Last year marked the 10th anniversary for the Philip Kotler book Museum Marketing and Strategy. For the anniversary a second edition was released. Kotler is one of the few mainstream marketers that has given extensive time to the question of how to market the arts.
Kotler was interviewed by the Arts Management Network in their July '08 newsletter to promote the re-release of the title. I found this portion of the interview particularly interesting.
"Perhaps the major revelation is to think of art patrons as consumers (as well as potential givers) with varying needs, wants, and preferences. This leads to managing the arts organization from a "customer perspective." It leads the arts organization to develop multiple programs providing different offerings and satisfactions for different customers. Some people come to the museum to contemplate the great art, others come for a class, others come to meet their friends or to meet new people. As for performing arts organizations, they have to prioritize their market groups. A symphony orchestra must prepare different programs to satisfy the tastes of different audiences that the symphony orchestra values."
Kotler also wrote the forward for another book that may be of particular interest to arts marketers. Joanne Scheff Bernstein's 2007 Arts Marketing Insights: The Dynamics of Building and Retaining Performing Arts Audiences.
