Show Me the Data!
Title slide
Show Me The Data!
2012 APASO Conference
John Beck, ArtsBoston; Douglas Clayton, LA Stage Alliance; Kendra Law
Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance
Session Overview
•Creating a Culture of Data Collection & Sharing
•What to do with all this data
ORIGINS OF THE ARTSBOSTON AUDIENCE INITIATIVE
2004
• ArtsBoston launches the ArtsBoston Big List to simplify mailing
list exchanges and to remove guesswork from direct mail
marketing.
20042010
• More community databases are launched throughout the
country, with the focus shifting from mailing lists to market
knowledge.
2010
• Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation approaches
ArtsBoston to administer a new community database in the
Berkshires region.
2011
• The Berkshires Audience Initiative is launched in collaboration
with vendor TRG Arts. ArtsBoston uses this opportunity to pilot
a model program to implement in Greater Boston.
2012
• ArtsBoston transitions from the Big List to the ArtsBoston
Audience Initiative (AAI), Greater Boston's first comprehensive
arts market knowledge program.
3
ARTSBOSTON AUDIENCE INITIATIVE
•We are in Year 1 of our program
• 50 Organizations Participating
• Including BSO, Citi Center, Broadway in Boston,
• Over 1 Million Unique Households
• Organizations may participate for “Research Only”
• There is an administrative fee to participate
4
Creating a Culture of Data Collection and
Sharing – What’s Worked
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Give ownership to the community
Create a culture of collaboration
Utilize case studies
Engage throughout the year
Build an incentive to utilize the data
Share the results
Collaborate with funders
SHOW ME THE DATA – APASO 2012
Creating a Culture of Data
Collection and Sharing
LA STAGE Arts Census
SHOW ME THE DATA – APASO 2012
QUICK FACTS:
• LA had a BIG LIST through Enertex for ten years, averaging twenty participants and
250,000 households each year.
• Late 2009, shifted to the TRG Arts eMerge program
•Changed the name of the program to the LA STAGE ARTS CENSUS
•Change the framing to a ‘Research and Efficiency Tool, with List Trades as an
optional feature’
•Eliminated all costs/fees to participate
• Targeted major institutions and thought leaders
• Currently 120 participants, 3.8 million unique households
•Now have several major funders requiring participation, so expect to triple the number
of participating organizations by summer 2013
7
Creating a Culture of Data Collection
and Sharing – What’s Worked
• Promote a big vision
• Remove all barriers to participation
• Identify and focus on recruitment of leaders
and major institutions
• Clearly define the program as intended to
serve not just cultural organizations, but also
funders and our politicians and other
powerful partners
• Hands on follow-up and engagement
SHOW ME THE DATA – APASO 2012
Creating a Culture of Data Collection
and Sharing – What’s Worked
Make pretty graphs and get powerful numbers
41% of all Los Angeles
County Households
are in the Census
(and over 50% of all
Orange County
households)
SHOW ME THE DATA – APASO 2012
Creating a Culture of Data Collection
and Sharing – What’s Challenging
• Large Organization Legal Departments
• Organizational Leaders who are defensive and
protective of their data, and/or who oppose
sharing lists for any reason
• Small Organizations often only need to use
eMerge infrequently, so they forget to use it for
their benefit, and require regular re-training
• The need for higher level thinking/consulting for
full maximization of benefits of the program.
SHOW ME THE DATA – APASO 2012
MAJOR OBSTACLES FOR DATA COLLECTION
In asking groups to submit their data, we realized that many small and mid-sized
groups do not have the technology for point-of-sale data collection.
ArtsBoston is evaluating the needs of the community to determine the best plan,
possibly:
Creating a new community-wide ticketing
and data collection system
Applying for funding to help organizations
afford new technology
As a group, let’s brainstorm and/or share
strategies for how to help groups collect data.
SHOW ME THE DATA – APASO 2012
Group Brainstorm
Cultural Alliance
• Since 2003
• 160 organizations, over 2 mil unique
households
• Currently free
• Changes ahead
– Rebranding to “Audience Analytics”
– Tiered participation structure – pay / service
What to Do with the Data
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Member requests for research
Share information with partners
Our own aggregate research
Evaluate program
Share information with partners
Crossover with all orgs in List Co-Op
Penn Museum
Philadelphia Orchestra
33%
WHYY
23%
Kimmel Center
Pennsylvania Ballet
19%
Philadelphia Live Arts & Fringe
Opera Company of Phila
19%
14%
14%
Phila Folksong Society
13%
Barnes
13%
Arden
12%
Annenberg Center
11%
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia Orchestra
14%
Kimmel Center
10%
Barnes Foundation
Philadelphia Orchestra
21%
The Academy of Natural Sciences
Philadelphia Orchestra
22%
WHYY
13%
Franklin Institute
18%
Kimmel Center
13%
Pennsylvania Ballet
17%
Pennsylvania Ballet
12%
Kimmel Center
16%
Philadelphia Museum of Art
10%
WHYY
15%
Philadelphia Live Arts & Fringe
9%
Arden
10%
Mann Center
8%
Phila Folksong Society
Opera Company of Phila
Arden
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Philadelphia Orchestra
Pennsylvania Ballet
9%
WHYY
Pennsylvania Ballet
WHYY
9%
Kimmel Center
Phila Folksong Society
Barnes
5%
9%
7%
Phila Folksong Society
Philadelphia Live Arts & Fringe
7%
Mann Center
7%
7%
Opera Company of Phila
6%
7%
37%
Franklin Institute Science Museum
Philadelphia Orchestra
20%
24%
Kimmel Center
17%
22%
Pennsylvania Ballet
15%
21%
WHYY
14%
18%
Academy of Natural Sciences
14%
16%
Arden
9%
5%
Phila Folksong Society
Philadelphia Live Arts & Fringe
Mann Center
4%
Opera Company of Phila
16%
Longwood
8%
Philadelphia Live Arts & Fringe
4%
Arden
14%
Philadelphia Folksong
8%
Longwood
4%
Barnes
14%
Mann Center
7%
Opera Company of Phila
3%
12%
Philadelphia Live Arts & Fringe
7%
Wilma
What to Do with the Data - Aggregate
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Paid Patronage Study w/ TRG
Arts Voter Analysis
Advocacy Data Points
Demand Analysis
What to Do with the Data - Evaluate
Exploratory Study comparing CDP data & List
Co-Op USAGE data
Correlation not Causation
• Performing Arts biggest users
• Larger orgs more likely to use
• The higher the usage & more sophisticated usage,
positive relationship with gains in attendance and
income.
• Attendance gains most noteable for small to mid-size
orgs and suburban based orgs
CASE STUDY – HUNTINGTON THEATRE COMPANY
How can we attract and retain
younger patrons?
Finding the answer through the database:
• First, analyze current audiences using basic
demographic overlay report.
• Next, segment the portion of the audience
under 35 years of age, as well as the
audiences of other participating
organizations in that age bracket, and create
a direct mail campaign that targets these
patrons.
Going forward:
• The Huntington’s “35 Below” program has
become a great success, reaching patrons
under the age of 35 throughout the region.
SHOW ME THE DATA – APASO 2012
CASE STUDY–STERLING AND FRANCINE CLARK ART INSTITUTE
What are our members other areas
of interest?
Finding the answer through the database:
• Run a demographic overlay report to show
various interests amongst members.
• RESULT: A large number of members are
interested in gardening (determined by
number of subscriptions to gardening
publications).
Going forward:
• The museum programmed a garden
photography workshop last summer (which
they are repeating this summer due to its
success).
• They are also exploring possible
partnerships with local botanical
garden and
SHOW ME THE DATA – APASO 2012
other horticultural institutions.
A
B
E
Intended outcomes
for the program
should be built into
program planning
from the start. Be
sure to make
SMART outcomes.
Both the ASO and
the participating
organizations
should be
consistently
evaluating their
strategies.
ALWAYS
BE
EVALUATING
Organizations
should utilize
response reports
for mailings.
SHOW ME THE DATA – APASO 2012
For more detailed
goal-tracking,
create a logic model
(see next slide).
ARTSBOSTON AUDIENCE INITIATIVE LOGIC MODEL
Activities
Create Market
Knowledge Taskforce to
evaluate current
programs and
implement new and
improved market
knowledge program.
Develop best practices in
Market Knowledge from
programs in other
regions with APASO
colleagues.
Meet with tourism
industry, government
agencies, funders, and
ASOs to ensure that
their needs are met.
Develop comprehensive
recruitment plan to build
representative database.
Convene participants on
a regular basis to discuss
trends, and address
shared concerns and
opportunities.
Over time, ArtsBoston
will develop strategic
partnerships with local
universities, credit card
companies, and others
as needed.
Outputs
Create a user manual
with information on how
members can best utilize
the new tools.
User sessions with
participants to optimize
the program and
maintain engagement.
Near-term Outcomes
(1 Yr)
Mid-term Outcomes
(3 Yr)
Long-term Outcomes
(5 Yr)
Arts Organizations see
participating in
community database
project as essential to
understanding
audiences.
Arts Organizations
identify trends, shared
challenges, and
opportunities in
audience development.
Arts organizations have
greater visibility, sell
more tickets,
understand how to
reach new and
interested target
audiences, and engage
current audiences
more deeply.
Arts community
understands baseline
participation and defines
current market of ticket
buyers.
A collaborative approach
to audience
development is fostered
among arts
organizations.
AAI is comprehensive
and representative of
audiences in Greater
Boston.
The tourism industry,
government agencies,
funders, and arts
service organizations
have the tools to
analyze, and ultimately
increase, cultural
participation in Greater
Boston and beyond.
Arts community is able
to further analyze
participation with the
use of transactional data.
ArtsBoston is established
as an industry leader in
the field of market
knowledge.
Heat map of participation
Report identifying largest
areas of potential for
increased participation.
A baseline report for Year
One will be created.
Once transactional data
is included in the AAI,
ArtsBoston will create
an annual “state of the
arts” document to
outline participation.
ArtsBoston is positioned
as a market knowledge
provider in Greater
Boston.
Arts organizations are
inspired to better track
their patron data.
Participating
organizations are
actively using the system
for both list trading and
analysis.
ArtsBoston builds a
knowledge base of best
practices for our region.
SHOW ME THE DATA – APASO 2012
Arts Advocacy groups
have the ability to
support their arguments
with current and
accurate data
ARTSBOSTON AUDIENCE INITIATIVE LOGIC MODEL - INDICATORS
Near-term Indicators
Near-term Outcomes
AAI is comprehensive and representative of
audiences in Greater Boston.
The size of the AAI database will be significantly
larger than the Big List, going from
approximately 250K names to 1 Million.
The number of participating organizations will
increase from 40 to 60.
The number of organizations tracking their
audience data will increase.
Arts organizations are inspired to better track
their patron data.
Participating organizations are actively using the
system for both list trading and analysis.
Existing organizations will submit a larger
number of names each year because they are
better tracking their patrons.
The number of groups logging into the system
and requesting mailing lists from other
organizations will increase.
(Based on usage reports from TRG Arts)
Arts groups will convene on a quarterly basis to
discuss audience trends.
Arts Organizations see participating in
community database project as essential to
understanding audiences.
In a survey to local arts organizations, the
majority will respond that the AAI is a valued
resource for their audience development.
SHOW ME THE DATA – APASO 2012
ARTSBOSTON AUDIENCE INITIATIVE THE POWER OF SURVEYS
“BAI submission process has
forced us to look for
effective ways to collect and
segment our own data at
the various points of entry”
“The collaborative spirit
that BAI has generated is
unprecedented in my 15
years in the Berkshire
cultural arena”
From the most recent Berkshires Audience Initiative Participant Survey:
“…the fact that we had a sold out
house…can be attributed to BAI
and the lists of others. There
were enough new faces at the
concert that they had to have
come from somewhere besides
word of mouth or our local
advertising or our own list…”
SHOW ME THE DATA – APASO 2012
“The BAI project has
made a lasting
contribution to improving
our ability to market the
arts in the Berkshires and
to advancing stronger
relationships.”
Questions?