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Berating a young cougher is not good audience development

Posted On December 4, 2014 By Shoshana

Oh boy!  I can’t believe (or maybe I can), the headline today of a professional violinist berating a child for coughing during her performance. We in the arts have enough challenges to become more inviting to the younger generations.  Embarrassing, chastising, and being condescending are not the best ways to create the bridge to the… 

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Receiving feedback

Posted On December 2, 2014 By Shoshana

I have a quick thought for today.  How do you respond when you receive feedback?  Do you thank someone for taking the time to email you a comment?  Do you simply roll your eyes and forget to comment back?  Do you email back with a defense such as “we do it this way because…”  Or,… 

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What I am working on for audience building

Posted On November 19, 2014 By Shoshana

I rarely do ADS updates, but I wanted to share what I am working on.  I am in the midst of several research projects.  I could use your help on a few of these if you have a moment. The first project is researching about #artsmyths (the Twitter hashtag).  I am seeking to find the… 

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Favorite on Twitter – the good and the bad for audience building

Posted On November 14, 2014 By Shoshana

During being a fly on twitter for an industry conference, I noticed that the way we are using Twitter has changed significantly, and I attribute it mainly to the Favorite feature.  I did a little research, and there are many reasons why we use this feature: To “like” a comment and show our agreement or… 

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#NAMPC 2014 from the Tweet Seats

Posted On November 11, 2014 By Shoshana

  I wasn’t able to attend the National Arts Marketing Project Conference this year, yet I did “attend” via Twitter (with a cat in my lap).  Twitter hashtags are an easy way to keep in the loop as much as possible.  Of course, it would have been more constructive if I could have attended the… 

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2014 YouTube Kinda Mood: Halloween!

Posted On October 31, 2014 By Shoshana

Happy Halloween everyone!  Here are your 2014 Halloween YouTubes.  Click if you dare!   Howls to yappy and boiled audiences, Shoshana Shoshana Fanizza Chief Audience Screamer

Skate America, VIP status and audience building

Posted On October 28, 2014 By Shoshana

Gracie Gold at Skate America   I have taken some time off, dear reader, for a trip to Chicago in order to attend Skate America with my family. This was a special birthday present for my mom so she could attend with her two daughters. My sister splurged on the VIP package, which sounded spectacular… 

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Arts for the benefit of all

Posted On October 14, 2014 By Shoshana

I am carving out some time this week to do reading for the good of myself and for business.  To be honest, I am thinking about my next steps and projects – the planning for 2015. One of the books I am reading is “Becoming Enlightened” – translations of the Dalai Lama’s teachings.  One of the main teachings… 

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What would it look like for audience building?

Posted On October 9, 2014 By Shoshana

Again, I am inspired by an article this morning – from the BBC Culture page: Does pop belong to the past? The article ends with: Rock, pop, classical – music is music, and the future is right here. I recall seeing a few articles and performances to showcase what the arts will be like in… 

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Trickle down theory for the arts?

Posted On October 8, 2014 By Shoshana

The Wallace Foundation’s current audience development initiative is floating around the arts world these days.  They will be providing funding for supporting an additional “up to 25 performing and visual arts organizations to the tune of $40 million over a six-year period.” The NPQ did a write-up recently: Infographic: Nine Effective Practices for Building Audiences for… 

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“I booked a series of phone sessions with Shoshana because I think in order for record companies and booking agents to take us seriously we need to have a certain number of fans that we have a great relationship with who consistently come to our shows. Shoshana helped me to channel certain hazy focuses I had into more solid avenues. I also learned more about my goal, what we really want to do with our music, and how we want to affect people. We are now building a relationship by finding out what people like and want so we can see through their eyes. Shoshana’s sessions were fantastic- she followed up and she even helped promote!” —Chantelle Tibbs

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