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Hannah Grannemann on Audience Experience

Engagement

Opera Philadelphia, $11 tickets, and a predictable outcome

June 18, 2025 by Hannah Grannemann 7 Comments

An audience sits in an auditorium facing a stage with a red curtain.

I write regularly on my website hannahgrannemann.com and also on LinkedIn. Find me there, too, and thanks for reading Row X! What happens when opera tickets suddenly drop in price? Spoiler alert: we know exactly what will happen.   Opera Philadelphia offered $11 ticket initiative from the 2024-25 season, where they're offering pay-what-you-can tickets, starting at $11. The result? Ticket sales surged by more than 25% compared to previous seasons. The diversity of the audience … [Read more...] about Opera Philadelphia, $11 tickets, and a predictable outcome

A Christmas Carol as an Arts Marketing Parable

December 22, 2024 by Hannah Grannemann Leave a Comment

Dark blue door with a door knocker and a Christmas decoration with pine cones

The marketing plan was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. You're the marketing director of a theater. It was your plan, but you knew it was dead. It's a Wednesday afternoon and the mid-week matinee happening in the theater two floors down was half-full. You can hear over the monitors the actors trying desperately to get the audience to laugh, but it just wasn’t working. You check the sales dashboard in your CRM and the social media accounts. Your Instagram post … [Read more...] about A Christmas Carol as an Arts Marketing Parable

Row X Wrapped

December 6, 2024 by Hannah Grannemann Leave a Comment

purple headphones on an orange background with the text Row X Wrapped

Everyone's seeing their end of year summaries of their year in music listening on their Spotify Wrapped or Apple Music Replays this week. It's a fun feature that these companies do each year, a great engagement point for those companies and their customers. I've also seen some arts organizations building on the trend with their own Wrapped features, like Blumenthal Arts in Charlotte, NC, that highlighted the highest attended shows, and the top selling drink from their concessions stands (the … [Read more...] about Row X Wrapped

Imagine if the arts were funded with $27 donations

August 5, 2024 by Hannah Grannemann 6 Comments

People watching an outdoor performance. Photo by Samantha Gades.

In a recent New York Times article, Barry Edelstein, Artistic Director of The Old Globe, a large nonprofit theater in San Diego, gave a quote that caught my eye. He said, "We’re not going to solve the structural financial problems facing the sector through Bernie Sanders-style $27 contributions. It’s going to take really significant infusions at the scale that Roy is doing them.” The person that Edelstein is talking about is Roy Cockrum. The Roy Cockrum Foundation has quickly … [Read more...] about Imagine if the arts were funded with $27 donations

5 reasons declining media coverage of the arts isn’t the problem

February 29, 2024 by Hannah Grannemann 6 Comments

At the end of a long list about why audiences are shrinking, a burned out, defeated arts manager's last bit of ire will be directed at the declining arts coverage in the mainstream media. It will be the final gasp of their venting session. Then their voice will trail off, they’ll throw up their hands, and reach for their glass of bourbon.  An anecdote from an artistic director of a “struggling theater in Florida” was the centerpiece of a story by Cara Joy David’s latest piece for Broadway … [Read more...] about 5 reasons declining media coverage of the arts isn’t the problem

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About Hannah

Assistant Professor and Director of the Arts Administration Program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). She began writing for ArtsJournal.com in 2020 as a guest editor on Lynne Conner's blog We the Audience and began writing Row X in 2021. More about Hannah can be … [more] about About Hannah Grannemann

About Row X

White iPhone with QR Code, ArtsJournal Logo and Row X

Row X is where audience experience meets artistic practice and business strategy of arts organizations. The goal of the blog is to explore the sweet spot where these three interests overlap. Audience experience is often seen as the purview of the marketing department until the point that the … [more] about About Row X

Recent Posts

  • Opera Philadelphia, $11 tickets, and a predictable outcome June 18, 2025
  • Kennedy Center audiences vote with their feet. What happens next? June 4, 2025
  • A Christmas Carol as an Arts Marketing Parable December 22, 2024
  • Row X Wrapped December 6, 2024
  • It’s all about the Vibes: Lessons from the election for arts marketers October 29, 2024

Recent Comments

  • antonio c. cuyler on Opera Philadelphia, $11 tickets, and a predictable outcome
  • rosanne soifer on Opera Philadelphia, $11 tickets, and a predictable outcome
  • antonio c. cuyler on Opera Philadelphia, $11 tickets, and a predictable outcome
  • Hannah Grannemann on Opera Philadelphia, $11 tickets, and a predictable outcome
  • antonio c. cuyler on Opera Philadelphia, $11 tickets, and a predictable outcome

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