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Hannah Grannemann on Audience Experience

Strategy

From Village Voice to TikTok: Rethinking How Audiences Discover Art

August 12, 2025 by Hannah Grannemann 5 Comments

unknown person reading magazine

Like clockwork, every couple of weeks or more, I see artists lamenting the need to promote themselves in the current fractured media environment, mostly complaining about how much time it takes. I get it (and I’ve written about it on this blog before). Let's reframe that perspective—both by reminding ourselves of what really existed when a few media outlets held more power over the arts, and by pushing back against the learned helplessness I see all around us when it comes to connecting with … [Read more...] about From Village Voice to TikTok: Rethinking How Audiences Discover Art

Kennedy Center audiences vote with their feet. What happens next?

June 4, 2025 by Hannah Grannemann 7 Comments

Photo of the Kennedy Center at dusk with Pride lights glowing

Boycotting is alive and well as a protest tactic. Based on ticket sales figures leaked to The Washington Post, Kennedy Center audiences are voting with their feet and staying away. Sales appear to be cratering. Here's the damage: The Center’s constituent arts organizations are suffering as well, with the National Symphony Orchestra’s subscriptions down 28% and the Washington National Opera down 25%. It’s just two weeks into the subscription campaign, but the staffer who provided the … [Read more...] about Kennedy Center audiences vote with their feet. What happens next?

It’s all about the Vibes: Lessons from the election for arts marketers

October 29, 2024 by Hannah Grannemann Leave a Comment

What can we learn about arts marketing from how people consume information about elections? Here are three observations: The 2024 Presidential election has been called the “vibes election”. Believe me, I wish people didn't just vote based on vibes and everyone spent serious time looking at high quality, factual information to inform their vote. But looking at the reality of how some people consume information, let's see what we in the arts can do to get more people in to experience art so … [Read more...] about It’s all about the Vibes: Lessons from the election for arts marketers

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

Associate Professor of Arts Administration 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 found at hannahgrannemann.com. In … [more] about About Hannah Grannemann

About Row X

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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

  • From Village Voice to TikTok: Rethinking How Audiences Discover Art August 12, 2025
  • 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

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