Attracting Audiences Through Innovative Programs

July 2022

An inquiry from an ABA member into how arts organizations can better combat diminishing attendance and increased competition from other forms of entertainment kicked off a project to understand what experiments arts organizations have done to innovate on traditional experiences.

Our extensive secondary research aimed to find key examples of arts organizations who had success in new ventures. Specifically, we wanted to understand the target populations that drove these arts organizations to create new experiences and any data surrounding the costs and profits of these events.

Findings from the study include: 

• Organizations seem to find greatest success and longevity when they develop an integrated and broad marketing and promotions ecosystem to support their innovative efforts. 

• Immersive experiences like virtual reality, opportunities to physically involve audiences, performing in unusual spaces, and embedded social gathering features all work together to foster new ways of experiencing the arts.

• Innovative programing can be expensive to implement and needs to be done repeatedly in a trial-and-learn format to reach real impact and sustainability.

• Partnerships are key to new performances. Cross-genre and even out-of-sector partners can be great opportunities for more innovation.

To read these and more findings, download the report below.