“It is worth focusing marketing effort and budget on understanding new audiences and crafting campaigns that speak to those people who are reevaluating their priorities in our new reality. These audiences could provide the roadmap to recovery for our industry as we emerge from the difficulty of the past two years.”

As arts organizations returned to live performances over the last six months, there was naturally a focus on winning back past audiences. Subscribers and donors remained the core audiences with whom companies maintained engagement during venue shutdowns and as seasons were announced, marketing efforts were also directed at past single ticket buyers.

There is industry-wide concern about sales and attendance post-shutdown. We’ve learned from our clients and colleagues in our monthly Roundtables that subscription numbers are reaching (conservative) reopening estimates, but that single ticket sales are generally lower than anticipated and kicking in even later than usual.

At TOCG, we often talk about the opportunities for arts organizations based on the trends we are seeing elsewhere in society. As people are resetting their priorities after two years of uncertainty, is there an opportunity for arts and cultural organizations to answer a need?

Research into arts attendance has consistently shown that there has always been an untapped market of people who have considered attending arts events and cultural entities, but never make the leap. There has never been a more compelling time for our industry to win over this segment of the market and position the importance of our offering.

We have so much to learn from new audiences who have chosen to attend our arts and cultural events for the first time in such a tumultuous era, and it behooves us to understand them so we can find more people like them. We encourage you to take this moment to:

Look closely at your post-reopening ‘New To File’ ticket buyers to understand what they are buying, when they are buying, and what they are paying per ticket
Conduct simple research with this group of ticket buyers to understand their motivations, their past arts buying habits, and where they seek information about arts events
Use this research to inform future acquisition marketing efforts, including messaging and targeting
Invite these ticket buyers to return with specific communications and offers

Those people who decided after reopening that it was time to finally attend the ballet, visit their local museum or take in a spoken-word night might provide the key to fuelling a renaissance for our industry. It’s tempting for arts marketers to fall back into retention strategies, especially as they may be operating with limited teams or being asked to trim marketing budgets. It is worth focusing marketing effort and budget on understanding new audiences and crafting campaigns that speak to those people who are reevaluating their priorities in our new reality. These audiences could provide the roadmap to recovery for our industry as we emerge from the difficulty of the past two years.

Rani Haywood is the Senior Vice President of Tom O’Connor Consulting Group. TOCG is a New York City-based arts consultancy offering strategy, assessment, executive search, and leadership coaching services to organizations across the US—all with a focus on audiences and revenue outcomes. For over fifteen years Rani has held senior marketing roles at an array of performing arts and cultural organizations in Australia and the United States, including at The Metropolitan Opera, Roundabout Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company.