For community engagement to be successful, it's got to be an organization-wide effort with clear roles and responsibilities for each department. Everyone needs to buy in. Everyone needs to be clear what the outcomes are for the company, and why this work is important. It demands a shared language and should be positioned as a core value and a core strategy, not “additional work.”

Across the industry, performing arts organizations are reporting a decline in subscriptions numbers and revenues since reopening their doors post pandemic. The 2022-23 season in North America – and the 2023 season in Australia – is certainly seeing some uptick in both renewing and new subscribers, but the trends seem to indicate that the numbers may not return to pre-pandemic levels.  Over the last couple of years we’ve been advising clients on how to respond to the trends, and have been recommending experimenting with new models and approaches

In 2020, we’ve been given the opportunity to disrupt the model and start over, and find models that not only serve our organizations but put the needs of our audiences front and center.

As cultural organizations move through this period of closed venues and a slow return to business as usual, what will be the new lines by which you will ‘value’ and therefore segment and communicate to your audience?

There’s been much made of the fact that this time is giving our earth a moment of rest and regeneration. And it seems that it’s a moment for us to do that too. If we can lift our heads above the day to day struggle to adjust, we might be able to accept that this time we’ve been given as a gift. A gift that allows us time to stop, reflect, rethink and retool.