Recently I have been following Dr. Jade Teta and his theories on Metabolic Renewal. He is an interesting person with a great deal of drive to help people with personal development both mentally and physically. What struck me as fascinating is the fact that he is mentioning that people need to work out smarter, not harder, and women in particular of certain ages, could use a guide to working out the correct way for their time in life.
I decided to give his recommendations a try for my age group. The workouts are only 17 minutes long. Wow! I was sweating, and it really made me sore the next day in multiple muscle areas.
It got me thinking again about our health industry and how the mainstream is not working. I wrote a post about gut health and how it relates to arts management. This post mentions how we might not be getting to the core to solve our arts industry challenges. I did not go into detail hoping some people would chime in with their thoughts.
This time, it’s not just about getting to the core issue, but finding the right way forward to boost our arts metabolisms. Many of us are lethargic, running on past practices, and not working on audience development programs to follow up and follow through to gain new audience members. Part of the issue is that we are spread way too thin and working long hours on the wrong programs. We do need to work smarter instead.
So what can we take a look at that could get us closer to building our arts muscles up again and make us super attractive to audiences of all kinds?
- Not programming too much! I have been in several situations where the programming is actually too jam packed. It confuses the buyer and makes us and our budgets super stressed. A long time ago, I did a very quick financial analysis on The Met’s programming (which I can’t seem to find to add the link). I found that if they cut their opera schedule down by at least 3 operas, they would be more in the black. Sometimes less is more because you will be able to focus more on the select programs instead of spreading yourself thin. You might want to do an analysis on what is required to promote one program, both time and budget, and then see how much resources you have to spend on programming for the year. Then, make decisions on your programming to narrow it down for the year to fit this new streamlined planning. Also, usually this way of thinking helps you focus on how to promote for the year in general. And, instead of being overwhelmed and exhausted, you will still have the energy to boost your events.
- Evaluate your staff. Do you have the right people doing the right things? What are their talents and skill sets? Do you have a box office manager that might be better in the marketing department? Is your development associate better at speaking with the public about ticket sales? Is there a closet graphic designer on your staff? I know most of us do hire with keeping in mind finding the right person for the right job, but after they have been there for a while, were you right in your initial assessment? I find that sometimes people might need to be shifted around in order to make your organization run the best it can with the right people in the right positions. Meaning, it might have been correct to hire these people, but now you can move them to where they can help the organization thrive. This is akin to using your muscles wisely!
- Evaluate your marketing. I am always saying this, but sometimes people forget to see what is working and what is not, and that can be costly. Always put your money into what is working and what may be worth the risk of trying.
- Experiment with new audience development programs. Now that you freed up your time and budgets, and you have the right people in the right places, it’s time to try out some new audience development programs. What are you trying to accomplish for the season? What creative and unique programs for your organization would get you there? Sometimes you need to shake things up to get out of a plateau.
Working smarter, not harder is the way to go. Streamline with well thought out decisions, and you will see a difference soon!
Cheers to happy and loyal audiences,
Shoshana
Shoshana Fanizza
Chief Audience Builder, Audience Development Specialists
