Once again New York City Center* has pulled off what so many arts organizations only dream about: attracting new audiences and getting them to return. How? Its annual Fall for Dance Festival — 10 performances, 20 companies — now in its sixth year.
Every year, along with the festival — which offers a sampling of dance by four separate companies on each program — NYCC surveys attendees. The results are now in for the 2009 event — staged between Sept. 22 and Oct. 3 and, as usual, sold out. The ticket price is subsidized by donations, especially from TimeWarner (which has an arts and education component to its philanthropy), and kept at $10.
The survey shows that nearly a quarter of attendees had never attended a performance at City Center, and that just over half had never before attended a Fall for Dance performance.
And of the other half, who had previously seen a program at Fall for Dance, 68.5 percent said they attended subsequent performances by dance companies in Fall for Dance. I’d call that success.
It’s clear, too, from previous surveys that people are coming back.
Take a look at one line in the survey: those who had never before attended Fall for Dance. In 2005, the second year of the festival, that portion was a much higher 73 percent — and in each subsequent year it has dropped, to 72 percent, then 60 percent, then 55 percent and now 51.4 percent.
The Fall for Dance audience is young — 31.1 percent were under 30 in 2009, not as good as the 37 percent of last year and of 2006, but still impressive.
And asked if attendance at a Fall for Dance performance influenced them to see more dance performances, 47.5 percent of respondents said yes this year — up from 44 percent for the last two years and about 40% in the years before.
Why are they coming? The low price is a key motivator — 52.7 percent said it was the strongest factor. But that is down from previous years: it reached a peak of 70 percent in 2006. Nearly 50 percent said they came to see a particular company this year, with Alvin AIley American Dance Theatre (right) being the most popular company, followed by Paul Taylor Dance Company.
Here’s another interesting tidbit: when asked how they heard about Fall for Dance — they could choose more than one answer — respondents said “word of mouth” most often, 33.2 percent. The second highest total was a print ad, at 14.7 percent, followed closely by subway ads and the Fall for Dance brochure.
Are there lessons here beyond City Center, especially for other arts disciplines? What are they?
My favorite is the last — that print isn’t dead.
But back to your concerns: Fall for Dance is about variety, about providing a tempting taste of a discipline as an initiation, about creating a festive “buzzy” occasion people want to be part of, and about delivering a creative experience. It shows that arts groups don’t have to change their nature, or provide shock and awe, or dumb down, to win over new audiences.
Photos: Courtesy of New York City Center (top) and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre (bottom).
*A consulting client of mine provides support to NYCC.