Marketing has been on my mind a lot lately, notably in my last post, Systemic Marketing. Several comments on that post expressed surprise (and, frankly, disbelief) that anyone in the arts community could (or ever did) think negative thoughts about marketing. Once upon a time there were some who did not want to identify marketing as a needed element of our work (or wished it could be avoided); now the field has grown up. Marketing is (and is seen as) valuable and necessary. Those who said they had never heard sentiments to the contrary bear out what was my real point.
François Colbert, a buddy from the Association of Arts Administration Educators who runs the arts administration programs at L’Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commercial (HEC) in Montréal, asked me to do a very brief marketing case study as one of many for the Fourth Edition of his book Marketing Culture and the Arts. That got me thinking again about Dorothy Gunther Pugh’s article for Building Communities, Not Audiences. What follows is the result of that thinking–a short look at Ballet Memphis’s approach to marketing: being who they are.
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Ballet Memphis is a medium-sized ballet company in a medium-sized U.S. city, a city in which 24 percent of the population lives in poverty, which has the highest infant mortality rate in the U.S., and in which women’s wages are the lowest in the country. Memphis is not a city in which an arts organization can build a sustainable future via traditional arts markets: educated, wealthy, older, white. Its demographics demand a different approach.
In addition, the U.S. is home to many regional dance companies. Standing out from that crowd, making a name for oneself, and crafting a market niche is difficult in the best of circumstances. From its origins in 1986, Ballet Memphis realized that to be recognized in the dance world and supported at home it needed to be unique, to develop an identity rooted in Memphis that would make it stand out from its U.S. peers. To do so, it embarked on a path of consistent focus on relationship building in its hometown. This involved programming based on Memphis’s cultural traditions (jazz and blues to name two) and on issues important to the city’s citizens.
To assist with economic development, Ballet Memphis partnered with the Chamber of Commerce in the development of “Investing In Inspiration” to support economic growth by fostering civic dialogue. Ballet Memphis supports public education through a long term dance program called Dance Avenue serving third graders in three elementary schools as well as a dance instruction program at Youth Villages, a secured facility for highly troubled teenagers.
Ballet Memphis sees itself as a partner in addressing other community issues as well. Over the last five years, its “Connections” series and its “AbunDANCE” performances have addressed issues of architecture, food, the environment, religion, human sound, fashion, and gender. Dancers and choreographers and audiences are challenged while being entertained and transformed. Connections: Earth and Sky featured an outdoor performance including dances based on land, air, and water. In a time when Memphis has been much focused on tragedy resulting from floods, this proved to be a moving event that brought many disparate people together.
This work has grown out of the company’s identity rather than out of separate “outreach” programs. The consistency of message in being a community citizen has established Ballet Memphis in the eyes of Memphis’s population as a valued partner in building a better Memphis.
“And what have been the results of this work? For the first 2 years of the recession, in contrast to national trends, we increased donations and ticket sales by 17%. Although this growth did not continue in the third year of the recession, we have made tremendous strides in securing major gifts for our endowment and for capital reserves to sustain our annual operations. The future looks quite stable. Exciting new partnerships with minority arts institutions are in the works as well–partnerships which will prove beneficial for our city.
“For Ballet Memphis, community engagement has been an inevitable aspect of our work and our growth . . . . [A]long with commitment to artistic excellence, in defining us it has also provided us a unique market niche and enhanced our financial viability.”
Ballet Memphis’s approach to marketing grows out of its core self-understanding. It is not a separate or add-on function of the company’s management. For Ballet Memphis, marketing is systemic–a natural and inevitable result of being who it is.
Engage!
Doug
This article is spot on!
Ballet Memphis is superb in its artistic varietal scope of talent. The vision of the artistic direction has consistently been of transcendent excellence and purely enriching to the human soul and psyche.
Your dancers are the finest interpreters of the maestro.
” I can no other answer make, but, thanks, and thanks.” ~~ William Shakespeare
Very interesting article. It seems vitally important for arts organizations to work with other local entities on a frequent basis. So I understand you are contending it is the partnerships and engaging programming that really markets an arts organization? Is it the publicity those relationships will generate that makes the community building and partnering fall into this marketing category?
Thanks for the great info!
It’s not that engagement activities are the sole element of marketing. Far from it! I am trying to articulate an understanding of marketing (and fundraising and advocacy) as succeeding upon a foundation of engagement. The relationships established via engagement form the basis for successful marketing, fundraising, and advocacy. Another way of saying it is that engagement is the frame upon which everything else is built.
Loved this article! it was spot on about how the community needs to get involved in the company to help get an arts organization program. I have been to Memphis and loved seeing all of the culture that goes on around in the town. Loved how it was bring the community involved to help the ballet company it was a team effort altogether.