Please let me invite you to visit the new and just-launched website of my company, Audience Avenue: www.AudienceAvenue.com. If your priority is audience-building, then you'll be happy to find a central location for new ideas, practical applications, important resources and the connection of similarly interested people from throughout the arts & cultural sector. In my hopes & dreams, this is the first step toward the idea of a Massive … [Read more...]
Resolutions for a Happy New (Fiscal) Year!
"White. A blank page of canvas. His favorite. So many possibilities." The very last line of Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George expresses the kind of optimism that deservedly arrives with the start of every new project & every new year, even a new fiscal year. A fresh start. A clean slate. Square one. Tabula Rasa A New Beginning There may be nothing more empowering to the human mind than the chance to start … [Read more...]
Nonprofit Organizations Need a Black Box
Onerous headlines in Phoenix and Tucson this week as Arizona Theatre Company, the only resident company in the US that serves as a two-city operation, is reportedly ending its current fiscal year with a $1 million deficit. I have nothing but respect and compassion for the management & Board of my state's preeminent professional theatre company. I remain hopeful and confident that they will work hard to restore the organization's financial … [Read more...]
Silly Little Mistakes
"Silly little mistakes add up." When our kids were in grade school, that's how my wife and I impressed upon them the need to double (and triple) check their tests and school assignments before submitting them. Silly little mistakes reveal gaps in our thoughtfulness. They are places where we give back points for no purposeful reason. Each is (at best) a nugget of carelessness and (at worst) an unconditional moment of surrender. Over … [Read more...]
The Enemy is Empty Seats
Do empty seats make you angry? They should! They should make you BOILING MAD. Each empty seat represents a direct cost: the wasted expenditure of advertising, the loss of immediate cash flow, pressure to increase ticket prices and/or spend even more on marketing, a diminished pool of future donors. Each empty seat also carries the indirect cost of the APPEARANCE OF FAILURE to artists, audiences, members & donors, visitors, … [Read more...]
Gymnacafatorium
The word rolled off his tongue so easily, I almost didn't catch it. Steve Martin is the Managing Director of Childsplay, the renowned professional theatre company here in the Phoenix area whose chosen audience is children. We were discussing the evolving nature of the cause of “audience development” and the various implications of its growing number of metaphors – pathways, on-ramps, entrances, channels, passages, approaches, avenues, … [Read more...]
Crista Cloutier: On Empowering Creatives
Crista Cloutier travels the globe teaching her original workshops, The Working Artist, The Working Creative & The Writer’s Life. More than a teacher, Crista is a nurturer, emboldener and coach to career-focused individuals engaged in all sorts of artistic and creative pursuits. Her website is: www.theworkingartist.info. In this interview we explore how the “marketing” and “audience development” challenges of individual artists compare to … [Read more...]
Stephen Brand: “Innovation” is not “Risk”
In this interview, I’m delighted to introduce you to Dr. Stephen Brand, President & Chief Imagination Officer of the New Enterprise Factory. His firm designs, launches and scales revenue-generating, mission-driven ventures. In his words, he “finds the profit in non-profits.” How do you define the word “innovation” for a non-profit organization? Is it synonymous with “risk?” It’s entrepreneurship that is synonymous with risk, not … [Read more...]
“Thank you for your Service!”
One of the great honors of running an organization dedicated to "audience development" has been the privilege to meet and work in partnership with the dedicated leaders of the Veteran Tickets Foundation - which is best known as VETTIX.org. (And imagine my delight to discover that this national 501c3 non-profit organization is based here in my hometown of Phoenix - less than 3 miles from my office!) Their mission: "Give without prejudice … [Read more...]
Bright Idea: Report Card Rewards
To claim that Mimi's Cafe "delights the senses with cuisine that has a touch of "Gourmet Francais"" is probably grounds for deep offense among legions of French chefs - and the subject of heated debate among philosophers and physicists alike as to how incredibly small the measure of "a touch" must be. But Mimi's Cafe does something profoundly smart and simple that should serve as a point of inspiration... It's been a while since my kids … [Read more...]