I have no illusions that a New York Times feature in the Theater section will be able to tell the full story of the incredibly far-reaching theater sector, but I bristled more than usual at a recent New York Times article that profiles Milwaukee Repertory Theater and Gulfshore Playhouse as regional theaters that are “defying the odds”. The article sets out to prove that success comes from leaning into familiar, upbeat programming and seeing strong attendance and financial results. Given the … [Read more...] about Nostalgia and Familiarity Oversimplifies What Audiences Want
The New York Times
Imagine if the arts were funded with $27 donations
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
Nonprofit theater is in crisis. Want to know what the “dropped out” audience thinks? Read the comments
Theater leaders, Board members, and arts marketing experts have been the featured characters in the recent flurry of articles and opinion pieces about the crisis in the American nonprofit theater*. This makes sense, since these articles focus on how the theater institutions are responding to reduced audience demand and the resulting financial pressures. How can we find out what the audience thinks? There’s one source right at our fingertips: the comments section. These three pieces**: 1) … [Read more...] about Nonprofit theater is in crisis. Want to know what the “dropped out” audience thinks? Read the comments
Are the arts “building back better” with new audiences?
Row X blog by Hannah Grannemann When arts organizations went into shutdown in 2020 and 2021, they asked audiences, donors, staffs, and their communities to continue supporting them even when they weren’t producing and open to the public because they were working hard during the shutdowns to improve themselves in myriad ways, including building new audiences. They weren’t going to let a good crisis go to waste, they said. In other words, they were going to “build back better”. I’m … [Read more...] about Are the arts “building back better” with new audiences?