This past weekend I was giving a presentation to the board of a choral organization. One of their main concerns of shifting to audience development was whether or not the choir would be supportive. The choir members already do help sell tickets and volunteer in other capacities. Will this be overload? Will they see value in this new way of thinking?

I did mention that I had to noodle on this a little bit before I could come up with solutions. One specific board member offered that he felt that choir members needed to be part of the planning process, which perhaps was not considered before. In thinking about this comment and the choir’s current involvement, I think I do see the solution now.

The choir members are asked to sell and to volunteer for the events, yet perhaps they haven’t really been asked to be part of the planning stages before. Choir members already have a specific buy-in since they want audiences to hear them sing and enjoy their events, however, they might not be feeling that they are part of the organization in the sense of being a voice in business aspects.

Some choir members will not want to be involved on this level, but there will be several who do. In finding the artistic members of your organization that want to contribute as part of the planning arm of the organization, your artistic members will feel represented.

The organization I worked with does have a Choir Council, but I have a feeling they are mostly concerned with governing choir issues and not organizational issues. I have yet to have the additional discussions for this particular challenge.

Going forward, the choir members do need to feel part of the organization and not just part of the choir.

Audience development requires a team mentality. If a part of your organization is not on board, the entire plan may not work. The artistic members of your organization should feel that they have a buy-in, that they feel ownership, as well, for audience building.

I was once invited to a musical theatre production via a musician. Believe me, a musician would not send out invites unless they did feel this buy-in connection to an organization. The event was highly successful, due to their well thought out audience development!

Every part of your organization, including your artists, need to be a part of audience development. The more each part of your arts business feels ownership, being a part of the organization, the easier it will be to build your audiences.

Thoughts?

Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana

Shoshana Fanizza
Chief Audience Builder, ADS

I highly enjoy presenting for boards. If you have a board that needs to be energized with my audience development enthusiasm, please contact me to explore the possibilities!