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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Creative Trust
CCI/Ontario Presenters Network December 11, 2009
© WolfBrown 2009 All Rights Reserved
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Outline•“In and Out of the Dark” – Lynne
Conner•Why does engagement really mater?•What does research tell us about how
audiences want to engage?•Framework and Examples: Stages of
Engagement•Adopting an engagement philosophy•Summary: What have we learned?
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
The “Sacralization” of the Arts
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Gentlemen will kindly avoid the stamping of feet and pounding of canes.
All applause is best shown by clapping of hands. --The Management
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
What happened? Electricity
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
fixed chairs and reserved seating
quiet, dark performance environment
standards of etiquette for all classes
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
MacPhail Center for Music
• New Rehearsal/Performance Space- ‘Perfectly Flexible’- Space can be reshaped for multiple events- Invites two-way experience
Audience
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
What does “audience engagement” mean?
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
To “Engage” - Core Definitional Elements
• Attraction or common cause• Mutuality of intent; commitment or
agreement• Make an investment; take responsibility• Unusually high level of interest, involvement
or participation• An act of risk; accepting liability for an
uncertain outcome• To become interlocked or intertwined
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Engagement in Arts Experiences
• Engagement is a guiding philosophy in the creation and delivery of arts experiences
• People who subscribe to this philosophy:- Encourage each participant to be a co-creator of meaning- Integrate various learning experiences with the presentation of art- Accept that people have different ways of engaging, and allow
audience members to curate their own learning experience- Accept that not everyone relates to art on an intellectual basis- Embrace many pathways through the art form
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
What’s driving the cultural sector towards “engagement?”
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
A Confluence of Many Forces
• Demand for shorter and more intense experiences- Extract more value from the same investment
• Shift towards more active forms of participation
• Rise of new forms of creative expression• The culture of continuous feedback• The second generation of experience learners• Expectation that leisure experiences can be
customized- e.g., choosing to watch the director’s cut
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
But why does engagement really matter?
Because it magnifies impact.
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
What does research tell us about how audiences want to engage?
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Let’s start with two basic questions:
• Generally, how much do you like to prepare in advance for performances by reading, watching or listening to information about the artist or program?
• Generally, how much do you like to debate or critique performances afterwards?
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Results: Most people are somewhat inclined to engage…. BUT… some really are, and some really aren’t
Source: Six University Presenters (multi-disciplinary sample)
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
‘Talking about it’ is the dominant form of engagement of the six activities tested; likelihood declines with age
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
7.0
18 to 34 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64 65+
Like
lihoo
d of
Doi
ng (1
=Unl
ikel
y, 7
=Lik
ely)
Likelihood of Doing Specific Engagement Activities, by Age Cohort
Seek out information about upcoming artists or programs on the web
Attend pre-performance lectures, masterclasses or symposia, when offered
Participate in hands-on interactive workshops, when offered
Stay after performances to participate in discussions with artists, when offered
React to performances by contributing to online forums or blogs
Tell your friends what you liked or disliked about a performance
Source: Six University Presenters (multi-disciplinary sample)
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Who engages in online activities?
Source: Six University Presenters (multi-disciplinary sample)
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Some people like to arrive at the theatre with lots of context on the play they are about to see, while others prefer not to know much about what they are going to see, in order to have an open mind and allow for the element of surprise (i.e., a “blank canvas”).
All else being equal, where are you along this continuum? (circle a number)
1 = Much Context, 4 = No Preference, 7 = Blank Canvas
Source: Major theatre company in a large midwestern city
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Most want at least a bit of context…
8% 19% 24% 22% 13% 9% 4%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Preferred Approach to Pre-Performance Engagement
Much Context 2 3 No Preference 5 6 Blank Canvas
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Some people enjoy vigorously discussing the meaning or merits of a play immediately after the performance, while others prefer to reflect quietly on their own.
All else being equal, where are you along this continuum? (circle a number)
1 = Reflect Privately, 4 = No Preference, 7 = Discuss Vigorously
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Most tend to reflect privately; how are you going to reach them?
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Younger buyers are more likely to be involved in participatory theatre activities, and less likely to rely on reviews
27% 32%
47%
61%73%
83%17% 7%
7%
7%
4%
10%
10%
5%
5%
5%
6%
22%
9%
5%
6%
7%
11%
10%9%
12%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
18-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65-74 75+
% o
f A
ge C
ohor
t
PERCENT CITING "FREQUENT" ENGAGEMENT IN THEATRE ACTIVITIES, BY AGE COHORT
Travel to other cities to see theatre
Write, perform in or work on plays or musicals
Read or comment about theatre on blogs
Read plays for own enjoyment
Read critical reviews of theatre productions
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Factor analysis reveals five overlapping modalities
Readers (94%)
Talkers (86%)
Bloggers(26%)
Listeners(18%)
Actors (12%)
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
A large orchestra on the east coast
• Commissioned a segmentation study• Input variables included:
- Musical tastes: eclectic vs. classical-focused- Knowledge level about classical music- Appetite for new works by living composers- Preferences for different concert formats- Preferences for engagement activities- Motivations for attending- Influence of purchase decision factors
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
A four-segment customer model illustrates the diversity within this audience base
PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA CUSTOMER
SEGMENTATION MODEL (N=1,075)
Old School Connoisseurs
24%
Warhorses23%
Casual Followers28%
Adventurous Intellectuals
25%
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Six in ten want brief introductions from the stage
PREFERRED CONCERT FORMAT, BY SEGEMNT
5%
66%
10%5%
21%
74%
34%
70%
67%
62%
20% 19%28%
17%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Warhorses Old SchoolConnoisseurs
AdventurousIntellectuals
CasualFollowers
TOTALAUDIENCE
Interpretation-richeducational format
Format with briefintroductions
Traditional format (notalking)
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Summary
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
What does research tell us?
• Audiences are diverse with respect to engagement- Younger audiences are far more likely than older audiences to engage online,
and tend to prefer more active forms of engagement- Some older audiences long for the arts education experience they had as
children- Some people would actually prefer educational formats
• Lectures and discussions tend to attract people who are already knowledgeable about the art form- How can you engage the ‘big middle’ of the audience?
• Patrons with lower knowledge levels prefer talking from the stage over reading printed program notes
• Need to provide context in layers, so people get take a little or a lot
• Be careful about vocabulary (i.e., level of difficulty)• Eliciting informal conversation outside of our venues may
be a big win
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
A Simple Framework: Stages of Engagement
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Stages of Engagement
• Pre-performance- It all starts with marketing: messaging about engagement- The purchase: give options - Post-purchase: build anticipation, preparatory activities
• At or during the performance- Interpretive assistance- Participatory activities
• After the Performance & Forever- Structured processing in-venue- Unstructured processing out of the venue- Memory elicitation
• Apart from the Performance- Digital engagement- Audience involvement in art creation
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Pre-Performance
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Marketing as an Engagement Process
• The marketing message should signal engagement opportunities
• Send the first engagement message with ticket acknowledgement
• Seamless transition from marketing cycle to engagement cycle- Objective: Heighten anticipation
• Will audiences pay to be engaged? Should engagement cost?
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Examples of Preparatory Activities:
• In-depth information available through website (pull)
• Audio briefings accessed via website (pull)• Listening to audio recordings at home or in
the car on the way• Distribute ‘season primer’ CDs (SF Opera)• Skills-building programs (ArtSavvy, Dance
101)• Mail or email contextual information to
patrons (push)
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
At or During Performances
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Examples of at-venue engagement activities:
• Sit in your seat and read the program notes• Pre-performance lectures or “executive
briefings”• Introductory videos (e.g., Appalachian Spring)• Interpretive assistance during performances
- Supertitles (translation or commentary)- Talking from the stage- Interpretive text broadcast to mobile devices
• Visual representations of music• Other format innovations• Real time audience input/feedback
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Martha Graham Dance Company
• Incorporated supertitles into a touring production of Clytemnestra- Reviewer: “Supertitles help
audiences approach what could, without context, come across as a museum piece; spoken, often humorous introductions to the repertory do the same. It is tempting to dismiss these efforts as heretical, but they seem to engage viewers.
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Concert Companion
• Embedded interpretation- Concert Companion (“CoCo”), a hand-held PDA
device- Interpretive assistance synchronized with
the music- Users read information in real-time- Tested with Kansas City Symphony, Philadelphia
Orchestra, New York Philharmonic- Greatest resistance was from musicians
Audience
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf TrapAudience Engagement
• Deliver interpretive content during concerts via Twitter- "With this first ever in-time symphonic
Twitter you can have the conductor as your personal guide through Beethoven's most colorful and atmospheric work,” explained Conductor Emil de Cou. “I have designed the tweets to go perfectly with ideas I have about the piece as I conduct it but also some interesting commentary to go along with the sights and sounds of Beethoven's day in the countryside: an adult musical pop-up book written for first timers and concert veterans alike."
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
After Performances
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Examples of post-performance engagement activities:
• Post-performance discussions with the artist- Attendance has doubled at the Kennedy Center discussions after
dance performances
• Read a critic’s review- But professional criticism has vanished in many markets- Some efforts to replace it (sfcv.org)
• Discussion circles, handouts• Radio call in show• React to the performance in an online forum
- Build an authentic feedback loop with the audience
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
University Musical Society
• Eliciting feedback from audiences- Production of ‘The Elephant Vanishes’ (four
performances)- Needed to quickly generate community
excitement
• Process- Sent an e-mail to attendees on opening night
asking for audience comments
• Outcomes- Received ecstatic emails- Generated 25% of sales after 1st performance- Empowered audience as critics
Audience
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Forever
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
What happens to the memory of arts experiences?
• Printed programs play a role• Some people remember experiences for a
lifetime- Others sleep through it
• Mondavi Center: handing out ‘artist cards’ to youth
• What can you do to ensure that people remember your experiences?- Send audio files? Image files? Create an online scrapbook?
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
The New Frontier: Engaging Audiences in Creating Artistic Content, and even in Program Planning
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Examples
• TakeOver09 (York Theatre Royal)- A festival run “by young people, with young people, for everyone”
• Art Institute of Chicago- Panels of representatives of ‘target communities’ (e.g., African
Americans) collaborate with staff to design exhibitions
• Cornerstone Theater- Develops plays around community themes, with extensive
community involvement
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Hannah Rudman: Organizational Porosity and User Generated Content (video)• Head of U.K.’s ambITion project (digital
engagement)• Video message to “Project Audience”• Rapidly evolving landscape• New forms of co-creation
- “It’s not about giving up control”
• Culture cannot be ‘provided,’ but is generated together- ‘Open source’ artistic direction
• Return of the amateur• For more information about Hannah Rudman, see:
http://consultrudman.wordpress.com/ • See online references at: http://delicious.com/hanrudman/ugc
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Audience as Co-Author of Meaning
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Summary
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
What lessons have we learned?
• Engagement occurs when audiences participate actively in designing and interpreting their own experience
• Small organizations have more flexibility to adopt engagement practices
• Sometimes, engagement requires performing in less than ideal circumstances
• New/redesigned physical spaces can enable a higher degree of engagement
• Constituent input (feedback loop) is a key success factor• Drawing a line between audience engagement and
community engagement is unnecessary and ultimately limiting
• We need engage audiences regardless of where they are in their arc of involvement with the art form
• It is difficult to reach alignment around engagement as a philosophy when you have inflexible conceptions of how the art form should be experienced
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
How do arts groups move towards an engagement orientation?
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Three Levels of Adoption
Departmental
Cross- Functional
Organizational
– Institutionalized at the departmental level– Specific outcomes desired– Core programs are “protected”
– Departments work together and share risk– Tend to be project-based (e.g., residencies)– Supplemental to core programming
– Philosophical alignment at the board level– Artistic leadership is a full partner, and core
programming is an instrument of engagement
– Org. structure serves engagement goals
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Practice occurs on a continuum from Community Engagement to Audience Engagement; is the distinction necessary?
Audience
Departmental
Organizational
Cross-Functional
Community
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
AudienceCommunity
• In-school concerts
• Residencies
• Youth orchestras
• Customer service
• Interactive technology
• Target marketing
• Stakeholder Input
• Benefits-based programming
• Venue diversification
• Festivals and special programs
• Free performances
• Contextual Programs
• Embedded Interpretation
• Post-Processing
• Education is integral to every production
• Critical dialogue encouraged
• Holistic view of the art form
• Artists are teachers, interpreters
Alignment
• Educational enhancements
What does alignment look like?
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Successfully engaging your audiences can lead to…
• Increased relevance to existing audiences• Higher retention rates• Broadened awareness and reach in the
community• Higher levels of loyalty and community
ownership• More critical dialogue about the art• More public and private support because of
higher impact• More sensitivity to, and support for, the value of
intrinsic impacts
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Audience Engagement – A Close Examination
Discussion
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