will not be able to turn around.
8. The audiences need to learn that ticket prices only pay for 30-40% of the costs of the orchestra. Audiences, if they want the orchestra to succeed, could volunteer their time to help bring others to the orchestra and donate monetary support above the cost of the tickets to increase the revenue stream. However, audience development programs need to be ready and in place, and audiences need to be invited to participate and get more involved. These programs will be seen as positive energy and will show that the orchestra is working toward a positive direction.
9. In fact, everyone that is part of the organization should be responsible for “selling.” Everyone can be an ambassador for the organization and invite people to attend the various events. Everyone can be more involved with connecting, collaborating, caring and becoming a part of the community on behalf of the orchestra. The main problem with these old fashioned non-profits is all the “it’s not my job” that has been established. A new team mentality needs to be born instead.
I have likened the bigger arts organization to a Titanic. If something goes wrong, it will take different actions, not remaining the course, to turn the big ship around. If you remain the course, your ship will hit the iceberg, and things will start sinking.
The audience of your product is also the audience of your business. They will be the ones watching your ship sink. Wouldn’t you rather have them watching and enjoying the music?
It takes a team to create an orchestra arts organization, and it will take a team to run it successfully as well. Everyone can roll up their sleeves and get to work to create a healthier organization. Functioning as a team is good arts management and using audience development for a solution is too.
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, arts management, Audience Development
Our next guest blog will be next Wednesday. Today I have a few random thoughts due to current events this week. This week we have seen the GM over at the Metropolitan Opera hiss at another review outlet, we have seen a major consultant for our industry disregard the rule of confidentiality when posting on Huffington Post, and there have been some wonderful audience development ideas floating around the country that were implemented.
Wow! Talk about elitism at its worst. “Allow” to review? The GM has an issue with less than positive reviews, so he decides to axe a critic’s right to review if they do not meet his standards. This is a poor choice of arts management on so many levels. We need more journalism, not less for one. If journalists continue to feel the wrath for simply doing their job, they do have the power to not cover you, period. Plus, not having open opinions to our art work would actually harm us more in the end. Let me expound quickly on this point.
Let’s say we do quality work for the most part, but we get a bad review on a particular performance or event. We can use this review (with a grain of salt) to discover how we can become better for our next performance or event. We need the feedback to continue to strive to be better. Without this honest feedback, we are missing out on the complete artistic process.
Plus, you can honor the fact that any review is simply one person’s opinion and not the end all or be all for audience attendance. Use the review to your advantage by getting a variety of opinions to create some buzz. A controversial review could still catapult you to a bigger audience. Be smart about working with journalists and critics. Being demanding is only going to get you a bad reputation and more bad press.
2. Kaiser & the Cardinal Sin of Consultancy. http://t.co/4MExjM9L
My friend and colleague, Amy Wratchford wrote a blog for #2amt about Kaiser’s consultant faux pas. I commented after this post to give my view of the situation. These are my humble opinions. Let me know your thoughts on this issue too. For the record, I have always valued the arts commentary of Michael Kaiser, so I was very much surprised to view this particular post.
3. Foodies and music lovers unite! Listen to a Clip From Harvard’s Asparagus Opera http://t.co/6RbOgpYg
UK virtual orchestra puts you in conductor’s stand http://t.co/9C9Zy4NX
New outlet offers tickets, info on zoo, ASF, museum events in downtown Montgomery http://t.co/B567eBy0
These are three fantastic ideas that I have had in the past, but others beat me to it. I now have positive evidence that ideas are floating all around us. Some of us may be more in tune to these ideas than others, and it becomes a matter of who decides to implement these ideas for their benefit. In all three of these cases, there are elements of all 4 C’s at hand, especially Collaboration. In order to gain a better audience, a more fitting audience, it is best to collaborate with others and work on creative projects that will connect you to your community.
So there you have it – random thoughts on current events in our industry. Please do feel free to reply if you have any random thoughts of your own. A Wonderful Wednesday to you and yours!
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, arts management, arts marketing, Audience Development
I have seen two more news stories about symphony orchestras going bankrupt. What in the world is happening? We could say this is a case of audiences no longer relating to these bigger organizations and how they function and present their art. Times are changing and the ways that audiences want to participate and become more a part of the arts could be a big piece of the puzzle. I do not feel it is due to humans no longer relating to the art itself, which has been proven is not the case.
In my humble opinion, it is the fact that these bigger organizations are functioning using old school management and marketing, and they have yet to switch to a new audience development mentality. I see that some of these organizations have 10-20 people on their marketing staff and on their development staff. It is not the case that they do not have the capacity or people power. I have seen organizations with less than 6 people on their staff use audience development effectively. I believe the problem lies with the fact they refuse to shift and change with the times.
The other piece of this puzzle is the hush-hush nature of how these organizations are being run. They refuse to be transparent, and when they are in the beginnings of needing help, they do not allow their audiences to be a part of the solution. Instead they continue to hide behind the mask of “everything is fine” and continue to clunk along using the same old methods that they have been operating with for decades.
When it comes down to the wire, the last leg moments of functioning, this is when these organizations divulge the information that they are in serious trouble. The media is more than happy to show how dire the situation is for these organizations, and there is hardly a positive leg to stand upon. I admire the late turn-around spirit that some of these organizations are attempting to promote, but in many cases, it might be a little too late to get these massive ships to turn-around. The iceberg was spotted long ago, but now they do not have enough time, and the impact sinks these organizations like the Titanic.
The good news is that like a phoenix, new organizations rise from the ashes, and hopefully with this renewal will come a new mentality, an audience development mentality of working with your audiences to build better arts organization.
We no longer can ignore our audiences or give them what we think they want. They want to be included, and they want us to be more responsible and accountable when they do give us their support. They provide us our livelihoods. We owe them the best in return. There should be no more excuses. If you are a bigger organization, you have the capacity. It is time to shift your presumptuous operations mentality to a mentality that builds relationships and partnerships with your audiences. Please do so as soon as possible so you will not become another Titanic in the sea of dead arts organizations.
PS This is a generalization. There are bigger organizations that are doing well and have changed with the times. They serve as wonderful examples for all of us.
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
Last night I went to see one of my favorite artists, Peter Gabriel. He is right up there with the Beatles, Sting/The Police, and all my favorite classical music composers. For this concert tour, Peter Gabriel was being backed by his own orchestra, the New Blood orchestra. He chose particular songs to have arranged (brilliantly, I will add by John Metcalfe) so the mix was a little more on the mellow side. There was no “Big Time” or “Sledgehammer,” but instead moving and powerful renditions of “Mercy Street” and “Blood of Eden.”
I’m not here to review the concert per se, although I highly recommend going to see this concert, but I am here to tell you that the crowd was not only hooting and hollering for Peter, they were also very excited about the orchestra. The orchestra was mainly comprised of musicians from the local area and the UK. The conductor, Ben Foster, looked very young, but was extremely polished. These musicians played with such passion and conviction that you couldn’t help cheer them on.
I have no idea if other people in this audience were orchestral fans or as big of a Peter Gabriel fan as I am, but the audience was right there with me in acknowledging powerfully performed music.
Aside from the high quality content of this concert, the execution was audience friendly. Peter told stories of how a song came into fruition to lead into the music. Having a better understanding of the song led to a deeper enjoyment of the music. He was gracious in always giving nods to his fellow musicians, and he definitely seemed to being having a wonderful time, always adding his personal theatrical flair.
Of course Peter couldn’t help adding a multi-media show with video images on a finely meshed backdrop. It served as a curtain for the orchestra as well. He is a highly creative individual that has to share the many sides of his artistry. The video shared the many sides of the music, including the performers themselves.
Even when it rained, perhaps due to his heavy choice of water image songs, the crowd continued to be enthralled the entire time. I was getting bathed and soaked in both rain and wondrous music. This means that despite the set backs of the venue or any happenstance, there was no way the audience was budging from this amazing night.
Now back to the orchestra. There has been a trend with musicians wanting to go on tour with an orchestra, and I do not see this trend letting up. Just today I saw another article Deep Purple Guitarist Talks North American Orchestral Tour. There is a draw for musicians to spread their wings, and working with an orchestra can provide a new outlet for their music. This has many advantages for the orchestra world if they are smart enough to see these advantages.
First, there are new audiences being introduced to the sounds of an orchestra in a format that is already pleasing to them, a rock concert. The audience usually ends up cheering on the orchestra as well as the main artist. Some of the audience will take a liking to how an orchestra sounds and seek out recordings and concerts in the future. Here is the biggest advantage, if you are an orchestra in the area and happen to have one of these types of concerts in town, you better believe I recommend finding a way to reach this new audience.
Our local theatre performance center had a chat session during the Tonys. I can envision local orchestras equally latching on to this opportunity by hosting Twitter chats or Facebook posts, etc. Or, perhaps finding a way for the venue or artist to mention going to see a performance of a local orchestra. If there is a will, there is a way.
Also, if there are local musicians performing, like there were on this concert, find a way to connect with them. Perhaps they can be personality advocates for the orchestras in the area and reach the audience by tweeting what is it like to perform with someone like Peter Gabriel. There are people in the audience that would enjoy getting this backstage perspective.
Lastly, I would recommend attending one of these events yourself and take notes as to how the concert is executed. The orchestra world can learn a great deal from one of these concerts, as aforementioned. Would it really hinder us to program new and interesting music that an audience can relate to and get excited about, and allow them to applaud when highly moved after a solo? Mozart enjoyed it.
New audiences such as the ones that attend these types of concerts are ready and waiting if we find ways to reach them, but we must make the effort to reach them. We could stand to shed our high orchestral ideals and learn from the world around us, even if it is outside of our genre. Peter Gabriel and the New Blood Orchestra put on a concert that could teach us many lessons that are vastly needing to be learned.
If you would like a real review of the concert, click here!
Peter Gabriel’s New Blood Orchestra recording Digging In The Dirt at Air from York Tillyer on Vimeo.
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
I had a major thought today after reading another article about a symphony performing a free classical music concert mainly for audience development purposes. The repertoire selected was the same old type of list: Barber of Seville, some poppy selections from South Pacific, some light operetta favorites. Throw in pieces from Fantasia and it’s a wrap!
I agree that it is nice to choose pieces that might be familiar to people in order to get them interested in classical music. However, if they are truly newbies to art music, go ahead and program an accessible newer piece! Here’s my story:
I had invited a friend to a wind ensemble concert. She had never heard a wind ensemble. She said she was willing to give it a try. She was familiar with a few pieces on the program, but the one she really liked was something she never heard before. She ended up enjoying the concert mainly because of this piece. My friend came with an open mind so it really didn’t matter if the selections were familiar, only that they were quality music performed well.
From this example, if a person truly is open and new to hearing classical music, then they will be open to hearing anything! It’s similar to when someone hears classical music out of context, let’s say on a commercial, and they end up noticing and really digging the music.
The point is, we have an opportunity to play new music for new audiences! We don’t have to keep performing the same, although pleasant, “gateway” pieces. We can throw in an accessible newer piece too. I caution with “accessible” since something outside of a new ear comfort zone could be a complete turn off. There are pieces out there that can fit nicely into an audience development concert, even if it is for kids.
I hope the composers out there are jumping up and down. This is an opportunity for you too. What would you compose if faced with the challenge of creating for a brand new classical music audience?
Perhaps you might still fear the fact that if the music is unfamiliar, this new audience may not like the program. Please do consider though that if it is truly a new experience, these people are open and ready to receive the best of what you can offer them, no matter what century the music comes from.
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, Audience Development
This morning, I blog to you about something personal, as me, Shoshana, not as ADS. While scanning articles this morning, I fell upon a delightfully charming concept in the The Atlantic:
This is the second post in a series by Benjamin F. Carlson. I can tell very much that this series is a labor of love for him, his attempt to share why classical music is worth listening to.
I saw the value of this type of format as an audience development tool, but you know what? As I listened to the examples, something deeper happened. I happen to be a musician myself. With over 35 years of piano and 30 years of horn under my belt, I realized that sometimes it takes a little “music bath” to bring me back to the reality of why I chose to be a musician in the first place.
I spent some time freelancing in Chicago, going from gig to gig. I did get caught up at times with “how much are they paying and how long am I playing.” I showed up to a gig, played, and went home. I sometimes hear musicians gripe about the fact that we have a gig to go to. We can get tired and crabby. I wonder how this attitude can translate to the audience.
The point to all this is, sometimes as musicians (as artists), we forget the reason why we are playing in the first place. Sometimes as artists (in general), we get caught up in the business aspects and forget the joy of our art. I’m not saying that the business aspects are not important to consider, but do we want to treat our art as something as a means to an end or a means to a means?
When I read about artists that are connecting to audiences, I also see that most of these artists are displaying their passion for their art. We are kidding ourselves to think that Beethoven played technically is the same as Beethoven played passionately. We are kidding ourselves if we don’t realize that the audience can sense the difference too.
Maybe the core value to all of this is: it’s a little about what we present and how we present, but it is mainly about how we present our passion. It is easy to get excited about art if the presentation is full of passion for the art. Maybe the decrease in patron support is a direct correlation to the decrease in passion? Maybe we as artists need to become fully involved in our art again as the passionate artists our inner beings desire to be?
As I took the time out to sit and listen to the examples of the post, while especially listening to the Beethoven Variations, I discovered tears were streaming down my face. I had gotten in touch with the reason why I am a musician, why I chose to spend endless hours practicing, learning, and playing music. I was, in a word, moved. Perhaps as artists, we need to take time on a regular basis to get in touch with the reason why we chose to become artists, and why we choose to share this passion with others.
If we don’t get in touch with this passion, and we blankly share art without it…well…what’s the point? I highly encourage all artists to dive inward and find the reasons why they are artists. Find what inspires you to feel that inner passion again. The joy we feel will translate to our audience. They will feel our joy – it’s contagious! This is what art is about, the passion, the means to a means.
This weekend, I will be performing with the Colorado Wind Ensemble. The music selections are old standards that are dusted off each summer. Now that I have had my “music bath,” I will go into the performance with a more passionate attitude, be grateful that I am doing what I love to do, and play my bars and bars of after-beats with gusto!
Shoshana
It’s Friday, and it’s time to announce the winners for all the categories of The 2009 Audience Development Specialists Tweets Awards!
Most Interesting Venues
The nominees are:
http://bit.ly/7a0n1U
Chicago Opera Theater during National Opera Week – free short performances of opera “favorites” in unexpected places in Chicago.
Tweeples choice award for Most Interesting Venue of 2009 goes to: The Chicago Loop Alliance
ADS Award goes to: Chiara String Quartet. My feeling is, that in order for the arts to be more accessible to younger generations, we need to start performing where these people gather. Bringing classical music to a bar setting is a great idea, and something that was new to me.
Best Use of Mainstream
The nominees are:
The ADS Award goes to: Star Wars: In Concert’: a coda with Yoda! From L.A. to Chicago, this concert gave the GenX generation a chance to share with their children the joy of Star Wars and the joy of the orchestra all at the same time. In our constant pursuit of getting GenX more involved, this was a great idea.
Best Arts Advocate
The nominees are:
The ADS Award goes to: Michael Kaiser. It seemed like there wasn’t a week that went by where Kaiser was not in the papers. Traveling from city to city to spread his word on how to save the arts from crisis, he also brought awareness of the arts to many that weren’t aware before. Although I am still waiting for the documentary and the book, we at least had his blog posts at the Huffington Post to guide us regularly with his thoughts.
Best Use of Technology and Social Media
The nominees are:
The ADS award goes to: drum roll please, The Atlanta Symphony for their live Ustream discussion with Wynton Marsalis and Ken Meltzer. This was one of the best representations of the use of new technology and social media rolled up into one, and there were a plethora of other audience development goodies too. Here is the top 10 list of reasons why I chose this particular idea:
Audience Participation
The nominees are:
The ADS Award goes to: Cincinnati Opera for their Opera Idol! From their website: “Cincinnati Opera launched Opera Idol™, the company’s search for the next great opera star, in June 2009. More than 160 amateur singers turned out for an open audition before a panel of professional judges. Through multiple rounds of voting, six finalists were chosen. Videos of those finalists in performance were posted on the Cincinnati Opera website, and the public was invited to view the videos and vote for their favorite, for which over 10,000 total votes were cast.”
I was extremely impressed with the results and how streamlined this idea was. There was audience participation with the opera hopefuls, 160 of them, and with the general audience, 10,000 votes casted via YouTubes and the ability to vote at their website. This audience participation covered all the bases for getting people involved!
Best Collaborations
The nominees are:
The ADS Award goes to: Atlanta Art à la Carte – “a new partnership among Atlanta arts organizations lets audiences create their own subscription from a mix of family performances. With this program, families can get a lower-cost look at different organization’s offerings without singing up for a membership.” In a time where getting families and the younger generation more involved with the arts, this is a great collaborative idea that can be a win-win situation for all involved. Getting families to sample what your city has to offer is fantastic!
Best Festivals
The nominees are:
The ADS Award goes to: ArtPrize – this festival had the arts world buzzing. Artists from around the world participated, they had an entire community get involved with the venue match-up for the artists, the ability to vote, and all of the social aspects through social media and local networking events were fabulously engaging, and they awarded big prizes to the winners. Rick Devos and Jeffrey Meeuwsen of Grand Rapids, Michigan had a great idea, made it a reality, and the world was watching.
Best Use of Going Informal
The nominees are:
The ADS award goes to: The Cleveland Orchestra for their new informal series. From the article: “Was it the earlier start? The informal dress of the players? The short, all-Beethoven program? Or was it the prospect of a post-concert reception and appearance by world percussion ensemble Beat the Donkey?” Seeing that this series is selling out, perhaps the classical music world really does need to relax a little, take their bow ties off once in a while, and really jam with the audience before, during, and after the show!
Best New Programs
The nominees are:
The ADS award goes to: Art-Reach, “Independence Starts Here,” and the Pennsylvania Ballet for bringing the Nutcracker alive for blind people. This story really touched my heart. From the article: “In a dressing room off a hallway to one side of the stage, a woman named Ermyn King will watch a TV monitor beaming the show live from the stage. She’ll wear a headset-microphone and will straightforwardly describe the dancing – how many performers are onstage, what they’re wearing, what they’re doing, how they’re interacting – as well as the scenery, the storyline, even the lighting…Just before the curtain – as in most audio-described shows, including Sunday’s Nutcracker – those using the service were invited onstage for what’s called a ‘touch tour’.” Making your art accessible to those who never were able to enjoy it before, in my opinion, wins new program of the year!
Best Discussions
The nominees are:
The ADS Award goes to: This was one of the more challenging decisions. I wish I could choose all of them since I’m excited about all of these discussions. If you don’t know me yet, I am a big advocate for getting the chat going! In the end, for choosing only one… New Ways for Arts Organizations to Finance Their Operations is the winner. This was a live discussion with various arts organizations of the New York area discussing the majority of issues and solutions surrounding audience development. I highly recommend reading this discussion and perhaps forming your own arts community discussion involving these same questions.
Best “Arts Make a Difference”
The nominees are:
The ADS award goes to: Playing for Change. “Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world.” In a world full of distances, it’s nice to see the universal language of music used as a power to unite!
Best Audience Development Quotes
The nominees are:
The ADS award goes to: Rahul da Cunha. Simply put, if we want to see different results and live to see another day, we need to stop with the old way of marketing and begin a new journey of reaching out to our audiences – which is what audience development is all about.
Special mention goes to: the En Foco quote. It was a quote with a great deal of heart, and people came here to comment about it.
Best Audience Development Studies
The nominees are:
The ADS Award goes to: Another big challenge for me to choose just one. To me, any study about audience development is a winner. If I have to choose just one, it would have to be the Wallace Foundation’s Engaging Audiences. This report presented the challenges and some of the potential solutions to building our audiences. I love reports that state the current statistics, but now more than ever, we need to be current with new and innovative ideas.
Special mention goes to: NEA’s State and Regional Differences in Arts Participation: A Geographic Analysis of the 2008 SPPA (December 2009). I had the best time looking at all of the facts and figures with many moments of pleasant and unexpected surprises.
So there you have it. If any of the winners are interested in receiving their official ADS certificate, please feel free to contact me. Until next year, I’ll be scanning for more of the best Audience Development news to tweet.
Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana
Shoshana Fanizza
Audience Development Specialists
http://www.buildmyaudience.com
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“Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.”
~James Stewart
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