Photo courtesy of Atlanta Ballet, by Charlie McCullers

Welcome to the Audience Building Roundtable’s website!

 
The Audience Building Roundtable starts with the story of arts research that, in this case, did not sit on a shelf. When an NEA study revealed that 31 million Americans – 13 percent of all adults – want to attend the arts but never get to the show, we knew we had to take action. Imagine all the adults in Atlanta who are soooo close to arts engagement! All it may take is some empathy for the cultural and logistical barriers that detail these wanna-be attenders. That’s doable.

After listening to more than 180 arts executives that The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation brought together for a summit in November 2015, the. Path forward was clear. Arts executives asked for more technical assistance. They asked for a forum where they could meet more frequently to accelerate peer learning and exchange. They asked for access to experts who could help them pivot away from a focus on sales transactions and on to innovative practices that lead to enduring relationships with new audiences.

When the curtain lifted, more than 50 organizations immediately signed on to launch the Audience Building Roundtable, a professional network that provided just what the arts leaders asked for – and more.

In December 2020, The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation announced the closure of the active convenings of the Audience Building Roundtable. It is a natural exit point for the Foundation, with the organizations engaging in relationships and collaboration that promote idea sharing, with the organizations viewing each other as valuable resources.

In the five years that the Foundation actively operated the Audience Building Roundtable, pre-pandemic ticket sales, audience retention, and annual surpluses grew for the participating organizations and the Roundtable created a peer network that fostered learning across organizations and challenged arts groups to listen and respond to audience needs.

This website will remain operational as a resource. Through this website, we will continue to provide a seat for everyone at the Audience Building Roundtable. You’ll find all kinds of valuable resources, including podcasts, blogs, and presentations from Roundtable member organizations and marketing experts. Links to resources can also be found on the site.

As part of the transition, the Foundation is pleased to have Georgia Humanities managing this website and stewarding these resources for arts and culture organizations.

Please join in the learning and take advantage of all that the site has to offer from five years of audience building learning and growth.
 
Penelope McPhee
President
The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation