In terms of doing audience development effectively, I recommend keeping an open mind and heart. Audience development deals with finding the right people as audience members and as supporters. If you discard people based on appearances alone, you may be missing out on the right relationships and the right people to help support your art and organization. Appearances can be deceiving. Don’t judge a book by its cover. The cover may look bright and shiny and reputable, but the lump of coal inside could be an extremely bad addition to your art community. Or, the cover may look shabby, but the jewel inside might be a great person to add to your art community.

Someone may look like they listen to punk rock, but they actually enjoy classical music as well. Someone may look like a sports fan, but they might enjoy going to the ballet or Broadway. People come in all shapes and sizes and these shapes and sizes should not be the deciding factor of whether or not to attempt to build relationships with them.

Again, audience development is done most effectively when you keep an open heart and mind. Being open means being open to a world of possibilities!

Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana

Shoshana Fanizza
Audience Development Specialists
https://www.buildmyaudience.com