{"id":626,"date":"2025-11-03T08:05:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T13:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rowx\/?p=626"},"modified":"2025-11-03T08:05:32","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T13:05:32","slug":"show-the-miles-not-just-the-medal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rowx\/2025\/11\/03\/show-the-miles-not-just-the-medal\/","title":{"rendered":"Show the Miles, Not Just the Medal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Screenshot from @racewithamanda (IG)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t run the New York City Marathon yesterday, but I felt like I was standing on the sidelines cheering just like thousands of New Yorkers \u2014thanks to a young woman on TikTok who made me care about her race as if it were my own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Content creator Amanda Luckie<\/a><\/strong> set a huge goal for herself: to cut two hours off her marathon time. For months, she shared every long run, injury recovery, and tough speed workout with her followers. On race day, she didn\u2019t hit her goal; she shaved off forty minutes instead. And yet thousands of us were thrilled for her. We\u2019d seen the training miles. We knew what those forty minutes cost, and what they would mean to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amanda didn\u2019t just run a marathon. She built a community around her determination, aspiration, and vulnerability. Her audience felt invested because she invited us into the process. The process itself<\/em> created value<\/strong> – not just for her because now she\u2019s more fit, more mentally strong \u2013 but for all of us who got the pleasure of following her journey and inspiration from all of her efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the lesson the performing arts world needs to learn from the content creator world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polish Made Sense\u2014Until It Didn\u2019t<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When the nonprofit arts sector professionalized starting in the 1960s, polish was power. Clean brochures, black-tie openings, and impeccable program notes signaled credibility to audiences, funders and civic leaders. The strategy worked; it said, we belong in the grown-up economy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But sixty years later, perfection reads differently. One reason is that in a media environment saturated with algorithmic and AI-generated content, slickness can now feel suspect. Now with what AI image and video generators can produce, a flawlessly produced post can trigger skepticism, not trust. Another reason is just a shift in what people are watching that I would trace back to the late 1990s with the start of reality television. What audiences now crave is personality and process<\/strong><\/em>: evidence that real people are behind the curtain.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Trust Shift<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n
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Screenshot from @minnorch (IG)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Today\u2019s audiences don\u2019t separate authenticity from artistry. They trust what feels human, not what looks flawless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think about your own social media feed. The videos that stop you aren\u2019t the polished commercials; they\u2019re the rehearsal clips, the tech-week bloopers, the mid-project reflections. We live in a participatory media culture where creators show their work in progress. That transparency doesn\u2019t cheapen the art\u2014it builds<\/em> anticipation<\/em> for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arts organizations, however, still tend to appear only at the polished moments: opening night, season announcement, gala photo. That\u2019s the equivalent of Amanda posting only her finish-line photo. You miss the story that gets people to care.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some organizations are starting to do this well \u2013 Minnesota Orchestra<\/a> is the top for me right now. And others I give credit for trying, but are still figuring out how to let go of their perfectionism. I saw a video of a theater showing how they did a special effect and it was almost<\/em> there, but the people on camera were still too stiff, the video was too long (if they\u2019d cut it into 3-4 videos, they would have had more to share!), and it just wasn\u2019t FUN.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evidence from Broadway: Process Pays<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The kind of content I\u2019m talking about is the long game: build interest and excitement over time, and when the right event comes along, the customer will be all ready to buy. It\u2019s long term brand building, and it\u2019s an investment that will take some months to pay off as your organization trains the algorithm to reach people who are \u2013 or are open to \u2013 interested in what you have to offer. But it WILL pay off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A study published a few months ago from No Guarantees Productions<\/strong> makes the case with numbers. In Unveiling the Value of Broadway<\/em> (2025), researchers found that when young audiences were shown what it takes to bring a Broadway show to life\u2014rehearsals, design, labor, cost\u2014they were willing to pay 3.5 times more<\/strong> for a ticket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their average \u201cwillingness to pay\u201d jumped from $141 to $512 when the context of the work was revealed*. Audiences didn\u2019t just want cheaper tickets; they wanted to understand why the experience mattered <\/em>before they bought.<\/em> One 21-year-old participant said, \u201cPeople want to see how things work. I\u2019d like to get a taste of the behind-the-scenes.\u201d That\u2019s because that\u2019s what they\u2019re used to: seeing a lot of explanation and evidence about how everything is made: from things as mundane as oatmeal to things as complex as glazed pottery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the performing arts\u2019 proof of concept: showing process raises both emotional and financial value. You have to inspire them to care<\/strong>. The good news is that the way to make them care is to share exactly what you appreciate about the arts: the level of skill and talent it takes, the many tries to get it right, the heartbreak and the humor, the comradery that comes from a collaborative effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Audiences Want Now<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report frames this as part of the \u201cartisan economy,\u201d<\/strong> where Gen Z and Millennials favor experiences that feel crafted, local, and human. They aren\u2019t measuring purchases by cost alone but by emotional return on investment<\/em>\u2014what the No Guarantees report calls calls ERoI<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that world, showing how a play is built, how a costume is dyed, or how a dancer trains isn\u2019t oversharing, giving away the mystery, or cheapening the skill of the artist \u2014it\u2019s meeting audiences where their sense of value now lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get there, arts organizations need three things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Volume.<\/strong> Visibility requires frequency. If every post has to be perfect, you\u2019ll never post enough to stay in the conversation. You stay in the conversation by giving the social media algorithms a chance to learn what content you\u2019re making resonates with which groups of people.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Personality.<\/strong> Put a face to the feed. Consider having one or two people that appear regularly (most of your videos) that are a \u201chost\u201d for your content who acts as the audience\u2019s guide\u2014someone who sounds like a person, not a press release. This is what content creators do so well. It comes naturally because they are one person, not an organization, but organizations can<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Curated authenticity.<\/strong> I think there\u2019s a fear at arts organizations that matching the style and tone of other content on social media risks sending a message that their artistic work is low quality. But that doesn\u2019t have to be the outcome at all. Show the high quality output \u2013 and ALSO show all the work that it takes to get there. It means sharing thoughtfully, showing real people and real effort in service of real art.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The Long Run of Trust<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Amanda Luckie\u2019s forty-minute improvement was worth celebrating because we saw the work behind it. The same is true for the arts. When audiences witness the striving\u2014the rehearsals, experiments, and near-misses\u2014they feel part of something bigger than a single night out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The arts don\u2019t need to drop their standards. They need to show the miles.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In a digital culture drowning in polish, presence is what builds trust. Audiences don\u2019t just want to buy a ticket; they want to believe in the people making the art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let them see the process. Let them meet the personalities.
    That\u2019s how you turn curiosity into commitment\u2014and keep your audience cheering for the long run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    * While I don\u2019t doubt the survey results, I would like to see a more rigorous research process on this particular question of impact on willingness to pay \u2013 especially when talking about specific prices. My advice to you would NOT be to expect your audience\u2019s willingness to pay increasing nearly 200% once you start to post regularly on Instagram. But I do think you can take the broader point about audiences being willing to pay more for what they come to understand is painstakingly human-made art.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What can arts organizations learn from a runner content creator?How to build connection and trust. Today\u2019s audiences invest in process and personality, not polish\u2014and that shift could change everything for the performing arts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[169,11,56,12],"tags":[230,236,234,233,237,232,231,209,235],"class_list":{"0":"post-626","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ai","8":"category-digital","9":"category-engagement","10":"category-strategy","11":"tag-amanda-luckie","12":"tag-artificial-intelligence","13":"tag-audience-engagement","14":"tag-broadway","15":"tag-content-creation","16":"tag-no-guarantees","17":"tag-nyc-marathon","18":"tag-social-media","19":"tag-trust","20":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/rowx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Amanda-Luckie-Photo-2.jpg?fit=208%2C234&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdmYVE-a6","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rowx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rowx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rowx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rowx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rowx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rowx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":635,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rowx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions\/635"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rowx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rowx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rowx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rowx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}