Wallace Report on New Concepts in Audience Development

At the close of the conference, Daniel Windham, Wallace’s arts director, observed that arts organizations are at a moment of transition. Today is a time when... audiences want in varying degrees to “enjoy, talk and do.” The evolving environment challenges arts organizations to make smart and cost-effective decisions about strategies to attract and retain audiences, sustaining practices that work and modifying or dropping those that don’t. It also challenges organizations to change themselves in ways that encourage risk-taking, innovation and learning.

What emerged at the conference from John Holden, David Bradford, Leslie Crutchfield, David Hawkanson and others was that new practices—gathering data, sharing information, making meaning out of it together, and creating a learning culture in all parts of the organization—can help create the climate that fosters smart decision making about what to sustain.

Change is often incremental, Windham said, relying first on early wins and then on gathering an expanded base of support. Various institutions will take various approaches depending on their history and mission. But, Windham noted, all of this comes in service of an objective that transcends the differences: allowing more people to reap the benefits of the arts. “How do we help people find meaning and beauty in their lives is the question,” he said. “The meaning-making is what we are looking for.”