• Audience Development Specialists
  • Home
  • About
    • FAQ
    • Our People
    • Clients
    • Press
    • Testimonials
  • Blog
  • Contact

Audience Development and the dumbing down for new audiences

Posted On May 18, 2011 By Shoshana

Today I happened to come across this article: The Lesson Of Britten’s ‘War Requiem’: Don’t Underestimate Younger Audiences Basically, this article talks about how an instructor gave her students a challenging piece of music to listen to, Britten’s “War Requiem,” but found ways that the kids could relate to it so they could find meaning… 

Read More→

Audience Development and Classical Music concerts for newbies

Posted On May 10, 2011 By Shoshana

I had a major thought today after reading another article about a symphony performing a free classical music concert mainly for audience development purposes.  The repertoire selected was the same old type of list: Barber of Seville, some poppy selections from South Pacific, some light operetta favorites.  Throw in pieces from Fantasia and it’s a… 

Read More→

Quick post: Audience development with open heart and mind

Posted On May 5, 2011 By Shoshana

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… 

Read More→

Audience Development and Old Fashioned Customer Service

Posted On May 3, 2011 By Shoshana

Remember the days when you had to go to the box office to purchase a ticket and speak to a person that was a part of the organization?  Or remember purchasing art from the artist directly instead of online at Etsy? I’m not knocking the new services that we have that provide a quick and… 

Read More→

#Auddev Chat 11/28 11 am ET Audience Development for individual musicians…

Posted On April 28, 2011 By Shoshana

Today at 11 am ET, I chatted with Erica Sipes and others about how individual musicians can use audience development concepts and ideas to build their audiences.  We mainly touched upon the 4 C’s of audience development: Connection, Community, Collaboration, and Caring. Below is the full conversation.  I hope you can join us next time,… 

Read More→

Audience development and the fear of working and of working together

Posted On April 21, 2011 By Shoshana

I’m starting to see some discussion about why arts organizations are failing.  Some people are pointing to transparency issues, or rather that the organizations have not been transparent enough so their patrons know the truth about their financial situations.  Others are pointing fingers at their board and management staff  for not stepping up to make… 

Read More→

Audience development and gaining loyal patrons

Posted On April 19, 2011 By Shoshana

From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary Definition of LOYAL 1 : unswerving in allegiance: as a : faithful in allegiance to one’s lawful sovereign or government b : faithful to a private person to whom fidelity is due c : faithful to a cause, ideal, custom, institution, or product 2 : showing loyalty Examples of LOYAL The… 

Read More→

Audience development rants and raves and taking risks…

Posted On April 5, 2011 By Shoshana

Today I have been thinking a great deal about taking risks.  I myself have taken some risks these past few years.  For the past 3 years (and some months) I have been running a business called Audience Development Specialists.  We help artists and arts organizations build a happy and loyal audience.  Through working one-on-one with… 

Read More→

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… 

Read More→

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… 

Read More→

ADS Founder — Shoshana Fanizza

Search the blog:

Archives

Testimonials

Arizona Women’s Theatre Company (AZWTC)

“I loved the sessions and as I was taking them for my newly elected position, I felt I needed some close mentoring and strict goal setting..She absolutely did listen to our needs and tailored her sessions to fit our little situation. I have bragged about the sessions to other admins in our areas. Some of the instructions were familiar as I had followed her ideas for some time. Most are obtainable over time and will be implemented this coming year as we finish our season. My time with Shoshana at ADS, I would rate it First Class!” —Joy Bingham Strimple, Board President

Tip Jar

Find this valuable?

  • Donation amount
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Blogs We Love:

Purchase Our Books!

The How of Audience Development for the Arts — ebook

Categories:

Advocacy ARTicles Arts Audience Development Fundraising fund raising Idea Database Management Marketing News Podcast Social Media Technology Volunteer Management

Latest Blogs

It’s about the people!
Random Audience Development Thoughts, vol. 6
What can Simone Biles teach arts nonprofits about mental health?
How to heal the arts
Audience Development Specialists
Copyright © 2025 All Rights Reserved
Member of Americans for the Arts