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Will Lester is Vice President of Network Programs at TRG Arts, a data-driven consulting firm specializing in pricing and patron loyalty. TRG also has the distinction of managing 20 community data networks throughout the U.S. While the networks began as a way for arts organizations to share lists of patron contact information to cross-promote events, they\u2019re now growing into a robust arts community resource, allowing for research on audience buying patterns, demographics and more.<\/p>\n
Will is the architect of these networks as well as TRG\u2019s database technology and patron behavior studies. He\u2019s the unofficial \u201cinnovator-in-chief\u201d at TRG \u2013 the \u201cgo-to\u201d person for designing new analytical projects and initiating new partnerships. Recently he has been tasked with formally leading the continued development of the community networks, which have grown exponentially in the last 3 years. Will aims to maximize the potential of those networks, both in terms of how they are used by individual members of the art community and how the community is leveraging the power of collective patron data.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not so much that they have a difficult time accepting facts found in the data, but I think there\u2019s a knowledge gap about HOW to find the actionable facts in the data. It\u2019s been created by a couple of different factors:<\/p>\n
Coming out of the recession, everyone I talk to says data is the center of their universe, whether or not they\u2019re actually acting on it. It bodes well for the future, but in the short-term, we\u2019ve got to plug the gaps and re-teach.<\/p>\n
We now run 20 community data networks, with two important ones on the way. That means there are arts data networks in all but a couple of the top 15 markets in the U.S. These networks operate either on a local (or city-wide) level, on the regional level, and we have three that are state-wide, in Minnesota, Arizona, and New Jersey. At most recent count, these networks contain data on 110 million transactions by 22 million arts patron households from around 1,200 organizations.<\/p>\n
As far as the grand vision: Locally, community networks help arts organization members improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their campaigns, as well as acting as an audience research tool. We run these networks in association with local partners, many times the local arts council. It\u2019s a tool for them to understand the size, scale and basic facts about the arts-going population in their market. In that way, it can be an actionable advocacy and policy asset, in addition to helping community stakeholders like funders and board members better understand what\u2019s going on in the sector. And, there\u2019s increasing interest about what this data set could say nationally about arts consumers and their behaviors.<\/p>\n
There are about a billion different questions that I\u2019d love to answer, but the one I\u2019ve been most interested in lately is this: What could we learn from the aggregate data in all of our 20 community networks about cultural tourism? People attend arts events in communities outside their own all the time. Could we observe trends around where they\u2019re going and what they\u2019re seeing? And, could we predict this sort of behavior?<\/p>\n
More often these days, I hear people own up to a lack of knowledge about their data and a lack of time to fully analyze it. For those people, I would recommend first asking the following question: \u201cHow many audience members am I LOSING?\u201d In an industry seemingly obsessed with gaining<\/i> new audiences, we\u2019re going to continue beating the drum around retention. That\u2019s our biggest weakness as an industry. Our research shows that half of the unique audience members the average organization gets in a year are first-timers. So, pat yourself on the back for finding so many new audiences. But wait. On average, only 1 out of 5 of those newbies will come back. Ever. So calculate your retention rate for yourself\u2014for all types of patrons, from the newbies to subscribers to donors. Think of retention as a leaky boat. Ask yourself: How fast is it leaking? Where are the holes?<\/p>\n
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