The Value Proposition Playbook

If they don’t care, they won’t come.

RADICAL GROWTH STARTS HERE

The old growth playbook is broken.

Arts organizations today are fighting harder and harder to attract a shrinking, oversaturated pool of traditional patrons.

But arts organizations aren’t failing. Their outdated business models are.

With a customer-first model built on powerful innovation frameworks, unlock relevance, revenue, and sustainability.

EXPLORE THE FRAMEWORK ➤

  • “Audience Alchemy completely changed the way we talked about our concert series. By implementing the customer-first model, we MORE THAN DOUBLED ATTENDANCE at a recent concert compared to our past season’s average.”

    – George Fergus, Director of Music, Christ Church Episcopal, Savannah

  • “What I have learned from you has been SO VALUABLE. Nearly 1,100 people took part in our inaugural weekend! The turnout exceeded all expectations and I am so grateful for your approachable, actionable teachings.”

    —Tekla Cunningham, Founder, Seattle Bach Festival

  • "Ruth ignited our marketing, development, programming and venue hire teams with excellent, tangible recommendations that will now play a critical role in Melbourne Recital Centre’s next chapter."

    —Latoyah Forsyth, Head of Marketing and Visitor Experience, Melbourne Recital Centre

  • "Ruth has an extraordinary vision for arts marketing, and the arts sector needs it now."

    —Mark Schaefer, Author of Marketing Rebellion and Belonging to the Brand

  • "This may well be the salvation that audience-hungry arts marketers are searching for."

    —Trevor O’Donnell, Author of Marketing the Arts to Death

  • "For any org wanting to center their customer and community, Ruth's thinking on this topic is hands down the best I've ever seen."

    —Aubrey Bergauer, Changing the Narrative

  • “Ruth is a champion for your patrons. She sets aside all of the expertise and just asks one simple question: What matters to your customers? It's revolutionary.”

    —Sean Kelly, Founder, Vatic

  • "...an incredible thought leader. Ruth's insight is what we need to hear as a sector right now. "

    —Sarah Weber, Executive Director, Association of California Symphony Orchestras

  • "So grateful that Ruth is not only putting the Jobs to Be Done framework out there, but also providing illustrations on how to enact it."

    —Timothy Myers, Music Director, Austin Opera and Music Director, Spoleto Festival USA

  • “The room was vibrating during Ruth’s Chorus America plenary...lightbulbs were going off, pens were furiously writing.”

    —Alex Gartner, Artistic & Executive Director, Pensacola Children’s Chorus

  • “Thank you for delivering two remarkable presentations. Your work is transformative!”

    —Kevin Eberle-Noel, Executive Director, Redlands Symphony

  • "You were spectacular and opened up a host of necessary questions with which we need to grapple. It was a terrific session."

    —Nick Adams, Executive Director, Cantata Singers

  • “This is one of the most, if not the most, important presentations in my life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

    —Thomas Cooke, President, Voce

ABOUT RUTH

A New Way Forward

I’m a former opera singer who traded the stage for the world of business innovation. Today, I help cultural organizations ignite transformative growth by championing a radically customer-first model.

Blending deep arts and nonprofit experience with eight years at the Clayton Christensen Institute—a global authority on innovation—I equip arts leaders with strategies to redefine relevance, expand markets, and unlock new demand.

A frequent speaker at industry conferences, I’m on a mission to help arts organizations build new models designed for today’s world—and today’s consumer.

READ MY STORY ➤

Blog
The Classical Music Attendance Paradox: Why 11M Listeners Don't Fill Concert Halls
The Classical Music Attendance Paradox: Why 11M Listeners Don't Fill Concert Halls

If listening were a pipeline to attendance, our concert halls would be packed. They're not. Here’s why.

Universal design for arts organizations: How to expand audiences by centering the outsider
Universal design for arts organizations: How to expand audiences by centering the outsider

Forward-thinking organizations are applying universal design principles to their entire organizational structure, recognizing that inclusive design fosters innovation that benefits everyone.

The golf industry has reinvented itself. Can the classical music industry do the same?
The golf industry has reinvented itself. Can the classical music industry do the same?

Golf didn't just stabilize a declining industry—they sparked record-breaking growth by making the sport accessible to people who never would have engaged before.

How one arts organization boosted email opens by 15k+
How one arts organization boosted email opens by 15k+

What happens when you ditch product-centric messaging? For one orchestra, it turned into 15,000 more email opens every year.

The secret to your next grant win
The secret to your next grant win

Most grant applications follow the same tired formula: Here's who we are, here's what we do, here's why we're great, here's why you should fund us.

Beyond Demographics: Unlocking the Core Drivers of Engagement
Beyond Demographics: Unlocking the Core Drivers of Engagement

Arts orgs have long relied on demographic and transactional data to segment their audiences—age, income, ticket history, and zip code serving as proxies for interest and intent. But these traditional models have lost their predictive power.

This is NOT a driver of engagement
This is NOT a driver of engagement

Arts organizations too often focus their sales pitches on “cultural enrichment”, citing industry reports or in-house surveys that say it’s a primary driver of engagement. But those studies asked the wrong question.

4 Surprising Studies Shaping Audience Behavior
4 Surprising Studies Shaping Audience Behavior

Now is the perfect time to step back, clear your head, and scan the bigger forces shaping audience behavior. These aren’t arts-specific reports—but that’s exactly the point.

The arts are not toothpaste
The arts are not toothpaste

The subscription model that the performing arts world is built around? It only briefly aligned with how most people actually behaved—a narrow window in time when routines, loyalty, and consumer habits lined up.

Don’t sleep on this trend
Don’t sleep on this trend

It’s getting personal. And arts organizations need to get on board—because mission alone won’t save you when the funding dries up.

The 90% myth: What the Oliver Wyman study hid in the footnotes
The 90% myth: What the Oliver Wyman study hid in the footnotes

We’ve all heard that stat: “90% of first-time orchestra attendees don’t return the next season.” But there’s something buried in that study that most people missed.

Live Music: Better than Sex?
Live Music: Better than Sex?

Researchers measured oxytocin levels (the “love hormone”) in concertgoers before and after a live performance. Here are the surprising results.

The problem with arts industry reports
The problem with arts industry reports

You listen attentively to every industry report, waiting for that one nugget that will change your strategy. But halfway through, that nagging voice in your head always whispers: “How is this actually helpful?”

Noise < Signal
Noise < Signal

Most arts organizations can’t tell what’s driving growth—and what’s just noise. Not because they’re not measuring. But because the system itself was never designed to give them real answers.

Arts funding just got slashed. Now what?
Arts funding just got slashed. Now what?

The arts sector can’t catch a break. Audience declines. Shifting consumer behaviors. A global pandemic. And now—drastic cuts in federal funding. It’s time to rethink our business model.

Churn Isn’t Failure. It’s Our New Reality.
Churn Isn’t Failure. It’s Our New Reality.

Only 9% of people are brand loyal. So why are we still building arts models that depend so heavily on loyalty?

Not All Innovation Sparks Growth
Not All Innovation Sparks Growth

Ask any arts leader how to fix audience decline, and you’ll hear a familiar answer: "We need to innovate." They’re not wrong. But they're innovating in the wrong places.

This is how it’s done.
This is how it’s done.

Hatch created a campaign for the Peabody Essex Museum and it is absolutely next level. I am gobsmacked.