Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Broadway taps into Black Audiences

Interesting article appeared Monday in the Times looking at how the producers of the musical "Memphis", "Fela" and other shows are trying to engage African-American audiences.

Producers of these shows believe the black audience hasn't been “tapped out” and are using more research and targeted marketing techniques to capture it. The efforts have become more important with general show attendance down. Producers hope they can offset those trends by diversifying the audience mix. African-Americans normally make up around 25-30 percent of Broadway show audiences, but for the shows that are reaching out to minority audiences the attendance increase is noticeable.

Check out the full article here.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Kaiser's tour winds down


I've talked about Kennedy Center president Michael Kaiser a number of times on this blog. An update on Michael Kaiser's Arts In Crisis program appeared today in the NY Times. Since starting last year Kaiser has visited all 50 states and has had more than 800 groups apply for his free counseling. He'll finish his tour of arts groups later in July.

More info from the article is here.

Kaiser's website for the program, is artsincrisis.org

Friday, June 18, 2010

But is it Art?

The Guggenheim has announced a partnership with YouTube to review user submissions on a channel called YouTube Play. Professional artists will judge the videos posted and the Top 20 will appear in an upcoming Guggenheim exhibition.

As a marketer, I admire the genius of the idea. It combines technology, current culture and makes the exhibition accessible to a much younger audience. And if you have any doubt about the exhibition having a PR hook, well the Washington Post did a full write up on it. read here

I'm not an art historian or a curator and have never claimed to be. Aside from the marketability of the YouTube exhibition, I have some reservations. I enjoy full dance numbers for weddings and watching Charlie bite his brother's finger too. But frankly I'm not expecting to see them on framed screens in the Guggenheim. Here's hoping that in attracting new audiences, the museum doesn't dilute it's brand at the same time.

Check out the submission so far and decide for yourself. http://youtube.com/play

Thursday, June 10, 2010

The State of Arts Funding

Excellent article in The Art Newspaper on the future of funding as we begin to recover from the economic crisis of last year.

Writer András Szántó makes one particularly interesting point about the effects of a "great outcomes" pitch for arts philanthropy. After years of claiming that cultural investment leads to economic growth for cities and towns, governments and community organizations are asking to see the payoff for their funding. He argues that it has been difficult to show those direct links and it may have a long term effect on funding for the arts.

The full article is here.