Should our offerings be reshaped? Part II

Yesterday I started a discussion about ARTNews' article "Reshaping the Art Museum".  

Again, generally I'm in favor of anything that makes art more accessible and engaging for general audiences.  But the danger comes when the art or the scholarship is sacrificed to bring those audiences in.

Consumer products often have easier math.  More users mean more units sold.   Creating wide appeal holds obvious benefits for those brands.

But we know that many of our organizations are more dependent on the support of a few large benefactors.  One committed supporter can have more financial impact than 10,000 casual fans. In almost all cases these supporters are there because of their commitment to our long-term mission.  A move to "Art Lite" to attract larger audiences runs the risk of alienating those that are most important to us.

Is there a middle ground, yes.  It starts with judging any new offering against your current mission and then having a dialogue with your most important supporters.  When a new consumer-focused program both meets your mission standards and has donor input, it's time  to move ahead aggressively in bringing the arts to a broader audience in your community.

Should our offerings be reshaped?

There's a great article in the June Issue of ARTnews magazine titled "Reshaping the Art Museum".  It's an in depth discussion of the ways many museums are reaching out to broader audiences.  I think it's a worthwhile read whether you're in the museum business, theatre or another other arts endeavor.  Connecting with audiences beyond the core arts supporter is an issue that extends to each of us.

Here's an excerpt that struck me.

If these leaders succeed, the art museum of the future will offer the customer service of an Apple store, the comforts of a Barnes & Noble, and the dynamism of a town square. It will have areas where visitors can plug in or tune out, where they can immerse themselves in virtual-reality games or speak to live curators in the galleries, and where they can comment on the art they see—or make their own.

There are a lot of positives in making your organization more inviting and intellectually accessible to the general public.  Art, regardless of form, has little chance to affect or transform a person if they never come to experience it.  And as a marketer I'm nearly always in favor of consumer-focused products.

I can think of at least one reason to be thoughtful in the way this is done however.  I'll talk about that in my next post.