Over in his Diacritical blog, Doug McLennan reminds us to continually reconsider the ways we recognize the many people who support our arts organizations — not just the ones who do so through contributions. Says he:
Who’s the more valuable member of your community? The person who gives
you money but otherwise doesn’t have much to do with you, or the person
who buys tickets and shows up for every performance? A thousand dollar
donation is the same as $1000 of ticket revenue in the bank. Except it
isn’t.
I’ve been to many cultural organizations who bend over backward to thank and recognize their donors, only to badger and berate their ticket buyers. What about a special wall (or special benefits) to anyone who consistently buys more than three tickets per transaction? What about a special lounge or drink tickets or meet-the-artist events for those who buy more than a certain dollar volume in a given year?
Donors are fabulous people, worthy of acknowledgment. But that loyal, enthusiastic, and present warm body in your gallery or theater isn’t so bad, either.
This is a brilliant reminder to keep creating those “deeper connections”… ticket sales DO add up.
I agree. In the last year, we signed on OvationTix for our ticketing service (a great option for small to midsized orgs) after using nothing more than notepads and Excel sheets. The tracking is much more informative on OT and one feature is that I can put in donor info and add a donor tag to their info. Curiously, when I run patron/ticket data, that tag doesn’t pop up very often, but I do see names that appear for every show that aren’t donors. Those are the people I want to thank. “Butts in seats” is just as important as “money in the bank.”
Another Twin Cities theatre company, Park Square, has a Golden Ticket club that honors patrons for their years of attendance with things such as valet parking, dining discounts, and special events. They’ve had a great response to it and after some time with our system, I hope to do the same.
Thank you for this! I am a public-service worker (and yes, 2010 looks even worse for us) and although I am making it a priority to purchase subscriptions to my local music organizations, plus donate with each one, I can’t give the big bucks. What I CAN do is talk up the organizations as much as possible, and purchase tickets to bring friends, encouraging them to also attend.