A quick post today.  I tweeted an old blog post over the weekend, and I realized that despite being 6 years old, we are still talking and thinking about the same challenges in the arts.  I do see some forward momentum, however, it is fairly slow and few and far between.

We keep reiterating the challenges and then asking the questions like “How can we build new audiences and get more support?”  This question is very open ended.  It doesn’t really focus on coming up with solutions and rather is almost like a prayer to the universe or a cry for help.  Maybe it would be better to ask questions that are more focused on specifics.

• Who can help me build my audiences?
• How can I connect to the community?
• What arts projects can help strengthen our communities?
• What do I need to do to gain more monetary support?
• How can we get to know our audiences better?
• Who is going to take the lead for action on our volunteer management program?
• What types of programs would show our audiences that we care about them?

I hope you get the idea – more focused, specific questions that beg for solution type answers of the how, the who, the what.  A plan can develop through this way of questioning.

I believe this way of questioning will get us out of the prayer mode and into a help ourselves direction.  We are the creatives.  We can come up with the answers if we are willing to ask the right types of questions and take action after the solutions are found.

Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana

Shoshana Fanizza
Chief Audience Builder