Every once in a while, I attempt to speak out about the forgotten generation.  I believe that this generation gap is causing a great deal of challenges to building our arts audiences. You see, if you skip a generation, there is a big hole in terms of bridging the generations together.

Generation X,  approximately (depending on your source) aged 34-50, is not being focused on for audience building in the arts.  Now think about what this hole will cause.  Generation X is raising families currently.  If you do not start reaching Gen X, the offspring of this generation will not be effectively reached either which will cause more gaps in the future.

Gen X can be considered the “middle child” between the Millennial and Baby Boomer generations.  Growing up in-between, Gen X is fiercely independent yet acutely observant about what is happening around them. The older Gen Xers were raised by the Silent Generation.  As you can see, the lives of Gen X are in touch with three other main generations.

Cutting out one generation will not help with your audience building, and especially since the Gen X generation have skills and relations that could be extremely useful to you.  This generation is already of the age of acquired experience and education, and they are still young enough to steer you in the right direction for relating to the younger generations.  They are old enough to relate to the older generations as well.  This means that Gen X is in the perfect position to be effective leaders during our current situations and challenges.

Every generation has its positive attributes. The value of the Gen X generation can be seen in other industries.  I believe it is time for the arts industry to also value the members of Gen X, and to realize that including this generation is the bridge needing to be built for the future of the arts.

Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,

Shoshana

Shoshana Fanizza
Chief Audience Builder, ADS