Shoshana Fanizza

Audiencentric Execution for the Future!

Posted by Shoshana Fanizza, Oct 19, 2015 1 comment


Shoshana Fanizza

The theme for this year's NAMP Conference is Lift Off! We will be exploring a variety of new techniques and technologies for audience building and obtaining more overall support of our organizations and the arts in general. Before we can Lift Off!, it is wise to look back over the year-to-date and see what has been occurring in order to create our checklist to get ready for Lift Off!

In going back over the year, the following in no particular order has happened:

In looking over our past year, I see a common theme emerging, and it is the theme of Audiencentric Execution!  A big component of audience development is to address our audience members as partners instead of as simply treating them as patrons. This concept translates into taking the audiences' feedback very seriously and implementing programs to address their wants and needs. We are starting to do this! The 4 C's of audience development - connection, community, collaboration and caring - are being used now to partner with our audiences, and the organizations and artists leading the way are seeing positive results.

We are also beginning to use the new technology to advance our presentational formats to create art that is more accessible for all. These advances in technology are allowing people of the disabled community to participate both as audience members and as artists, and we are going above and beyond the stage to connect to audiences on a more global level.

The arts are being used to create awareness for diversity and equality issues and other important global challenges.

The mindset of reaching out to our audiences, of bringing the arts to them, is becoming more common. With our outreach into our communities, and bridging the arts to our communities as solutions for our current local level challenges, the arts will be seen more as necessary instead of as a luxury. The integration of arts back into education will further seal the mindset of our current and future audience members.

To wrap up this post, as promised, I give you my checklist for ensuring that you too will also be ready for Lift Off!

  • Get mobilized. The Pew Research Center stated that 1 in 5 Americans use the internet via smartphone only. The search engines are starting to point out which sites are mobile friendly. With more people using mobile devices, they will be selecting the mobile friendly sites rather than the regular website to get their information and to make their entertainment and arts choices.
  • Get to know your audiences. Where would they like to enjoy the arts? How do they get their arts information? What reasons inspire them to attend? What other art forms do they enjoy? What percentage of your audience is disabled? What types of diversity are represented in your audiences? What generations are attending? Etc. You will be able to use this information to be more Audiencentric in your execution!
  • Have a database to keep track of data, both demographics and psychographics so you can continue to get to know your audiences. You will be able to use the data to tell relevant stories to them.
  • Get to know your community. Start having conversations with the leaders of your community. What challenges are your community working on? What can your arts do to help with a solution?
  • Consider further digitization. Are your audiences online? Do you want to reach out further to a more global audience? Would they enjoy an app that helps them appreciate and dive deeper into your art further?  Finding out where your audiences are online and which apps they use will guide you to the best social media and apps choices to connect to your audiences. The NEA released three reports with this statistic included: 71% used electronic media to watch or listen to art compared to 54% using television or radio.
  • Think about mobilizing your art. Where are your audiences located in everyday life? Are there places you can bring the arts to them?
  • Create hands-on experiences for your audience members. People are enjoying creating art themselves and see this as the way they would enjoy participating in the arts. How can you develop programs that will immerse them into the arts experience to become more involved with your art and organization?
  • Learn about the new social media and technology formats. We still need more trailers, Vines, Periscopes, etc. Experiment and have fun with these new ways to reach new audiences!
  • Become more social in general. Consider adding more social elements to your offerings. From the same NEA reports: 73% of attendees come to socialize with friends and family, 50% of adults attend with friends.
  • Become new and innovative again. People are wanting to learn something new. If you want audiences to keep coming back, expand your horizons too. From the NEA reports: 64% attend to learn new things.
  • Consider your pricing strategy. Lastly from the NEA reports: The biggest barrier to attending the arts is lack of time followed by costs. We can find out what the audiences are willing to pay and find the sweet spot that will also help us to cover the costs of our arts businesses.

 

All in all, Audiencentric Execution is becoming a must. If we want to Lift Off! and build more happy and loyal audiences, it is best to configure audience wants and needs into everything that we do. Even if you only have the time and energy to work on one of the checkpoints, you will find some forward momentum to take you into the second half of this current decade.

Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,

Shoshana

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

1 responses for Audiencentric Execution for the Future!

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October 21, 2015 at 12:29 am

Going to NAMPC? You can sign up for a one-on-one coaching session with me! bit.ly/sbIF5g

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