Audience development – lessons to be learned

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Shoshana

Today I came across this article: Fund for the Arts ponders new ways, director in post-Allan Cowen era It was a very open and honest article about mistakes that have been made and the consequences that resulted from these mistakes.  If arts organizations want to not only survive, but thrive, we need to point out these mistakes and begin a…

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Audience Development & #Artsadvoc: Vote for I support the arts because___.

Posted on March 15, 2011 by Shoshana

You may be asking why I am committing myself to arts advocacy instead of just audience development.  My thoughts are, arts advocacy is audience development for the arts.  Whenever we build a case for the arts with those that we relate to, we are also planting a seed for audience development.  If we can share the reasons, the passions, the…

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Non-traditional fundraising ideas for audience development

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Shoshana

Part of audience development is building relationships to the point that your patrons will support your art and/or organization.  You want to have people in your individual community that will donate and sponsor your art.  In the past few years, I have seen some very good examples of fundraising ideas that not only builds relationships, but are creative options and…

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Guest blog post: Top 10 Donor Don’ts to consider for audience development

Posted on March 3, 2011 by Shoshana

Today I am happy to present our first guest blogger, David Zoltan.  After seeing a few articles about treating your donors well, I thought it was time to chime in with a blog entry to highlight what not to do when relating with your donors.  Please enjoy the following blog, our first in many guest blog posts to come. Top…

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Big announcement for Audience Development for the Arts!

Posted on March 3, 2011 by Shoshana

I have been missing in action the past week in order to work on a project near and dear to my heart.  I have been seeing a need for an audience development for the arts conference,  a place to actually learn a few of the ins and outs while being able to exchange ideas with one’s peers.  I have been…

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Audience development and your team

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Shoshana

I may have blogged about this before, but due to all the arts cuts scares and conversations, I felt that this topic needed to be resurrected.  Audience development can be the answer for obtaining support in challenging times.  In order for audience development to work its magic, you need these ingredients: A good plan The time and effort to carry…

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Audience development, Rocco and the buzz

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Shoshana

There has been a good discussion happening since Rocco Landesman, chairman of the NEA, had the audacity ( ;O) )  to point out that arts organizations should downsize or collaborate more due to high supply and low demand: #SupplyDemand There of some us in the arts world that will agree and some of us who are rallying behind the reasoning…

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Arts Advocacy Day! Do it for Mozart! Twitter and Facebook Instructions…

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Shoshana

It’s time to take action!  I ask you to lend your voice by writing a letter and then posting on Twitter and Facebook that you took action.  Let’s make some noise today!  I am dedicating this arts advocacy day to Mozart.  In order to find our next Mozarts in this world, we need to support and fund the arts.  (Happy…

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Audience development and arts advocacy!

Posted on January 26, 2011 by Shoshana

After many more articles about the arts funding cuts proposals, I feel it is time to take some action.  We, the arts lovers of this world need to do our own personal audience development and attempt to reach out to our representatives, our senators, our media, our personal circle of friends to increase the efforts. The National Arts Advocacy Day…

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Resuscitating art support and audience development

Posted on January 21, 2011 by Shoshana

Yesterday I mentioned an essay that I felt was worth reading and discussing, “Resuscitating Art Music”  by John Steinmetz (NARAS Journal, Summer 1993,Volume 4 No. 1).   Today I am thinking I need to combine this discussion with a more broader topic – support for the arts. If you haven’t received the news yet, the GOP is attempting to cut all…

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“Working with Shoshana was the next right step for our 76 year old community chorus. She directed the organization to be patron centered and to view all patron interactions from their perspective. We experienced a 71% increase in audiences last season. That’s because we have a new viewpoint: from the outside in, instead of the inside out. It’s a continuous process, but we have experienced exciting results! Thanks Shoshana!” —Carol Olson, Executive Director of VOCI (Voices of Canton, Inc.)

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