{"id":2123,"date":"2016-10-09T08:09:16","date_gmt":"2016-10-09T15:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/?p=2123"},"modified":"2016-10-09T08:09:16","modified_gmt":"2016-10-09T15:09:16","slug":"on-diversifying-audiences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2016\/10\/on-diversifying-audiences\/","title":{"rendered":"On diversifying audiences"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"mmm<\/a>This week The New Yorker<\/em> had some shocking news: Andy Borowitz is only their second<\/em> least funny humorist. In his “Shouts and Murmurs” piece “The Pences Visit Manhattan<\/a>“, Douglas McGrath takes the blue ribbon. He begins:<\/p>\n

Governor Mike Pence was having a romantic dinner with the love of his life, Mrs. Mike Pence, at the Red Lobster in Times Square. The Governor knew that as Vice-President he would have to attend foreign banquets, so he and Mrs. Pence were trying to broaden their palates. Luckily, they had already found a couple of dishes at the Red Lobster which they liked. Governor Pence was saying a blessing over their chicken wings and mozzarella cheese sticks when the first three notes of \u201cWhen I Survey the Wondrous Cross\u201d chimed on his phone, signalling a text. As he read it, Mrs. Pence popped a sizzling cheese stick into her mouth and blew out little puffs of steam. \u201cLook at me!\u201d she said gaily. \u201cI\u2019m a steamboat!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s downhill from there.<\/p>\n

Now, my disagreements with Governor Pence on policy matters could fill a book, and his choice to be the running mate of Donald J. Trump is unconscionable. If writers want to have at him on those grounds, you go.<\/p>\n

But that’s not what McGrath is doing here. His mockery is not of Governor and Mrs Pence, it is of rubes from the Midwest, and those rubes’ preference for comfort food in a big city environment, their religion, their lack of style.<\/p>\n

In the years that I have been following artsjournal.com<\/a> I have seen, at last count, 653,807 articles on how there is a need to diversify audiences for the high arts beyond the well-educated elites. Any organization that seriously wants to do that has to not just “reach out”, but to understand where their targeted new audiences are coming from, how their cultural preferences have been formed, why they like what they like and don’t like what they don’t like, and to respect them as people with agency.<\/p>\n

You can do that, or you can throw in the towel where this topic is concerned, stick with the patrons you have, and get a chuckle out of people who would rather eat at Red Lobster than the new fusion place on 6th street.<\/p>\n

But you can’t do both.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week The New Yorker had some shocking news: Andy Borowitz is only their second least funny humorist. In his “Shouts and Murmurs” piece “The Pences Visit Manhattan“, Douglas McGrath takes the blue ribbon. He begins: Governor Mike Pence was having a romantic dinner with the love of his life, Mrs. Mike Pence, at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2125,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2123","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-issues","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/lobster.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dIW5-yf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4651,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2026\/02\/he-is-beyond-satire\/","url_meta":{"origin":2123,"position":0},"title":"He is beyond satire","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"February 5, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Olga Neuwirth has composed an opera, \u201cMonster\u2019s Paradise\u201d, with a libretto written by her and Elfriede Jelinek. You can see in the photo above, what it\u2019s about. It is premiering at the Hamburg Opera, before going to Zurich and Vienna, and on their website there\u2019s a two-minute video that gives\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/image-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2535,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2020\/03\/voting-for-arts-funding-a-short-video\/","url_meta":{"origin":2123,"position":1},"title":"Voting for arts funding – a short video","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"March 24, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"We are making the adjustment to teaching arts policy at a distance for the remainder of the semester, and so I'm about to get used to (and hopefully better at) short videos for students, practitioners, anyone with an interest. In this one - I kept it to eighteen minutes -\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2020\/03\/voting-for-arts-funding-a-short-video\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/GNT4vvvY7kg\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3039,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2024\/07\/on-the-florida-arts-funding-cuts-beyond-the-fringe\/","url_meta":{"origin":2123,"position":2},"title":"On the Florida Arts Funding Cuts: Beyond the Fringe","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"July 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week Florida governor Ron DeSantis vetoed $32 million in arts funding, which in that state is managed and allocated by the Division of Arts and Culture. The\u00a0Miami Herald\u00a0reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday cited \u201csexual\u201d festivals in Orlando and Tampa as the reason he vetoed more than $32 million\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/image.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":453,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/03\/will-the-aca-cause-prices-to-rise\/","url_meta":{"origin":2123,"position":3},"title":"Will the ACA cause prices to rise?","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"March 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"At Slate, Matthew Yglesias takes apart the argument by a Five Guys hamburger franchise owner that the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or \"Obamacare\"), with its requirements on employee health insurance, will drive up his prices. Yglesias says: no, if it makes sense to increase prices in light of potential increased\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"I will gladly pay you Tuesday","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/wimpy-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2902,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2023\/06\/what-classic-movie-best-captures-the-usa-right-now-breaking-away-obvs\/","url_meta":{"origin":2123,"position":4},"title":"What classic movie best captures the USA right now? Breaking Away, obvs…","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"June 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The New York Times asked 17 columnists to choose a single work. Maureen Dowd chose Invasion of the Body Snatchers, David French chose Arrival (great film, though I'm not entirely convinced as an answer to this question. But, and truly this is not hometown bias, the winner is a 1979\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/image-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/image-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/image-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1338,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/06\/on-cultural-pessimism\/","url_meta":{"origin":2123,"position":5},"title":"On cultural pessimism (updated)","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"June 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I have enjoyed many books by novelist and essayist Tim Parks (the novel Europa my favorite). But I can't agree with him in his latest piece in the New York Review of Books. He laments that in our busy lives, we don't have time to absorb great, complex works of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"will this sentence ever end?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Students-reading-in-the-college-library.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2123"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2126,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2123\/revisions\/2126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}