The BSO’s real crisis has nothing to do with Andris Nelsons

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The Boston Symphony Orchestra's Real Crisis Has Nothing to Do with Andris Nelsons

BSO's 40% audience decline isn't a conductor problem or a financial problem. It's a business model problem. Here's what the data says—and why no conductor search fixes it.

The Wrong Trousers: What the Met Opera’s Crisis Reveals About Strategy in the Arts

The Met is in the New York Times again, searching for another solution to its financial crisis. This time, they brought in BCG.

Built for a Different World: The Arts Sector Business Model Problem

Arts organizations aren't naturally resistant to change. But it feels that way, right? And it’s all too easy to assume that it’s a leadership problem. But it’s the model that creates inertia.

The sentence that unlocks board engagement

The moment you frame the sector's problems as structural, your board stops offering tactical fixes and starts asking the right questions.

What if arts patrons aren’t “different”

What if arts patrons aren't inherently different? What if the traditional arts model makes them behave differently?

Zero-Party Data: How arts organizations win in a privacy-first world

We’re living through the biggest data shift in 20 years, and it's forcing a reckoning for arts leaders: know your audience deeply, or lose them to organizations that do.

Your stewardship strategy is killing your moment-based giving

CEO: Ok, our stewardship is dialed in. Appreciation events, welcome gifts, the works. But donations are stuck. What’s your take?

New CMO: Don’t kill the messenger, but we’re playing one giving game when there are actually two.

The Rise of Experiential Gifting: 5 Studies Arts Leaders Need to Know

It’s mid October. Your patrons are about to face one of their biggest holiday season frustrations: finding the perfect gift. Here are five consumer studies you need to know.

When personalization backfires

Personalization is billed as marketing’s holy grail. But most of what the industry calls “personalization” isn’t personal at all — it’s shallow behavioral tailoring, and consumers know it.

Universal design: How to grow 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 blind spot in arts audience research

For decades, arts leaders have been told to focus on people who already love the arts. Here's why that advice is limiting growth.

Burying the Lede: When Arts Recovery Headlines Reinforce Inertia

The headlines are exciting. "Arts sector grew at twice the rate of the total economy!" "We contributed $1.2 trillion to the GDP in 2023!" Here's what's actually happening.

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.

The golf industry has reversed decades of decline. Can classical music 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.

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

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

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.

Ruth Hartt 10/16/21 Ruth Hartt 10/16/21

Does your video marketing ignore the reality of your target audiences?

Think about the last orchestra/opera/ballet commercial you watched, whether on TV or social media. Was there anything familiar or relevant for the Outsiders in that video?

Ruth Hartt 10/4/21 Ruth Hartt 10/4/21

Revlon sells hope. What does your cultural organization sell?

The founder of Revlon once said, "In the factory, we make cosmetics. In the drugstore, we sell hope." It’s a framework that’s key to relevant, empathetic marketing.

Ruth Hartt 9/29/21 Ruth Hartt 9/29/21

A soccer mom walks into a lumber yard: Developing empathy for your outsiders

Consumers simply don’t seek out experiences that cause stress, effort, or uncertainty. Which means that your Outsiders won’t be convinced to partake of your offerings—unless you deliberately shape the whole experience from marketing to ticket purchase to the event itself to be more familiar, more comfortable for them.

Ruth Hartt 9/14/21 Ruth Hartt 9/14/21

Do you REALLY know what your cultural audiences need? A deep dive and how-to guide.

Whether the your target audiences ultimately choose your arts event depends on how well you understand and respond to their needs, their emotional context, and their social circumstance.

Ruth Hartt 9/7/21 Ruth Hartt 9/7/21

Want to grow your audiences? Embrace the haters.

In the cultural sector, as we work to grow our audiences, are we trying to "shore up" the areas that don't need it, meanwhile ignoring the areas that do?

Ruth Hartt 8/29/21 Ruth Hartt 8/29/21

Lose the cookie cutters: A mission statement manifesto for cultural organizations

In Conductor as CEO, Tiffany Chang shares a fascinating analysis of the mission statements for 71 orchestras across the U.S. In a crowded market where ticket sales have declined by 50% over the past two decades, her insights provide some real motivation to step away from the standard formula and create something unique.

Ruth Hartt 8/17/21 Ruth Hartt 8/17/21

Apollinaire Theatre Company’s Romeo and Juliet: A study in community-growing, audience-building art

This is not your mother’s Romeo and Juliet. Let me count the ways.

Ruth Hartt 7/21/21 Ruth Hartt 7/21/21

Everybody hates marketing. But everyone loves a good story.

Traditional marketing is no longer serving today’s consumer.

Ruth Hartt 7/12/21 Ruth Hartt 7/12/21

Why digital content can never replace live performance

If we continue to provide digital programming, will it hasten the death knell for live performance?

Ruth Hartt 6/27/21 Ruth Hartt 6/27/21

How will cultural organizations survive the next big disruption? Neuroscience and Amazon have the answer.

These are daunting times for the cultural sector. What’s the right way forward for the industry?

Ruth Hartt 6/12/21 Ruth Hartt 6/12/21

Can arts organizations survive the longest-running disruption in history? Opera Australia has cracked the code

Opera Australia increased their sales revenue 28% in eight years and became the only major, year-round opera company whose ticket sales provide more than 50% of its income. How’d they do it?

Ruth Hartt 6/2/21 Ruth Hartt 6/2/21

Does your social media feed ignore your customer?

Here’s a hard truth: the average customer doesn’t care about you.