Audience Development Initiative
Boulder County Arts Alliance (“BCAA”) has launched in 2006 an Audience Development Initiative to develop, plan and implement strategies to build audience participation in keeping with its mission to promote and support cultural arts organizations. Funded by an “Access to Artistic Excellence” award of $23,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts, and by continued matching support from the Boulder County Board of Commissioners, along with the Boulder Economic Council, Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, and the Longmont Area Economic Council, the primary goal of this important two-year initiative is to attract more audience members from the Boulder County and Denver Metro regions to participate in the offerings of our premiere cultural arts organizations resulting in a minimum of five percent increase in earned income through ticket sales, class registrations or memberships.
BCAA believes, when organizations have increased earned income, they will be able to invest in quality programs and additional human resources. Further, our processes, strategies and results will be shared with other Boulder County cultural arts organizations not participating in this initial year of the project. This will build community participation throughout Boulder County’s cultural arts organizations, ensuring more citizens experience the wide range of quality offerings in year-round arts presentations.
This initiative will attract greater wealth and cultural vitality to our communities countywide through increased participation in the arts, creating a long-term beneficial economic impact to Boulder County and its communities.
Economic Impact of the Creative Industries
Throughout history the arts have played an invaluable role in society. They are used as teaching devices, sparking new ideas and broadening horizons. The culture of a society shapes and defines a community to give it a sense of place and individuality among surrounding communities. However, are cultural arts organizations economically sound institutions? Is it truly in the people’s best interest to support and invest in the arts and cultural events and activities of their communities? Yes, it is!
The value of a thriving arts- and culture-infused community cannot be underestimated as the most economically sound investment for a community and its resources. The Dividends of Culture 2004Report documents that arts and cultural events in the seven counties comprising the Denver Metro Region generated $1.311 billion in economic activity. Also, 11.3 million people were involved in the events, compared to 7.9 million for the ski resorts and only 4.6 million for major sporting events. Executive Director, Deborah Jordy stated that, “The research strongly indicates that culture is key to the economy. Further, culture attracts significant new dollars to the metro Denver-Metro economy and engages millions of metro residents and visitors.” The importance of the cultural arts as a critical ingredient in the formula for economic development is further corroborated on a statewide level by the transfer of the Colorado Council for the Arts to the State Department of Economic Development.
The Americans for the Arts’ Arts & Economic Prosperity Report for the City of Boulder, conducted in 2003, provides compelling evidence that the arts are a $19.2 million industry in Boulder. Boulder not-for-profit arts organizations, which spend more than $7.9 million annually, leverage a remarkable $11.3 million in additional spending by arts audiences attracting $530,000 in local government revenue. This study, which measures the economic impact of the arts and culture in the City of Boulder and is being updated during 2006 through the collection current survey data, will be generated by Americans for the Arts in June 2007. Preliminary data review indicates that the creative industry has continued to grow and the economic impact will be even greater. Although this study has not been completed in other county communities, the importance of the arts contributing to the quality of life of the community is becoming increasingly evident. During the City of Longmont’s Focus on Longmont planning process the value of the arts was reiterated by citizens during multiple focus groups and have been included in the plan. The City of Longmont funds a public museum and has set aside one percent of all capital improvement projects for the acquisition of public art.
Americans for the Arts also uses information from Dun & Bradstreet to track the creative industries in each of the 438 Congressional Districts nationwide. Tracking both for-profit and not-for-profit arts businesses, it shows that Colorado District 2, Boulder County’s district, ranks 33 of 439 districts in the number of arts businesses, but with a decline of 2.64% from 2005 to 2006. The district ranks 109 out of 438 in the number of employees and we experienced a decrease of 1.19% in employment from 2005-06. This demonstrates that District 2 is home to a relatively large number of creative industries yet provides fewer employment opportunities. The Audience Development Initiative will increase earned income and will result in the ability of arts organizations to invest in human resources and quality programs. It is hoped that an outcome of this initiative will lead to more employment in the not-for-profit arts businesses in the county.
The First Year – Climbing the Learning Curve
During this initiative’s first year, BCAA has partnered with nine premiere cultural arts organizations that have been instrumental in establishing Boulder County’s national reputation as an arts community to research problems and issues associated with low audience turnout and arts participation and develop long-term solutions. These organizations have been struggling, along with many others in Boulder County during the recent economic downturn in Colorado, to gain continuous financial support and earned income resulting from audience participation. These Partner organizations are:
3rd Law Dance/Theater, Boulder, CO
Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Boulder, CO
Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, Boulder, CO
Colorado Music Festival, Boulder, CO
Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Boulder, CO
Frequent Flyers Productions Aerial Dance, Boulder, CO
Old Firehouse Art Center, Longmont, CO
Open Studios, Boulder, CO
Rocky Mountain Center for Musical Arts, Lafayette, CO
These organizations were selected as Partners based on the following criteria: quality of program, reputation of organization, leadership, discipline, commitment to community and audience development, anti-discrimination and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessible, community served and professional staff participation.
Each of the above Partner organizations was asked to develop an assessment of their current organization, their current audience and their current community networks. This assessment would provide a baseline from which to analyze past and current trends and provide a framework for each organization from which to build their audience development strategies.
In addition to the publication, Increasing Cultural Participation: An Audience Development Planning Handbook for Presenters, Producers, and Their Collaborators (Paul Connolly and Marcelle Hinand Cady, Illinois State University, 2001), which we used as a guide to direct and inform our project, the Partner organizations have studied all the current research and reports on developing increased audience participation, namely:
- Motivations Matter: Findings and Practical Implications of a National Survey of Cultural Participation, Francie Ostrower, Urban Institute, 2005
- Gifts of the Muse: Reframing the Debate About the Benefits of the Arts, Kevin F. McCarthy, et al., RAND Corporation, 2005
- Participation in Arts and Culture: The Importance of Community Venues , Chris Walker, et al., Urban Institute, 2003
- Arts Participation: Steps to Stronger Cultural and Community Life , Chris Walker et al., Urban Institute, 2003
- Cultural Collaborations: Building Partnerships for Arts Participation , Francie Ostrower, Urban Institute, 2003
- Reggae to Rachmaninoff: How and Why People Participate in Arts and Culture , Chris Walker et al., Urban Institute, 2002
- A New Framework for Building Participation in the Arts , Kevin F. McCarthy et al., RAND Corporation, 2001
We also surveyed and gathered best marketing and audience development practices in the region.
In November 2006, Radar Communications, a national, independent market research company based here in Boulder, conducted qualitative market research in the Boulder County/Denver area. The primary goal of this research was to deepen our understanding of the underlying motivations that drive community participation in the arts. The Radar Study reported on why people attend and participate in the arts, but what keeps them from attending more events. The study also identified various areas of opportunity to engage attendees, which have further informed us as we’ve developed our audience development strategies.
The First Year – Identifying and Developing the Strategies
The next phase was key to our project – turning all the information collected at hand into effective strategies that will successfully build audience participation at each of the Partner organizations.
BCAA hosted two workshops facilitated by H. Mark Smith from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a well-regarded expert on the subject of increasing audience participation in the arts. During the first workshop, Increasing Audience Participation: From Ambition to Strategy, Mr. Smith worked with the Partners to develop audience participation strategies for each of their organizations using all the information gathered to date.
During the second workshop, Mr. Smith provided the Partners with the tools to evaluate the impact of their audience development strategies focusing on the “Logic Model,” an approach to program planning and evaluation that will be used to implement and measure the success of these strategies during the second phase of this project in 2007.
The Second Year – Collaboration
For 2007, BCAA has organized quarterly roundtables of the staff and volunteer leadership of area community cultural councils. These roundtables are designed to improve cross-community communication, and to create a network of arts service councils and commissions to disseminate information that will advance the arts in each community.
Further, BCAA will expand the Audience Development Initiative by inviting smaller arts groups from around the county, recognized for their history of performances and community engagement, Affiliates. As Affiliates they will benefit from the research BCAA has conducted, develop and implement audience development strategies as their organizational capacity allows; and, participate in countywide collaborative marketing efforts.
The Affiliate organizations invited to participate are:
Backdoor Theatre, Nederland, CO
Boulder Bach Festival, Boulder, CO
Center Stage Theater Company, Louisville, CO
Coal Creek Community Theatre, Louisville, CO
Colorado MahlerFest, Boulder, CO
Danse Etoile, Superior, CO
East Boulder County Artists, Lafayette, CO
Lafayette Community Theatre, Lafayette, CO
Lafayette Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra, Lafayette, CO
Leise Danse Dimensions, Longmont, CO
Longmont Dance Theater Ballet, Longmont, CO
Longmont Jazz Association, Longmont, CO
Longmont Museum and Cultural Center, Longmont, CO
Longmont Studio Tour, Longmont, CO
Longmont Symphony, Longmont, CO
Louisville Arts Association, Louisville, CO
Lyons Artique, Lyons, CO
Niwot Timberline Symphony, Niwot, CO
The Sculpture Trail, Lyons, CO
Theater Company of Longmont, Longmont, CO
WOW Children’s Museum, Lafayette, CO
Boulder County Arts Alliance’s commitment to developing and expanding audiences of the premiere cultural organization in the county, as well as affiliate arts groups, is critical to our mission. It ensures that we are consistently pursuing our vision of the arts thriving at the heart of our communities. Our audience development initiative is significant because we are educating the cultural community about the issues of broadening, deepening and diversifying their audiences; and providing the resources and tools to identify, address and overcome barriers to increased participation. The result of this initiative will be a long-term investment in the stability and sustainability of these cultural organizations as they increase their earned income from ticket and membership sales and deepen and diversify their base of support.
Recognition and Thanks
BCAA is proud of the results of our Audience Development Initiative and would like to extend its true appreciation to many for their support – through their ideas and knowledge, through their dedicated efforts, through their resources (in time, energy and money), and through their good humor. Their continued support is a testament to the success of collaboration and why Boulder County continues to be nationally recognized as a premier cultural arts community.
Most importantly, BCAA thanks the National Endowment for the Arts and the Boulder County Board of Commissioners for their strong financial support, as well as the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District along with the Boulder Economic Council, Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, and the Longmont Area Economic Council. Without it, this initiative would not have gone beyond the outline stage.
Next, BCAA would like to thank the members of its Board of Directors, whose vision to further expand BCAA’s support of Boulder County’s cultural arts organizations, lays the foundation for this initiative. Thanks also goes to BCAA’s executive director, Alison Moore, for supervising this initiative; and Richard Turbiak, as coordinator, who has been responsible for moving this project forward by convening and documenting all the various project meetings, and all other related activities of the project, including the preparation and dissemination of reports regarding the Audience Development Initiative.
Thank you to Donna Gartenmann of the City of Boulder Arts Commission. Her collaboration continues to support and inform our daily efforts.
Also to be thanked is the Partners’ committee, all of whom are committed to participating in this audience development initiative. The Partners’ committee is comprised of: Jim LaVita and Katie Elliott, 3rd Law; Joan Markowitz and Penny Barnow, Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art; Sue Levine and Shoshana Fanizza, Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra; Catherine Underhill, Colorado Music Festival; Philip Sneed and Mell McDonnell, Colorado Shakespeare Festival; Nancy Smith, Frequent Fyers Productions; Malia Thompson, Old Firehouse Art Center; Gary Zeff, Open Studios; Peggy Bruns and Kathy Kucsan, Rocky Mountain Center for Musical Arts.
Also for participating and offering their expertise and insight, we would like to thank Radar Communications, as well as Maura Troester Nuñez and Brett Robbs, both assistant professors at CU School of Journalism/Mass Communication. Their approach to fully consider and incorporate the customer's perspective, combining many practices including journalism and anthropology, will bring the initiative’s Partners exceptionally close to their customers and guide us to meaningful insights that will effectively inform our efforts.
In addition, we would like to thank H. Mark Smith from the Massachusetts Cultural Council for his charm and extensive knowledge and expertise that he has brought to the project, making it easier for us to develop, plan and implement strategies that can be evaluated for this project.
We would also like to thank the local area arts councils and the Affiliate arts organizations. They have trusted us as mentors to guide them in developing and implementing audience building strategies for their own programs.
Thank you to Dan Pirallo and the Millennium Harvest House Hotel for their continuing support of the Boulder County arts community.
And finally, a special thank you goes out to Richard “Dick” Devin, retired Producing Artistic Director of the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. Dick’s tireless dedication to collaboration between cultural arts organizations, as well as the business community, is the underpinning of this entire initiative. It is the example of his generous nature that fully colors this endeavor.
