Audience Building Roundtable Workshop Livestreaming or Hybrid: What’s Right for Your Organization? December 3, 2020

The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation was pleased to present the final workshop in the Audience Building Roundtable COVID-19 series. This workshop also marked the final workshop for the Audience Building Roundtable, although the website resource will remain in place. The workshop features a panel discussion about sponsorship and funding for non-traditional content, a “how to” about livestreaming and hybrid content, and how to decide on a delivery method. Panelists are:

• Scott Williford, President, vLink Solutions

• Chelsea Steverson, Director of Marketing & Digital Engagement, Dad’s Garage Theatre

• Megan Schmitt King, Director of Development & Strategic Partnerships, Camp Southern Ground

  • Moderator: John Bare, Senior Vice President, The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation

Presentations modeled on the Audience Building Roundtable’s “Essential Journey” took place throughout the workshop, with presenters discussing what’s working for their organizations (and what’s not) relative to livestreaming and hybrid approaches to delivering content to audiences. Presentations were made by the following organizations, and each of their presentations is attached here.

• The Breman Museum
  The Breman Overview 12-03-2020.pdf

• Museum of Design Atlanta

• Atlanta Master Chorale
  Atlanta Master Chorale TEJ Presentation 12-3-20.pdf

• The Rialto Center for the Arts

Trends & Changes: What are Arts & Culture Organizations Considering Post-COVID? June 9, 2020

Presented by Alan Brown, WolfBrown: http://wolfbrown.com/people/alan-brown

Download:
Alan Brown Trends & Changes ABR Workshop 6-9-20.pdf

Preparing to Open: A Public Health Discussion with the Experts from Georgia State University School of Public Health, June 5, 2020

Dr. Gerardo Chowell, Department Chair, Population Health Sciences and Professor of Epidemiology

Dr. Lisa Casanova, Associate Professor of Environmental Health

Dr. Rodney Lyn, Interim Dean, Moderator

THE THURSDAY RETHINK: Amplifying Your Messaging Across Channels, presented by Cookerly PR, May 28, 2020

Presented by Stephen Brown, President of Cookerly PR

Download:
ABR Thursday Rethink Amplifying Your Message 5-28-20 Cookerly PR.pdf

Stephen Michael Brown, APR, is president of Cookerly Public Relations. He helps ideate for consumer and corporate campaigns, develop social media programs and strategize for all facets of integrated marketing and lead generation. Favorite recent assignments have included brand activations for nationwide clients at the Super Bowl, the Winter Olympics, the Kentucky Derby and the Academy Awards.

Stephen is in his element facilitating brainstorms and branding workshops, leading media training sessions and coaching executives for public speaking. He recently spoke at Social Media Week about the intersection of mixed reality on communications disciplines. Some of Stephen’s notable campaigns include the introduction of Coca-Cola Freestyle technology and the McCafé line of coffees to U.S. restaurants; celebrations of The Home Depot’s pioneering work in the DIY industry and InterfaceFLOR milestones in sustainability; and social media activations for Mercedes-Benz, General Mills, LexisNexis and Procter & Gamble.

A graduate of the University of South Carolina and of Leadership Atlanta, Stephen is past president and a board member of PRSA Georgia, chairman of the board for Actor’s Express and involved in advisory boards for Alliance Theatre, Serenbe Playhouse and Center for Puppetry Arts. He is a fan of theatre and movies. He resides in the creative enclave of Pinewood Forest in south Atlanta.

Engaging And Growing A Diverse Audience: Building A Bigger Table By Aurora Theatre

Download: Aurora Theatre Building a Bigger Table 8-24-18_compressed.pptx

JULY 2018 ISSUE: The Results are In: True Colors Theatre’s Patron Retention Analysis

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True Colors Theatre

By Jamie Annarino, Audience Building Roundtable

True Colors Theatre is not unlike most arts organizations in that it strives to determine the most effective strategies to maintain audience engagement and keep ticket buyers/patrons coming back. But how does an organization know if it’s on the right track? Which marketing strategies really “move the needle” and contribute to the organization’s bottom line and which ones only have a marginal impact on patrons returning to the theatre? 

In November 2016, The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation offered the opportunity for member organizations of the Audience Building Roundtable to participate in its first “patron retention study.” The Foundation contracted with TRG Arts, a national arts and culture firm grounded in data-driven consultation, to conduct the study. 

The study included a comprehensive review of transactional audience information, including each participating organization's growth in the number of households in its database of ticket buyers and subscribers; the rate of attracting new patrons (first time buyers;) the attrition of both new and existing ticket buyers (exits) and the data about same-year multi-ticket buying. Each of these metrics were studied by type (ticket buyers, members, donors, etc.), and then compared in each category to the other organizations participating in the study and to TRG's national comparison group. 

 The analysis included:

• Buyer type trend analysis

• Analysis of audience behavior for each individual organization and among the five participating organizations

• Analysis of age cohorts for each organization and in the aggregate for the 5 organizations

• A survey administered to non-returning ticket buyers, members, donors and subscribers to understand the reasons that they were not returning to the theatre

• Analysis of marketing expenditures

True Colors Theatre was one of five organizations chosen to participate in the study. The key findings offered an opportunity for True Colors to revise its marketing approach. 

• True Colors’ season subscriber growth is slightly above the national average, with the lowest attrition rate among the five organizations in the study

• From 2012 to 2015, True Colors Theatre’s total household ticket buyers and supporters remained steady, then experienced a decline in 2016

  • True Colors Theatre became more reliant on its existing households as its new household growth slowed during 2016

  • True Colors Theatre was losing its existing audience at a greater rate than it was acquiring new audience members (households) and its attrition rates were similar across all demographics

• The organization’s expenses remained flat while its revenue was declining

• The study revealed inconsistent growth in philanthropic support and a marketing expense budget with above-average marketing expenses

Translating Data into Action

Keep Em’ Coming Back
The study suggested diversifying marketing efforts to convert first-time ticket buyersinto returning patrons(multi-buyers, subscribers, and donors;) specifically, the analysis recommended using direct mail as a means of outreach. 

Following True Colors’ show, King Hedley II, a targeted direct mail and email marketing campaign was implemented - aimed at the first-time ticket buyers to the seasons past three productions. True Colors Theatre mailed a simple “thank you” postcard with a stunning image from this show and included a follow up 50% discount promotional code to these single ticket buyers; the code was good for tickets to attend the upcoming show Dot, with a promotion period of 6 weeks. 

The postcard mailing yielded a break-even on costs. True Colors indicates that this was probably because the follow up was sent months after the performance the ticket buyers attended; in the future, True Colors intends to implement the follow up postcard mailing within a week of the first-time ticket buyers attending a performance.

Cutting Costs
With the new season looming, True Colors is drastically reducing its subscriber renewal telemarketing budget (from $30,000 to $10,000) as well as raising adult ticket prices from $35 to $40 per show. Last season, the total subscription and single ticket sale revenue was $409,112. To date for the 2017-2018 season, revenue stands at $559,592, with one additional show on this season’s calendar. True Colors Theatre has implemented email and direct mail strategies for subscription renewals and will kick off a direct mail and email campaign to sell two- and three-show ticket-packages during July 2018. As of June 15, True Colors had sold $23,000 in subscriptions for the 2018-2019 season with four months to the start of the season.  

Tracking
True Colors is using TRG’s expense projection report to determine revenue and expenses based on direct mail/email efforts. This report has been extremely helpful and is set up to track targeted promotional codes (that True Colors creates). 

True Colors’ achieved 95% of its ticket sales goal for its next season by July 17, 2018. (The goal was to sell half of its tickets for the entire season by July 17.)

Another Point of View
True Colors reports that it “blew their mind” to realize the impact of “household” revenue versus “individual” revenue. This realization changed the way True Colors approaches marketing to existing audiences.

In the 2015-2016 season, revenue of $505,392 was generated by 4,079 households. In 2016-2017, True Colors’ revenue decreased by $100,000 – from 300 households. True Colors’ staff notes that “in marketing, it can get overwhelming thinking about filling 27,000 seats each year (our capacity for 3 productions). However, understanding the patron retention data helped us to realize that we’re really only dealing with 4,000 households to fill those seats.”

This season, True Colors is focusing on getting those 300 “lapsed” households back, which seems much more manageable than focusing on selling 27,000 seats. 

True Colors reports that “cultivating those households when they first come to the theatre is crucial - then fostering the relationship with the household becomes easier to manage once they are more involved.”

True Colors indicates that they are better segmenting their audience as a result of the patron retention analysis, tracking the results of their marketing efforts, and using the data to work toward consistent growth of their audience. 

JULY 2018 ISSUE: Atlanta Ballet Alters Approach Following Patron Retention Study

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Atlanta Ballet

By Gevin Reynolds

From November 2016 through March 2017, the Atlanta Ballet participated in the Audience Building Roundtable’s first Patron Retention Study, funded by The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and conducted by TRG Arts, a national arts and culture consulting firm. The purpose of the study was to benchmark the relative health of patron retention for five Audience Building Roundtable member organizations against TRG's nationwide industry analysis group and to compare the five organizations’ results with one another. 

The patron retention analysis included:

• Buyer type trend analysis

• Analysis of patron behavior within each individual organization and comparing the 5 organizations

• Analysis of age cohorts both at the individual organization level as well as in the aggregate for the 5 organizations

• A survey administered to lapsed patrons in each organization to provide qualitative contour to the quantitative study

• Marketing expense analysis

Specifically, TRG Arts investigated Atlanta Ballet’s household growth, their rate of attracting new patrons (entrances), the attrition of both new and existing patrons (exits) and the impact of same-year multi-support on patron retention (escalators). Each of these metrics was studied by buyer type (ticket buyers, members, donors, etc.) and was compared in each category to TRG's Analysis Group.

Before the study, the marketing team at Atlanta Ballet knew that they had been doing well with acquiring buyers, but not so well with keeping them. They weren’t seeing their donor base grow in ways that they thought they should have. Furthermore, they had experienced a change of leadership in the Artistic Director position, which translated to a shift in artistic direction and a change in buyer base. As result, the Atlanta Ballet felt that the time was right to participate in this study so that they could quantify what they thought they knew about their patrons and obtain a baseline as their new Artistic Director implemented a fresh vision.

Among other things, TRG found that although Atlanta Ballet has experienced growth in total patron households since 2011, their subscriptions had been in a persistent decline since 2011. In total, the results confirmed the Ballet’s expectations that they were excelling at acquiring new buyers, especially for the Nutcracker (their main revenue generator) but were failing to retain those buyers. The results of the study also indicated that they were retaining subscribers at a rate less than the national average, which confirmed what they believed. The Ballet was surprised to find that their patron age demographics were slightly younger than they previously thought, with higher than expected generation X/early baby boomer market penetration.

Following participation in the patron retention study, which was completed in April 2017, the Atlanta Ballet created an implementation plan to build on their patron retention study results. They focused on the subscriber experience by implementing tactics to increase their touch points with subscribers throughout the year. Ultimately, they hoped that this would accelerate the transition from subscriber to donor. They segmented their subscriber list somewhat by grouping subscribers based on whether or not they were “new to file,” and by what kind of package they had (premier package of four ballets, or a “Choose Your Own (CYO)” package of three ballets), with the goal of encouraging CYO buyers to upgrade topremierbecause of certain perks they would receive. With the support of The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, the Ballet rolled out their plan, which focused on industry best practices for subscriber renewals, during the 2016-2017 season and continued it into the 2017-2018 season. 

For the 2016-2017 season, all subscribers received a season welcome letter from the artistic director and a thank-you with chocolates on their seats at the final performance. Premier and New to File subscribers received an invitation to a January in-studio preview. Additionally, all New to File subscribers received a Nutcracker souvenir program (if they had Nutcracker tickets as part of their package) and a signed poster at the March performance. For the 2017-2018 season, all subscribers received a Nutcracker souvenir program (if they had Nutcracker tickets as a part of their package), a personalized thank you note via mail and email after their first performance, program notes via mail and email before each performance at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, and a free parking voucher for the February performance. New to File & CYO subscribers also received an invitation to the January in-studio preview.

The fruits of their labor have been sweet. Renewal rates have grown by 9%since the 2015-16 season and are on pace to exceed 10% growth heading into the 2018-19 season. Indeed, 56% of subscribers from the 2015-16 season renewed into the 2016-17 season, and 65% of subscribers from the 2016-17 season renewed into the 2017-18 season. For the 2017-18 season to date (as of June 11, 2018), 60% of subscribers have already renewed into the 2018-19 season. By comparison, as of June 12 last year, only 50% of subscribers had already renewed their subscription into the 2017-18 season. 

From this study, the Atlanta Ballet learned that focusing on subscribers can be a worthwhile endeavor for any arts organization. According to Atlanta Ballet Marketing Director Tricia Ekholm, subscribers have a less expensive cost of sale and are much easier to keep, meaning that an arts organization can generate significant revenue from subscribers in the long run. Therefore, she advises her colleagues at other arts organizations to hold these patrons closest. Her general advice to her colleagues is to stay focused on the data: track how and whatpatrons purchase as they move through the patron loyalty ladder.

The Atlanta Ballet is continuing its subscriber loyalty efforts and embedding the practices in their organizational behavior. The next step for the Atlanta Ballet is to dig deep into their data to see if they’ve moved the dial on their single-ticket retention program. Stay tuned for the results! 

Refresher Workshop on Audience Loyalty

May 17, 2018 - “Refresher Workshop on Audience Loyalty” presented by TRG Arts Click here to download

JANUARY 2018 ISSUE: Do Good. Be Great. Shift from Marketing to Storytelling

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Museum of Design Atlanta

By Maria Royal, Museum of Design Atlanta

After attending the AMA Nonprofit Marketing Conference this year, I learned that it takes defining the “why” to set yourself apart and it takes human-powered stories to inspire others to care.

IT ALL STARTS WITH THE WHY

As Simon Sinek puts it, “most organizations know what they do. Some know how they do it. But very few know why they do it,” or what their larger purpose is. Using Apple as an example here – the iPhone gives users a lens through which to capture the world, their products enable innovative design work, and on top of having good products that work they choose to market user stories to reveal a kind of empathy and reverence for their audience, positioning the device as the enabler and the user as the pioneer. This realization altered my entire approach to marketing the MODA brand and building the museum’s audience. Nonprofit marketers must begin to think of their brands as people with human voices in order to move audiences from event-loyalists to brand-loyalists.

DO GOOD. BE GREAT.

AMA’s overall conference theme this year, Do Good.Be Great, brought some of the best story tellers in the nonprofit realm to Washington DC. Among many compelling presentations, the following three speakers stood out and spoke in some ways directly to MODA’s mission – to use design as a force to inspire and create positive change in the world through exhibitions, education, and programming for visitors of all ages. Here are a few game-changing tips I took away:

MARTHA ADAMS, CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER FOR THE
GIRL RISING CAMPAIGN

For Martha Adams, the goal of the Girl Rising campaign was to inspire audiences with real stories that would create lasting emotional connections. Why? In order to highlight the critical role that education plays in life. The Girl Rising team created nine chapters with nine different girls to reveal nine unique stories that distill a sense of trust, authenticity, and consistency with the audience. In her words, “if you know how to nurture a human relationship, you know how to build a brand” and in some cases, it’s an emotional connection to a brand’s mission that matters more than customer satisfaction with a particular product. Since brand status is something that must be earned, it’s the user who gives a brand its value. For Martha, promoting Girl Rising was not about driving sales but about building a strong community of like-minded individuals to back a movement for education.

JOHN VRANAS, CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER FOR
MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION

John Vranas began his presentation with a statement that tickled his audience of nonprofit marketers, “No money, no mission,” making a compelling argument for how crucial it is that marketing and development to dovetail. John explained that the need for funding to support the Make-A-Wish program always existed but in the organization’s early years, it turns out they were telling the wrong story.

Historically Make-A-Wish focused their marketing efforts on showcasing the end result –wishes made possible by their organization. After years of sub-par returns on their marketing investments, they realized they were telling the wrong story because they had identified the wrong hero. The real heroes in this story were the people who actually made the wishes possible – the donors, fundraisers, volunteers, social workers, and the doctors working together for a cure. Flipping their model completely and adapting their why to showcase funders and doctors as the heroes yielded tremendous success that allowed the organization to eventually scale up to 102 individual foundations in the US.

JENNIFER MARTINDALE, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER FOR
YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS (YBCA)

With the idea that “cultural shifts precede change,” Jennifer explained that YBCA exists to serve as a creative home for civic action – a place for people to carry change forward. Under new marketing leadership YBCA put new programs in place to actively support and celebrate San Francisco’s change-makers. Their team started the YBCA 100, their own award program to highlight their city’s top change-makers, inviting as many honorees as possible in to speak on one question – what’s the question that keeps you up at night and how are you addressing it? Their team launched a Think Tank for prototyping new city improvements complete with a Culture Bank that selects risky organizations and artists who can’t get grants to fund as long as the artists are designing for good in their city.

BRINGING IT BACK TO ATLANTA: BUILDING A BRAND-LOYAL COMMUNITY FOR MODA

Re-inspired by the incredible work of the above organizations, I returned to Atlanta to restructure the MODA marketing plan for 2018 with an overarching marketing goal of building a brand-loyal MODA community that understands the power of design to change the world and that believes MODA is essential to doing it for Atlanta. I worked with my team to create an internal and external marketing plan to help turn this goal into a reality.

On the internal side, we are working to build an army of radically friendly, cohesive brand ambassadors to drive membership up by 20 percent year over year, capture data, and push patrons to brand loyalty organically. We are finalizing a brand voice guideline to ensure message consistency and to better define our why when conversing with patrons in our exhibition space, at our events, and in our camps and classes.

On the external side, we are aiming to increase patron brand loyalty and donation amounts by 20 percent year over year. There are a number of strategies that support this objective including better defining our why to set ourselves apart in external communication pieces, choosing the right hero in development pieces, and taking a human-centered approach to both our paid and earned marketing efforts.

We are creating real campaigns around MODA’s mission-centered work including exhibitions, Design Conversations, and summer camps. We are focusing our social communications on celebrating the people in Atlanta and beyond who are living our mission of using design to make the world a better place. And once we ramp up these specific MODA initiatives, our blue-sky dream is to move from event-marketing campaigns to brand marketing campaigns at the end of the 2018 calendar year.

Making Emotional Connections with Patrons with Actor’s Express

November 15, 2017 - Actor’s Express TEJ Talk

JUNE 2017 ISSUE: Exploring our “Film” Beginnings

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RIALTO CENTER FOR THE ARTS

By The Rialto Center for the Arts

For over a century, the Rialto has been a dynamic arts venue in the heart of Atlanta, showcasing exceptional artistic talent and advancing education initiatives in our public schools. As part of a vibrant downtown landscape, the Rialto has remained true to its mission: to inspire, educate and entertain diverse audiences by presenting innovative and exceptional arts programming and cultivating community partnerships.

But the Rialto’s original purpose was to showcase what was arguably the most influential art form of the twentieth century – film. Opened in 1916, the Rialto was part of the original theater district of Atlanta. Evolving from a 925-seat vaudeville and silent film theater to the Southeast’s largest movie house to what it is today – a performing arts center showcasing live arts programs from all disciplines and around the world. The Rialto is located on the same corner as the original building, Forsyth and Luckie Streets, and has the distinction of being one of only a few businesses in the city that has done the same type of work for 100 years in the same spot.

As a celebration of our centennial year, (the “new” Rialto opened on Christmas Day, 2016) we wanted to explore our “film” beginnings. We are now undertaking a comprehensive campaign to raise money for upgrades to our current systems to allow for digital and film projection on a giant, tension-mounted motorized screen. The goal of our audience building initiative is to attract both younger patrons and new rental business. Given the bustling film industry and all of the film shoots in downtown Atlanta, there needs to be an intown space to hold premieres. We want to be that space. We requested grant funds from The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation’s Audience Building Roundtable to do two things: upgrade our existing film/media equipment and implement a new AudienceView ticketing system for tracking and follow-up of patrons.

The grant funds allowed the Rialto to upgrade our film/media capabilities through the purchase of a 27’ x 15’ Stumpfl screen with an aluminum frame and legs. A screen like this was something that we previously had to rent at a much higher price point. In addition to saving the rental fees, this upgrade enables us to set up quickly, with less labor and faster turnover between events. We debuted this screen for a very special evening – a Rialto Series show designed to attract a new, younger audience - a screening of the restored print of the 1927 German silent film Metropolis, with live, original accompaniment by Boston’s Alloy Orchestra. ArtsATL and Creative Loafing gave us much-needed preview coverage. The pre-show talk, by film scholar Dr. Allesandra Rhangos, drew more than 100 attendees. Our concessions featured popcorn and movie candy. Our ticket sales topped $6,000.

A portion of the grant funding was used to purchase the new AudienceView integrated ticketing and customer-management system, enabling us to customize payment plans, create real-time reporting and connect via e-mail marketing. We have been able to capture data and follow patrons from the beginning of transactions all the way to post-event surveys instead of relying on Survey Monkey or on paper copies in the lobby after a show. The new system allows us to capture more information, including the high percentage of new ticket buyers we attracted to the Metropolis offering (First-time buyers must create an account in the new system). The follow up comments in our audience surveys included: “Very cool – loved the event;” “More film please – tonight’s performance was amazing;” and “Awesome sound with movie.” The ticketing system indicated that we reached part of our target audience since many of our attendees were students one of the stated goals in our application for funding. We had a much larger walk-up audience than usual for our Series events and observational data confirmed that the audience demographic skewed toward attendees in their 20s and 30s.

Since we chose the Metropolis event as a test program that would use both aspects of the funding we received, we feel that we succeeded. Our takeaway is that film events, especially unusual ones that attract press attention, will drive a different audience through our doors. Later in the season, we reached out to the same audience for our show Shaolin Warriors and received an enormous response from students and younger attendees. As a result of the Metropolis project, we anticipate presenting another film festival during summer 2017 (In summer 2016, we presented the Be Downtown film festival which brought 400 new attendees into the space). We will target our new audience through special discounts, offers for behind-the-scenes tours and meet-and-greets with filmmakers and others affiliated with the screenings.

We chose to focus on film and media because of observations showing a lack of proper screening facilities intown; because we wanted to capitalize on our centennial and be the only place downtown that remains a movie venue; and because of the success of last summer’s foray into film showings. We made the decision based on research: we reviewed downtown offerings and noted what isn’t happening; we asked ourselves if there is a niche we can fill; we looked into what might interest a different audience; and we capitalized on the proximity to continuous film/television shoots.

Research certainly worked for the Rialto in this case. Utilizing a design thinking approach to our planning allowed us to work through empathy: we observed, engaged with, and listened to our new audience. We used data in the define stage of design thinking. The conclusions we drew are pushing us to another level.

The Rialto was able to leverage the funding we received to purchase new equipment; create a new type of season offering; and to use the new AudienceView[1]  system to its full advantage by tracking ticket buyers from point of purchase to post-show.

At the Rialto, we feel that the grant we received from The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation launched us on a new path; the funding gave us the ability to take a risk. We believe the risk was well worth it. We are now on pace to reap the rewards of upgrading our technical capabilities coupled with enhanced data capture.

JUNE 2017 ISSUE: High Museum of Art

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HIGH MUSEUM OF ART

The Plan

The Audience Building Roundtable Technical Assistance grant funded recruitment and engagement events for the High Museum of Art’s Young Professionals (YP) members. The event was modeled after the High’s popular First Fridays and was promoted to acquire new YP members, renew expired members and engage current YPs.

The target audience included 1,500 current and/or prospective YP members, ages 21 to 39. The goal of the event was to cultivate current and prospective members, deepen their connection to the Museum and connect YPs to arts culture in Atlanta.

Funding allowed the High to provide attendees with free admission and activities throughout the evening.

What We Tried

The High’s membership team collaborated internally with the public programs, marketing, creative services, special events and guest relations teams to plan the event.

An event logo was created and featured on flyers, the website, the “Art After Dark” Facebook event page and on glow-in-the-dark admittance stickers.

Local print-making duo, Broken Window Theory, created exclusive prints. The Shutterbooth photo booth gave guests a printout and a gif version of their picture to share on social media, both featuring the event logo. The 139 attendees received an event-specific koozie and a drink ticket. Music was provided by DJ Teknology and Photo by Gannon provided event photography. 

 RESULT: YP MEMBERSHIP
GREW FROM 422 TO 436 MEMBERS

To build on “Art After Dark” momentum and engagement efforts, the High will host two membership drive events to continue to grow this membership level before the end of the fiscal year (May 31, 2017). 

What We Learned

Many of our patrons do not understand that Young Professionals is a membership level, not just an age bracket. We are considering changing the group’s name from Young Professionals to Young Patrons in order to convey that YP members are also donors that are vital to supporting the mission of the High Museum.

Recommendations

We recommend peer organizations create events with a myriad of components to keep guests interested while still providing networking opportunities. YPs come to events to have fun, creative experiences and to make friends.

We also recommend boosting the Facebook event. This inexpensive marketing technique packed a big punch. For $200, 485 individuals indicated they would attend, 5,200 were interested and the event reached 174,000 with 22,000 views.

Our experience showed that YPs appreciated the event exclusivity but we believe many more individuals would have attended the event if we offered an event-specific ticket. “Art After Dark” then could have provided the opportunity for attendees to upgrade their ticket purchase to join, engaging potential new YP members in person versus pre-event.

JUNE 2017 ISSUE: Marketing to Millennials: Could less be more?

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DANCE CANVAS

 By Sicily Ledford, Dance Canvas

While at the National Arts Marketing Project Conference in November 2016, which I attended on scholarship from The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and the Georgia Repertory Theater, I learned (and was reassured) that not all millennials prefer to be reached through online platforms and social media. Although, it is worth noting that we still tend to social media outreach as an integral facet to our audience building tactic,it’s important to remember that reaching patrons through face-to-face audience building tactics can develop a more resilient, lasting relationship. Face-to-face interaction can also be useful to focus on reaching small groups of this generation of individuals at a time. Essentially, once meaningful relationships are created, patrons will tell their colleagues and friends to attend events or support the organization. This classic bring-a-friend tactic is, undoubtedly, very effective. Although this process does not yield an immediate increase in number of patrons attending events or amount of donations, it does increase the authenticity of the organization to patron relationship which, in turn, results in long term organizational health. It also increases the likelihood for donations as these patrons grow in their careers. As a part of this generation, I felt charged to  share this simple, but vital and refreshing idea. 

Since my return from the National Arts Marketing Project Conference, our administrative team developed a Dance Canvas Ambassador Program. Our team first met over pizza and brainstorming; this evening of discussion did not cost anything more than pizza, paper, and pencils. Our Executive Director, Angela Harris, began by leading everyone through a design thinking activity using the template that we received at an Audience Building Roundtable meeting, only stopping conversation when we realized that the restaurant was closing! We finished with a hearty list of ideas for engineering our student engagement initiatives and recruiting an energized group of inaugural Dance Canvas Ambassadors.

In light of the face-to-face and word-of-mouth concept mentioned above, this small but mighty group of young, dedicated Dance Canvas ambassadors—all patrons and volunteers—serve to connect our organization to the younger population in the metro Atlanta region. This initiative essentially serves as a way to engage college students in professional development opportunities and Dance Canvas events. Our ambassadors are inspired to complete special projects, carry out audience engagement initiatives and lead a cohort of peers from several of Dance Canvas’ partner colleges. Ambassadors are asked to volunteer for at least three Dance Canvas events including our “Introducing the Next Generation” performances. 

In return, ambassadors receive these benefits!

• Free Dance Canvas T-shirt & magnet

• Free admission to all Dance Canvas shows and events

• Special invitations to private Dance Canvas events (networking opportunities)

• Access to Dance Canvas choreographers through masterclasses, workshops, and meet & greets

• Access to free professional development seminars, VIP Q&A's, and special DC Ambassador social / networking events

• Cohort of Peers from several colleges

• Mentorship and career goal assistance from the Dance Canvas staff

Currently, our partner colleges are the University of Georgia, Georgia State University, Kennesaw State University and Georgia Tech. These partnerships support the part of our mission that serves emerging artists that are college students, recent graduates,and/or of the millennial generation.

In review, our ambassador program provides volunteer support for audience building tasks and projects including,but not limited to, social media content development and targeted ticket sales. 

Each of our ambassadors reached out to their peers to increase student ticket sales for our “Introducing the Next Generation” performance series in March 2017. Our group of ambassadors also led the two post-show receptions in the Ferst Center for the Arts lobby. These gatherings were an absolute hit and the post show vibe led to even more relationship cultivation as patrons could interact directly with choreographers, dancers and Dance Canvas students while enjoying free hors d'oeuvres and beverages. 

The challenge that comes with having an ambassador team is the time it takes to educate and lead rather than simply delegate tasks. But I hesitate to call this a “negative.”  The ambassadors are eager and quick to learn and we hope to support them in becoming leaders for our organization and for the Atlanta arts community. We encourage organizations to take the time to generate or further develop their relationships with this group of “art-zealous” patrons. It is an investment that will yield returns into the future.

We welcome you to share our Ambassador program with others using the link below.
http://www.dancecanvas.com/collegiate-alliance-ambassador-prog. We are happy to answer any questions at info@dancecanvas.com.