As I mentioned in my latest audience development tip of the day: Showing up in the present, I made a suggestion to start focusing on the present moment instead of the past and the future. The only way we are going to create an audience that reflects people of today is to actually commit to audience development ideas and solutions for today.
In our arts industry, we keep attempting solutions of the past and we keep looking at what is needed for the future. Are we actually living in the present? No wonder most of us are having a tough time building an audience that reflects our modern society. No wonder we have an audience that reflects a past era. No wonder we are stuck in the vicious cycle of not taking risks and making the changes necessary for today.
Here are the exact words from Jillian Michaels that she says in her week 1 Ripped in 30 workout (you listened to the tip of the day link, right?):
“Most people don’t show up in their own lives. They go through life every single day without being focused and bringing their A-Game. Transformation is not a future event – it is a present activity. That is why you must bring everything you have to give in every moment. And, it doesn’t have to be perfect. It’s not about perfect – it’s about effort. Bring that effort every single day. That’s where transformation happens. That’s how change occurs.”
Yes, lately I am on a fitness kick that I want to become a lifestyle change. I was watching an infomercial for Insanity – a 60 day, crazy, intense 45-minute workouts, 6 days a week, program that promises buffness if you commit to the program. People did get results when they did commit. This program was a new solution on the market, but it will only work if you are able to commit to the program and to put in the focused effort every day of the program.
Success requires laser, present focus. It requires commitment and intense effort. If you seriously (and I mean seriously) want to increase your audiences, increase your sales and revenues, increase your donor and volunteer support, you will have to begin to commit and put in the effort and focus on present day ideas and solutions (not what you have done in the past or hope to do in the future).
I have presented in my last Friday blog post that we might be having an identity crisis in the arts. We don’t know who we are anymore. This translates to how we function as individual artists and arts organizations. Not only do we need to discover who we are as artists/organizations now, who we are today or who we want to be today, but we need to figure out how to function in the present day as well.
Both of these challenges require us to show up in our own lives and create a focus on achieving our goals and aspirations in the present day.
You want a bigger and better audience, right? So now you have a decision to make. Are you going to show up in your own life and commit to audience development?
Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana
Shoshana Fanizza
Audience Development Specialists
https://www.buildmyaudience.com
“Never treat your audience as customers, always as partners.”
~James Stewart
Join us for our next webinar:
March 16th – Noon ET
Working with Mobile Technology to Develop Your Audience
With the rapid adoption of web-enabled cell phones, smartphones and tablet computers, what options are available to arts professionals who want to engage their audiences via mobile devices? How can artists and organizations implement these options cost effectively without taking focus away from the art?
Shoshana Fanizza, Audience Development Specialists
Co-hosted with David Dombrosky, Chief Marketing Officer, InstantEncore
Co-produced with David Weuste, Rosebrook Classical
To Register: Click Here!
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New eBook! The How of Audience Development for the Arts: Learn the Basics, Create Your Plan
