I wrote about Giving Circles on my personal blog last June, noting that the number of Giving Circles in the U.S. is growing. The appeal of this form of philanthropy is that it that the structure, criteria, participation, mission, etc are adaptable to the needs of your particular group.
Inside Philanthropy has noted that the composition of Giving Circles are also more diverse than institutional funding organizations.
As giving circles grow, they engage more people often left out of institutional philanthropy—especially women and people of color. Of the giving circles surveyed, 60 percent were identity-based groups. Women made up more than half the group for 70 percent of the circles. In contrast, men were represented in 66 percent of the groups, but only dominant in 7.5 percent of groups.
Giving circles are still mostly white. White members made up the majority of nearly 85 percent of the groups surveyed. However, about 40 percent reported at least one African American or Latino member and 30 percent reported at least one Asian or Pacific Islander member. Racial and ethnic minorities made up the majority of members in 11.5 percent of groups.
[…]
It’s not only women and people of color who are attracted to giving circles. According to the study, they also showed promise in engaging donors outside of the top income brackets. A decrease in the average donation, even as the total amount donated by giving circles grows, suggests the collective giving arrangements are becoming increasingly inclusive of more income levels.
While the most organization’s first instinct might be to investigate if there are any Giving Circles in their area as an additional funding source, perhaps a more significant benefit might be as a source of help in diversifying board membership.
If there is a group of people invested in supporting causes in minority communities in which they are members, they can potentially suggest members of those communities who might be interested in serving on your board. Certainly they could offer advice about how to do a better job communicating with the people they serve and making them feel welcome.
So even if the Giving Circle is focused on supporting health and human service causes and not performing and visual arts, there is still something to be gained by cultivating a relationship with them.
Conversations around performances and events really can enhance the experience for people, but making it an effective and enjoyable experience can take some preparation and discipline.
One of my favorite pieces on the practice was written for HowlRound by Brant Russell reflecting on his experience leading the discussions at Steppenwolf Theatre. He presented 11-ish rules that were basically aimed at having the moderator employ the lightest touch while also keeping the discussion away from questions like “how did you memorize all those lines?”
He counsels directors to stay away because they are too personally invested in the show. He cautions that when actors are present, it impacts what it is possible to discuss. It is difficult to keep the conversation about the performance rather than about the performer.
Dance Magazine recently had their own piece on pre- and post-performance talk backs. In it, dramaturg Melanie George says she focuses on what the audience felt to get them to ask questions based on their experiences rather than asking about the performer’s experience.
‘What do you remember? What are you feeling?’ Questions like those are useful because they focus everyone on the work, as opposed to the people making it.”
Brant Russell makes similar suggestions in his HowlRound piece.
For the moderator, he notes they are not a teacher or an expert, nor is there any reason to pretend to be objective. To the greatest extent possible, they should try to stay out of the way of the conversation, though don’t let it perceptually wane. If audience members are having a productive conversation, let it continue unless it gets too heated or is going so long interest starts to wane.
One of the more interesting pieces of advice he gives in regard to a show you, as the moderator, don’t particularly like:
RULE 9: If you really hate the production you’re discussing, just wait. I’ve found that if I lead enough conversations on a play, something will emerge that I will fall in love with. I have never liked a production less as a result of continued discussion.
I like the idea that the audience can help those involved with the creation of the production to appreciate it more. We often think of an arts event as something we offer to audiences for their entertainment and education. Typically our end of the transaction involves receiving money and applause.
The Atlantic recently had a good article by Yascha Mounk about panels that are the main focus of an event, such as at conferences and meetings. It is definitely valuable if you are organizing any type of discussion fora, including pre- and post-show discussions.
In the interests of effectively using the little time allotted, Mounk urges panels to number no more than four people; keeping introductions to no longer than 20 seconds per person and eliminating opening statements by each panelist. Attendees are there for a lively conversation. They don’t want to hear a rambling introduction from the moderator or monologues from panelists.
Also only a few people on large panels really get to speak. by iDominick [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia CommonsHe encourages choosing panelists who have something to say to one another, which means some points of disagreement. They don’t have to be diametrically opposed firebrands, but everyone nodding in agreement is boring for attendees.
But nothing works without the basics: Choose a topic in which your audience will take a genuine interest. Pick panelists who have real disagreements with one another. That is, make sure your speakers bring different perspectives and backgrounds to the stage.
As much as he secretly feels they are entertaining, Mounk sets some ground rules for dealing with questions from the audience expounding on crazy ideas at length.
But if you do want to stop the cranks from taking over—and despite my strange predilections, you probably should—your job is actually quite simple: Set out clear ground rules before you open the floor to the audience. Emphasize that you are looking for concise questions, not long rants. Make clear that you will cut people off if they go on for longer than 20 seconds. Do.
Moderators are there to advocate for the audience, Mounk says. If panelists are employing technical or specialized terminology, the moderator should ask them to rephrase more clearly. If they are rambling on, move the conversation on. If panelists are talking past each other, get them responding to each other.
If you have ever been canoeing or rafting down a river, the through line of all these articles is essentially that the moderator is at the rudder rather than a prime paddling position. Once you have the conversation moving and people are having a good time, don’t make any radical course changes. If things get sluggish, rally participants to infuse more movement. If things are getting a little too thrilling for the passengers, seek a calmer path.
If you are looking for advice on best practices for arts and cultural entities once they are allowed to re-open, Downtown Professionals Network (DPN) has created a website specifically focused on this topic called Reopen Main Street. The advice is broken down by types of business so arts and culture has its own devoted section.
Since restrictions on public interactions vary across the country, there is guidance for both live and virtual events. The very first piece of advice is to create an environment that makes audiences feel secure.
Enhance your patron’s comfort level.
Make liberal use of signs, decals, placards, counter displays, etc. to communicate to customers the health and safety measures you are taking to keep employees and customers safe.
This can tie into an escalated district-wide awareness campaign promoting what businesses are doing to best ensure a clean, safe, and comfortable environment and experience.
The next bit of advice addresses partitioning your space for social distancing, use of signs to support that, and having plenty of sanitizing materials on hand for use by both audiences and employees.
Lest they be overlooked, DPN reminds you to take the time to make your employees/associated artists/volunteers feel secure as well since they are an important part of your operations and among the best advocates of your activities in all its current and future manifestations.
If your organization has a food service or retail component to it, there are sections of the site devoted to restaurants and retail.
Finally, there is a section of the site with advice for community leaders. If you haven’t taken a leadership role in your community yet, there are many reasons for stepping up to do so now. Among them is that you want to have input in shaping perceptions and practices for the next normal in your community rather than reacting to whatever environment emerges.
The community leadership section encourages action on things that can be directly or indirectly beneficial to arts organizations like friendlier parking, more space for pedestrian traffic and cafe seating, better way finding signage, promoting tourism, co-coordinating communications and information flow between local businesses. Even if your organization is located outside of a downtown or pedestrian heavy district, if potential audiences don’t have an optimistic view of your community that will impact their willingness to approach your doors so it behooves you to be involved and provide input.
In the beginning of all the closures, most museums heavily promoted their virtual tours. (Or, if they didn’t have one already, they created one.) Many saw increased engagement in the tours in those initial days but, if you have been looking at your data, you probably have seen a drop-off in virtual visits.
First off, let me say that I think virtual tours are great evergreen content to have and you should keep what you have.
That said, a recent article by MuseumHack shows how the web searches for virtual museum tours has sharply declined in recent weeks.
The data shows that interest in virtual museum tours started to surge on March 14, peaked on March 17 and has been on decline ever since.
Well, you may ask, what are people searching for? The answer is actually quite logical when you think about it.
Exploring the available data shows that at least three potential audiences for museums are surging right now. Supporting data shows these searches have meaningful search volume and market interest as well.
The three areas are:
virtual field trips for kids
quarantine date ideas
things to read
You may not be surprised about virtual field trips for kids but the other two may be things that we’re not thinking about.
The great thing about all of these three things is that they can be adapted for almost all types of arts organizations, not just museums. I would invite you to consider how your organization might be able to create programming that fulfills these needs.
Lastly, it is important to keep an eye on your analytics so you can determine which virtual programs are successful at your organization. If something is working, stick with it!
As it becomes more clear that social distancing practices aren’t going to end anytime soon, our attention is turning to how to leverage our online offerings to build future audiences.
Many organizations have widely shared free and open content online which has turned out to be a good vehicle to reach current and new patrons. In addition to making it easy to experience the art, this type of deployment removed the barrier of geography and many organizations have seen increased and more diverse engagement than ever before.
Free digital content will continue to be something that we create, but we need to think about how to gather data on who is consuming it, much like we would when someone purchases a ticket.
I have some examples of organizations that are collecting data in exchange for access to their digital content:
Pittsburgh Symphony
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is broadcasting concert recordings on their website but you have to fill out a short form in order to watch it.
Alaska Zoo
Like so many organizations, Alaska Zoo has created downloadable Zoom backgrounds. Instead of being able to download them directly, you have to request them via email and they are sent back to you.
Cleveland Play House
Cleveland Play House has moved its education programming online and one of the offerings is live classes with their teaching artists. In order to participate, you must register for a particular class and time block and then you are sent the link to join.
New-York Historical Society
The New-York Historical society is offering virtual presentations of their collections and exhibitions. They are free for members (also a great way to continue offering member benefits) and $10 for non-members. After you register for one of the presentation, a Zoom link is sent.
In collecting this data, you know who is participating in which programs. You can add this information to your existing audience segments and create new ones for follow-up communications later.
If your organization is already taking this approach, please share a link in the comments!
The three broad categories of change the survey results indicated are:
• Becoming more inclusive and community-centered is the most widely desired category and includes greater diversity of voices and faces, greater focus on localness (local artists, local nonprofits, and the local community), more engagement with young people, treating employees fairly, and being friendlier to all kinds of people. More than half (55%) of Americans overall want one or more of those changes, and that desire is even higher for BIPOC groups (63%–76% across categories).
• Becoming more casual and enjoyable includes changes toward fun, informality, and child friendliness, and is desired by more than a third of Americans overall (41%) and fully half of Hispanic/Latinx Americans (51%).
• More reflective and dynamic content includes “stories or content that connect to my life” and “more frequent new works or exhibits.” Over a quarter of Americans (29%) want one or both of these changes, and this desire is strongest among Asian and Pacific Islanders (43%).
There was already an acknowledgment that these were needs that needed to be addressed prior to Covid so there are not surprises here. While the researchers note the CultureTrack survey ended just days before George Floyd was killed, my sense is that is if there has been any change, it is likely in the direction of these sentiments deepening.
Also perhaps not surprising was the finding that the people with an existing affiliation to a cultural organization are least likely to want things to change. “Asian/Pacific Islander, Black/African American, and Hispanic/Latinx — were more likely to hope change occurs than the overall population.” However, income level played an interesting role: “For Asians or Pacific Islanders, Black/African Americans, and multiracial Americans, desire for change is stronger among those with higher incomes; for White or Caucasian Americans, desire for change is stronger among those with lower incomes.” (My bold, their italics)
One thing to note before we look at the other results: The survey used very broad definitions of what constituted culture in their survey. Keep in mind that when people say they value an experience, it may not necessarily be the type offered by a formal, bricks and mortar entity or they may not be having the experiences with those entities.
For example, the survey results notes:
Blacks/African Americans are more likely than other groups to say that arts and culture organizations can help their communities stay informed with trusted information. This was the most-selected response to that question for Blacks/African Americans, and it was not even in the top three among other racial/ethnic groups….
Together, these disproportionate impacts, unique needs, and personal creativity may suggest ways that arts and culture organizations and funders could rethink programming and relevance to better serve BIPOC Americans.
There are greater specifics on page 21 of the PDF copy of the report:
This greater emphasis placed by some BIPOC Americans on the social, civic, emotional, therapeutic, and creative-expression roles of cultural participation may help practitioners and funders think more broadly about service and relevance to communities of color during difficult times.
The authors go on to note that “digital only” audiences are much more diverse than traditional in-person ones. (Though that may have changed since the survey was conducted in the early days of Covid and digital offerings began to include a price tag.) Acknowledging that much more study is required, they mention some of the questions they want to answer in the next iteration of the survey (my emphasis):
To the extent that this may be due to lower financial and logistical barriers in the online realm, it raises questions for funders and practitioners about how to preserve accessibility and inclusion as cultural organizations shift from free to paid or subscription models for their digital offerings. To the extent that it may be due to the absence of some of the social or cultural doubts and discomforts associated with in-person attendance for some Americans (Will there be people who look like me? Will the norms of participation be congenial for me? Will I feel safe?), then the question is what might we learn from online cultural experiences about how to make in-person experiences more accessible, especially for BIPOC Americans?
To a great extent, nearly every data point that emerged lead the researchers to more “Why is that?” questions. They seemed a bit flummoxed by results that showed Native Americans are more likely than the general US population (50% vs. 19%) to have practiced photography or photo editing. The questions they pose can be valuable for local conversations with different groups.
Starting at page 46 of the PDF, there are snapshot summaries of the results from different ethnic groups like this one you can peruse.
Advisory Board for the Arts sponsored a webinar discussing how Utah Symphony shifted its marketing focus to emphasize emotional factors and shared values. Karen Freeman, Executive Director of Research at Advisory Board for the Arts, observed that this approach can be effective because “people make choices based on emotional factors but justify it with rational considerations.” Essentially, how this might manifest is you may choose what car to purchase based on an emotional association but decide it is a good choice based on things like gas mileage, dealer incentives and utility to your family.
Freeman says that providing a high quality art experience will attract people, yes, but that isn’t enough to sustain you. As noted in the chart below, for 1/3 of your audience, investment in the art form is a motivator because it is part of their identity. The other 2/3 have a different factors which motivate them.
The different motivating factors for the other 2/3 of audiences were identified by John Falk, using different category names, in Identity and the Museum Visitor Experience. I wrote about these categories in a bit more in detail on my personal blog for those interested in learning more.
Something to be particularly aware of however, is that regardless of whether someone feels emotionally connected to culture as part of their identity or not, the motivation for a specific visit may vary from visit to visit. One week they may visit based on a desire to gain expertise, next month it may be to support family and friends and next year it might so they can say they saw a famous work. Since what will resonate this time will be different from the last time, a variety of messaging needs to be employed for every opportunity being offered
Around the 13:15 point in the video, there are examples of Utah Symphony promotional materials which span the continuum of appeals, from functional benefit to emotional value. While it doesn’t appear the symphony created campaigns that evoked shared value, Freeman uses Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign to illustrate what that might look like.
Utah Symphony employed the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) to get a sense of what people valued about the organization. At around the 17:45 they discuss how they asked people to bring in 10 images that represent the symphony that do not include any pictures of symphony, musicians or instruments. If you think this is a great idea you want to do, be prepared to communicate expectations very clearly, perhaps with some repetition. In the Q&A segment later in the video, Jonathan Miles, VP of Marketing & Public Relations at Utah Symphony says getting people to understand what they supposed to bring to the interview was just about the most difficult part of the process.
Using ZMET elicited some good results. Someone brought picture of an Adirondack chair explaining they felt the same sense of calm in the symphony as they did in their chair at the lake. Among the additional questions the interviewer might use were asking about any feelings that they couldn’t find appropriate picture for. What else might be in the picture if the frame is extended? Interviewees were also asked to provide sensory metaphors – what color, smell, touch associated was associated with or perhaps or not associated with attending the orchestra?
They also mentioned a simpler approach might be to use the 5 Whys. It is a technique popularized by Toyota where you ask “Why” type questions at least 5 times to get to the core of what motivates them. At the the 22 min point Freeman presents chart which sort of illustrates where the Why technique might lead.
The first why might elicit a response that someone values the symphony for live performance. Asking why live performance is important might get an answer of extraordinary experience. Why does that matter? Makes me a better person. Why is it important to be a better person? Creates a sense of inner harmony.
Freeman says if you only asked Why once or twice, you will end up focused on product features and benefits and not really learn about what people see is a value of the experience to them as a person.
Using ZMET did see an increase in sales, revenue and reactivated buyers and according to Jonathan Miles it also shifted the way symphony staff spoke internally about patrons and reframed decision making about the patron experience. The internal change probably had more far reaching influence in success than if they had employed this technique superficially as a formula for success.
Miles said instead of trying to find out those who were engaged with arts and culture at other places weren’t coming, they tried to learn more about the core values embraced by superfans and then help people who shared the values of superfans see how those values were manifested at Utah Symphony performances through the superfans’ eyes.
Last 30 min is Miles talking about how they conducted the interviews, things to keep in mind, and how he cultivated internal allies around the approach and campaigns.
One amusing coincidence they stumbled upon was that they used images in some of their ads (see ~53:15) which mimicked scanable links to Spotify songs so people thought they could listen to the same songs those depicted in the images were. They ends up scrambling to reissue the ads so that people could scan them to do just that.
If you are looking for advice on best practices for arts and cultural entities once they are allowed to re-open, Downtown Professionals Network (DPN) has created a website specifically focused on this topic called Reopen Main Street. The advice is broken down by types of business so arts and culture has its own devoted section.
Since restrictions on public interactions vary across the country, there is guidance for both live and virtual events. The very first piece of advice is to create an environment that makes audiences feel secure.
Enhance your patron’s comfort level.
Make liberal use of signs, decals, placards, counter displays, etc. to communicate to customers the health and safety measures you are taking to keep employees and customers safe.
This can tie into an escalated district-wide awareness campaign promoting what businesses are doing to best ensure a clean, safe, and comfortable environment and experience.
The next bit of advice addresses partitioning your space for social distancing, use of signs to support that, and having plenty of sanitizing materials on hand for use by both audiences and employees.
Lest they be overlooked, DPN reminds you to take the time to make your employees/associated artists/volunteers feel secure as well since they are an important part of your operations and among the best advocates of your activities in all its current and future manifestations.
If your organization has a food service or retail component to it, there are sections of the site devoted to restaurants and retail.
Finally, there is a section of the site with advice for community leaders. If you haven’t taken a leadership role in your community yet, there are many reasons for stepping up to do so now. Among them is that you want to have input in shaping perceptions and practices for the next normal in your community rather than reacting to whatever environment emerges.
The community leadership section encourages action on things that can be directly or indirectly beneficial to arts organizations like friendlier parking, more space for pedestrian traffic and cafe seating, better way finding signage, promoting tourism, co-coordinating communications and information flow between local businesses. Even if your organization is located outside of a downtown or pedestrian heavy district, if potential audiences don’t have an optimistic view of your community that will impact their willingness to approach your doors so it behooves you to be involved and provide input.
In the beginning of all the closures, most museums heavily promoted their virtual tours. (Or, if they didn’t have one already, they created one.) Many saw increased engagement in the tours in those initial days but, if you have been looking at your data, you probably have seen a drop-off in virtual visits.
First off, let me say that I think virtual tours are great evergreen content to have and you should keep what you have.
That said, a recent article by MuseumHack shows how the web searches for virtual museum tours has sharply declined in recent weeks.
The data shows that interest in virtual museum tours started to surge on March 14, peaked on March 17 and has been on decline ever since.
Well, you may ask, what are people searching for? The answer is actually quite logical when you think about it.
Exploring the available data shows that at least three potential audiences for museums are surging right now. Supporting data shows these searches have meaningful search volume and market interest as well.
The three areas are:
virtual field trips for kids
quarantine date ideas
things to read
You may not be surprised about virtual field trips for kids but the other two may be things that we’re not thinking about.
The great thing about all of these three things is that they can be adapted for almost all types of arts organizations, not just museums. I would invite you to consider how your organization might be able to create programming that fulfills these needs.
Lastly, it is important to keep an eye on your analytics so you can determine which virtual programs are successful at your organization. If something is working, stick with it!
As it becomes more clear that social distancing practices aren’t going to end anytime soon, our attention is turning to how to leverage our online offerings to build future audiences.
Many organizations have widely shared free and open content online which has turned out to be a good vehicle to reach current and new patrons. In addition to making it easy to experience the art, this type of deployment removed the barrier of geography and many organizations have seen increased and more diverse engagement than ever before.
Free digital content will continue to be something that we create, but we need to think about how to gather data on who is consuming it, much like we would when someone purchases a ticket.
I have some examples of organizations that are collecting data in exchange for access to their digital content:
Pittsburgh Symphony
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is broadcasting concert recordings on their website but you have to fill out a short form in order to watch it.
Alaska Zoo
Like so many organizations, Alaska Zoo has created downloadable Zoom backgrounds. Instead of being able to download them directly, you have to request them via email and they are sent back to you.
Cleveland Play House
Cleveland Play House has moved its education programming online and one of the offerings is live classes with their teaching artists. In order to participate, you must register for a particular class and time block and then you are sent the link to join.
New-York Historical Society
The New-York Historical society is offering virtual presentations of their collections and exhibitions. They are free for members (also a great way to continue offering member benefits) and $10 for non-members. After you register for one of the presentation, a Zoom link is sent.
In collecting this data, you know who is participating in which programs. You can add this information to your existing audience segments and create new ones for follow-up communications later.
If your organization is already taking this approach, please share a link in the comments!
The three broad categories of change the survey results indicated are:
• Becoming more inclusive and community-centered is the most widely desired category and includes greater diversity of voices and faces, greater focus on localness (local artists, local nonprofits, and the local community), more engagement with young people, treating employees fairly, and being friendlier to all kinds of people. More than half (55%) of Americans overall want one or more of those changes, and that desire is even higher for BIPOC groups (63%–76% across categories).
• Becoming more casual and enjoyable includes changes toward fun, informality, and child friendliness, and is desired by more than a third of Americans overall (41%) and fully half of Hispanic/Latinx Americans (51%).
• More reflective and dynamic content includes “stories or content that connect to my life” and “more frequent new works or exhibits.” Over a quarter of Americans (29%) want one or both of these changes, and this desire is strongest among Asian and Pacific Islanders (43%).
There was already an acknowledgment that these were needs that needed to be addressed prior to Covid so there are not surprises here. While the researchers note the CultureTrack survey ended just days before George Floyd was killed, my sense is that is if there has been any change, it is likely in the direction of these sentiments deepening.
Also perhaps not surprising was the finding that the people with an existing affiliation to a cultural organization are least likely to want things to change. “Asian/Pacific Islander, Black/African American, and Hispanic/Latinx — were more likely to hope change occurs than the overall population.” However, income level played an interesting role: “For Asians or Pacific Islanders, Black/African Americans, and multiracial Americans, desire for change is stronger among those with higher incomes; for White or Caucasian Americans, desire for change is stronger among those with lower incomes.” (My bold, their italics)
One thing to note before we look at the other results: The survey used very broad definitions of what constituted culture in their survey. Keep in mind that when people say they value an experience, it may not necessarily be the type offered by a formal, bricks and mortar entity or they may not be having the experiences with those entities.
For example, the survey results notes:
Blacks/African Americans are more likely than other groups to say that arts and culture organizations can help their communities stay informed with trusted information. This was the most-selected response to that question for Blacks/African Americans, and it was not even in the top three among other racial/ethnic groups….
Together, these disproportionate impacts, unique needs, and personal creativity may suggest ways that arts and culture organizations and funders could rethink programming and relevance to better serve BIPOC Americans.
There are greater specifics on page 21 of the PDF copy of the report:
This greater emphasis placed by some BIPOC Americans on the social, civic, emotional, therapeutic, and creative-expression roles of cultural participation may help practitioners and funders think more broadly about service and relevance to communities of color during difficult times.
The authors go on to note that “digital only” audiences are much more diverse than traditional in-person ones. (Though that may have changed since the survey was conducted in the early days of Covid and digital offerings began to include a price tag.) Acknowledging that much more study is required, they mention some of the questions they want to answer in the next iteration of the survey (my emphasis):
To the extent that this may be due to lower financial and logistical barriers in the online realm, it raises questions for funders and practitioners about how to preserve accessibility and inclusion as cultural organizations shift from free to paid or subscription models for their digital offerings. To the extent that it may be due to the absence of some of the social or cultural doubts and discomforts associated with in-person attendance for some Americans (Will there be people who look like me? Will the norms of participation be congenial for me? Will I feel safe?), then the question is what might we learn from online cultural experiences about how to make in-person experiences more accessible, especially for BIPOC Americans?
To a great extent, nearly every data point that emerged lead the researchers to more “Why is that?” questions. They seemed a bit flummoxed by results that showed Native Americans are more likely than the general US population (50% vs. 19%) to have practiced photography or photo editing. The questions they pose can be valuable for local conversations with different groups.
Starting at page 46 of the PDF, there are snapshot summaries of the results from different ethnic groups like this one you can peruse.
Advisory Board for the Arts sponsored a webinar discussing how Utah Symphony shifted its marketing focus to emphasize emotional factors and shared values. Karen Freeman, Executive Director of Research at Advisory Board for the Arts, observed that this approach can be effective because “people make choices based on emotional factors but justify it with rational considerations.” Essentially, how this might manifest is you may choose what car to purchase based on an emotional association but decide it is a good choice based on things like gas mileage, dealer incentives and utility to your family.
Freeman says that providing a high quality art experience will attract people, yes, but that isn’t enough to sustain you. As noted in the chart below, for 1/3 of your audience, investment in the art form is a motivator because it is part of their identity. The other 2/3 have a different factors which motivate them.
The different motivating factors for the other 2/3 of audiences were identified by John Falk, using different category names, in Identity and the Museum Visitor Experience. I wrote about these categories in a bit more in detail on my personal blog for those interested in learning more.
Something to be particularly aware of however, is that regardless of whether someone feels emotionally connected to culture as part of their identity or not, the motivation for a specific visit may vary from visit to visit. One week they may visit based on a desire to gain expertise, next month it may be to support family and friends and next year it might so they can say they saw a famous work. Since what will resonate this time will be different from the last time, a variety of messaging needs to be employed for every opportunity being offered
Around the 13:15 point in the video, there are examples of Utah Symphony promotional materials which span the continuum of appeals, from functional benefit to emotional value. While it doesn’t appear the symphony created campaigns that evoked shared value, Freeman uses Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign to illustrate what that might look like.
Utah Symphony employed the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) to get a sense of what people valued about the organization. At around the 17:45 they discuss how they asked people to bring in 10 images that represent the symphony that do not include any pictures of symphony, musicians or instruments. If you think this is a great idea you want to do, be prepared to communicate expectations very clearly, perhaps with some repetition. In the Q&A segment later in the video, Jonathan Miles, VP of Marketing & Public Relations at Utah Symphony says getting people to understand what they supposed to bring to the interview was just about the most difficult part of the process.
Using ZMET elicited some good results. Someone brought picture of an Adirondack chair explaining they felt the same sense of calm in the symphony as they did in their chair at the lake. Among the additional questions the interviewer might use were asking about any feelings that they couldn’t find appropriate picture for. What else might be in the picture if the frame is extended? Interviewees were also asked to provide sensory metaphors – what color, smell, touch associated was associated with or perhaps or not associated with attending the orchestra?
They also mentioned a simpler approach might be to use the 5 Whys. It is a technique popularized by Toyota where you ask “Why” type questions at least 5 times to get to the core of what motivates them. At the the 22 min point Freeman presents chart which sort of illustrates where the Why technique might lead.
The first why might elicit a response that someone values the symphony for live performance. Asking why live performance is important might get an answer of extraordinary experience. Why does that matter? Makes me a better person. Why is it important to be a better person? Creates a sense of inner harmony.
Freeman says if you only asked Why once or twice, you will end up focused on product features and benefits and not really learn about what people see is a value of the experience to them as a person.
Using ZMET did see an increase in sales, revenue and reactivated buyers and according to Jonathan Miles it also shifted the way symphony staff spoke internally about patrons and reframed decision making about the patron experience. The internal change probably had more far reaching influence in success than if they had employed this technique superficially as a formula for success.
Miles said instead of trying to find out those who were engaged with arts and culture at other places weren’t coming, they tried to learn more about the core values embraced by superfans and then help people who shared the values of superfans see how those values were manifested at Utah Symphony performances through the superfans’ eyes.
Last 30 min is Miles talking about how they conducted the interviews, things to keep in mind, and how he cultivated internal allies around the approach and campaigns.
One amusing coincidence they stumbled upon was that they used images in some of their ads (see ~53:15) which mimicked scanable links to Spotify songs so people thought they could listen to the same songs those depicted in the images were. They ends up scrambling to reissue the ads so that people could scan them to do just that.
My colleague and frequent collaborator Ann Marie Sorrell is fond of saying that engagement with diverse communities must be more than “checking a box” and she’s absolutely correct. Ann Marie and I are long-time collaborators in this work, starting with a multi-year initiative many years ago at Palm Beach Opera.
As National Black Business Month has just concluded, I’m reminded of an article in The New York Times which brought this concept to the front of my mind once again. It shines a light on the sometimes performative nature of A.D.E.I work, often at times when it is convenient such as Black History Month, MLK Day, Juneteenth, etc. Many organizations in our sector continue to maintain audience demographics that do not reflect the communities they serve.
There are several insights in the article, some of which I’ll share here:
[Black History Month] in which D.E.I. firms are ordinarily flooded instead became a reminder, for clients, that their drive should persist throughout the year.
Wise words from Faith Kares, senior director of research and impact at Beloved, a firm working to deepen DEI practices & antiracist leadership:
Dr. Kares was skeptical as she watched dozens of corporations appoint new diversity and inclusion directors in 2020. “Giving $60,000 to these positions is nothing,” she said. “It’s a slap in the face. What’s going to happen in five years when it’s not on trend anymore?”
As many performing arts organizations schedule concerts, museums put on exhibitions, and everyone puts on a show on social media with a flurry of content featuring the diversity hashtag-of-the-month, have we ever stopped to think that this might actually be hurting us rather than helping? Reaching out one person — let alone an entire community — just once per year doesn’t demonstrate very much sincerity.
And finally, one key point:
…unless [an organization’s] senior leaders are engaged, because they know that without that commitment the efforts could easily get sidelined.
Without the sincere and mindful commitment from everyone at an organization, building a true relationship with underrepresented and historically excluded communities will not be a success.
All of that said, I invite you to do an honest audit of your organization’s A.D.E.I activities. Are you engaging in true relationship-building and fostering systemic change?
Basically, even the disciplines with the best levels of awareness of non-profit status don’t even get close to 50% awareness.
Overall, only 38.6% of US adults believe that nonprofit exhibit-based organizations are nonprofits. This number considers visitors and non-visitors alike and the weighted attendance distribution of each organization type in the US.
Nonprofit performing arts organizations are in a similar situation: Fewer than half of recent patrons correctly identify them as nonprofit organizations. Nonprofit live theaters and live theater organizations are least likely to be accurately perceived as nonprofit organizations, and nonprofit orchestras are most likely to be perceived accurately as nonprofit organizations.
The data Dilenschneider presents, solicited and analyzed by her employer IMPACTS, is likely to be rather depressing to most arts and cultural organizations because it not only reveals a lack of awareness, but how few people even think about the business models of places they have recently visited and with which they have participated. When they do try to identify the business model, they are frequently wrong.
This matters because people are willing to donate to organizations they perceive to be non-profits. The implications of not perceiving an organization as a non-profit are pretty clear. There are actually a number of factors outside of an organization’s control that color perceptions. For example, being in Washington DC or a state capital can contribute to the perception of being government run.
From my own experience, organizations who receive office space or residency status within a facility run by another entity can lead to confusion about how the resident organization is funded. In some cases, fans who identify the facility with the work of a favored resident group have assumed the resident owned the large complex rather than a couple small offices and shared access to a copier.
The solution, according to Dilenschneider isn’t to emphasize your organization’s tax status, but rather the organization’s mission:
Here’s where things get interesting (in our nerdy opinions): People are most likely to correctly identify organizations as nonprofits when they can align that entity to its unique meaningful achievements and missions. It may not be shouting a tax status from the rooftops that sticks, but instead the perceived values and impactful initiatives that an organization brings to its respective communities and constituencies.
My emphasis, or perhaps it is better stated, de-emphasis, because she bolded that entire sentence but I wanted to call attention to the terms unique & meaningful. A pretty good sized span of Dilenschneider’s entry is devoted to narrative and charts showing what constitutes meaningful differs based on discipline and organization. The general survey data she presents can give you direction about what is relevant for your organization’s format and discipline, but deeper meaning can be community specific.
Based on the work of people like Nina Simon and Ruth Hartt, these will be things that are relevant and meaningful to the community, not the organization.
According to Dilenschneider’s data there is a cost to not emphasizing meaningful achievements:
People who mistakenly categorize nonprofit organizations as having other funding structures and operational statuses generally cannot name a single meaningful achievement associated with the organization in question, despite being aware of or perhaps even visiting that organization.
Did you know according to surveys conducted a few months ago, the most entertaining performance based organization in the world is the Sydney Opera House, followed by the Hollywood Bowl and the most entertaining exhibit based organization in the world is the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial followed by the Gettysburg National Military Park?
If you are thinking, geez, people have a pretty morbid conception of what is entertaining if they are listing two military cemeteries ahead of The Louvre (#3 on the list), according to Colleen Dilenschneider and her colleagues at IMPACTS Experience, it is actually how the general public defines entertaining that is different from how arts organizations define the term. (subscription required)
You may have read my earlier post about Dilenschneider’s research which finds people have a hard time discerning whether your arts organization is a non-profit or not, even if you tell them, so you’ll appreciate just how much work she and her colleagues are doing to show arts professional and creative insiders how their perceptions differ from those of program participants. She notes that for a lot of arts professionals “entertaining” is associated with superficial, trivial, and frivolous experiences, whereas their goal is to provide deep, meaningful, educational experiences.
The reality is, those are the same concepts cited by people who ranked places like the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial as having high entertainment value. The top five adjectives used were: Inspiring, Beautiful, Meaningful, Powerful, and Moving.
It should be noted, all the answers provided in these surveys were to open ended questions. Respondents weren’t given a list of organizations or adjectives to choose from. The places that rose to the top of lists as being entertaining were apparently at the top of people’s minds. I should also note that not everyone in the world was asked to identify the most entertaining places in the world. Respondents were mostly in North America, Western Europe, Central Europe, Northern Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
As you may begin to discern, it is the overall context of an experience that determines whether a place is considered entertaining or not. The same is true for performing arts organizations which tend to be more comfortable with being considered entertaining. (Though there is certainly still a sense of delineation between what is a real experience and what is frivolous.) So what IMPACTS learned might be disappointing to many performing arts organizations – the context in which the experience occurs influences the perception of entertainment more than the quality of the experience.
Experiencing a performance in an iconic setting reliably contributes to elevated entertainment ratings across multiple programs and experiences by the same presenting organization. Similarly, we’ve found that the exact same “entertaining” performance can be perceived as more or less entertaining depending on the location of that performance.
[…]
People believe the Sydney Opera House to be the most entertaining performance-based organization in the world, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that every single performance presented within its walls is reliably and equally entertaining. Instead, this location may be most strongly cited because the art, architecture, and iconic nature of this space extends beyond individual performances. Similarly, seeing a performance “on Broadway” contributes to higher entertainment scores
One of the sub-headers in Dilenschneider’s post sums it up ““Entertaining” can mean meaningful – not meaningless.” People participating in an experience can deem it entertaining because they found it meaningful to them. Her post has tons and tons of great data and insight that is best read at the source.
Having read all this research, you may be struck with dismay because your organization doesn’t operate in an iconic structure or arts district, but it should be noted that when asked what entertaining mean in the context of cultural organizations, “something you want to share” and “unique” followed terms like “inspiring, engaging, meaningful, relevant, and fun”. It is absolutely possible to create experiences which are meaningful, relevant, unique and something people want to share within the context of a smaller organization in a manner that larger organizations are entirely unable.
Smaller organizations can involve participants in silly activities and fun videos that connect with a community in ways larger organizations can’t. On my personal blog, I have written about museums that provided anyone who wanted to wander in with an opportunity to hang out with noted artists and gallery owners who were serving themselves out of a pot of jambalaya on the stove. Nina Simon has talked about creating pop-up museum exhibits to failed relationships in a bar.
Even if the terms listed above don’t match your definition of entertaining, you likely understand they describe the experiences people in your community are seeking.
One of the ways communities are using arts and creativity to revitalize buildings and downtown districts are murals on buildings. However, not all surfaces are suited for murals. The best intentions of contributing to a more attractive, welcoming streetscape may result in the building owner regretting their decision.
The Historic Preservation Commission for Loveland, CO has created a webpage and downloadable publication warning about the damage and potential structural issues that may result in painting the old brick of historic buildings.
Many of the issues painting brick structures creates are related to trapping moisture in what is normally a relatively porous, breathable material. Temperature changes causing expansion of that moisture can undermine the structural integrity of the brick and mortar. The paint can obscure the development of these issues until the damage becomes severe and repairs more costly and extensive.
The other thing they note is that murals may end up hiding or muting distinctive architectural features that might be better amplified in order to celebrate the rare character of the structure and community.
There are some types of brick that are suitable for painting. Even some historic brick was intended to be painted, but only with substances which allowed them to breathe:
Some brick buildings were intended to be painted. In the United States, brick buildings constructed before the 1870s were made of a much softer, more porous type of material that needed to be protected from the elements by paint. The paints used on these buildings were natural, mineral-based paints, such as limewash or milk paint, which were breathable.
The wise approach is to do a little research and testing to determine what the appropriate materials and approach are for a specific building. There are options for different aluminum, plywood, and engineered fabrics upon which murals can be painted and attached to buildings. The webpage and publication provide some advice about how to anchor the panels (into the mortar rather than brick) and fabric (breathable acrylic gel). Certainly there are likely other products and approaches one might utilize.
Keep in mind that geographic location should also be factored in to the materials and process chosen. The guide linked to here is calibrated to the conditions of cold, snowy winters and glaring summer sun at elevations exceeding one mile. Murals will weather differently in the relatively warmer, more humid climes of the southeast and drier, hotter deserts of the southwest, as well as the mix of annual weather conditions across the rest of the US.
