UNDERSTANDING AUDIENCES:
Adopting Big-Data Thinking in the Arts
WHAT IS ARTSBOSTON?
Shared Learning
Civic Collaborations
ArtsBoston Audience Initiative
ArtsBoston.org
Media & Community Partnerships
Social Media Outreach
BosTix Discount Ticketing
Discounted Advertising
Tourism Outreach
Email Marketing
THE ARTSBOSTON DIFFERENCE
The area’s largest and most comprehensive
nonprofit arts service organization and one of
the leading organizations of its kind in the country.
$55,000,000
reinvested into the regional arts economy
20,000,000
residents and visitors in Greater Boston reached
2,300
regional arts & cultural organizations promoted
165
arts & cultural organizations promoted
38
years of arts and cultural community service
Boston Ballet
IDENTIFYING A CORE NEED IN THE COMMUNITY
Arts groups need access to more comprehensive patron data in order to understand
WHO is in their audience.
To address this, ArtsBoston partnered with TRG Arts, widely
acknowledged as the industry leader in developing community
databases, to create the ArtsBoston Audience Initiative (AAI)
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?
HOW THE ARTSBOSTON AUDIENCE INITIATIVE EVOLVED
2013
2012
2011
2010
2004
•ArtsBoston
launches the
ArtsBoston Big
List
•Market knowledge
task force convened
to explore creation
of a community
database for
Greater Boston
• Berkshire Taconic
Community
Foundation and
ArtsBoston develop
pilot program for
Berkshires region.
•ArtsBoston Audience
Initiative (AAI)
launches with 48
participating
organizations and 1.2
million households in
database
•2nd annual AAI
conference held in
Boston.
•ArtsBoston plans and
facilitates 1st national
convening of
community databases
in Philadelphia.
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
ADVOCATE /
INVESTOR
PAT R O N
R E L AT I O N S H I P S
DONOR
SUBSCRIBER
OR MEMBER
MULTIBUYER
REPEAT
BUYER
NEW
BUYER
MEET CUTE
LONG-TERM
COMMITMENT
LOVE
COMMITMENT
COURTSHIP
THE FIRST
FEW DATES
PERSONAL
R E L AT I O N S H I P S
HOW DOES THE ARTSBOSTON
AUDIENCE INITIATIVE WORK?
Start with Organizational Data
Compile, Clean and Match
Append with Axciom Data
Organizations Access Research and Reporting Tools
Organizations Receive Technical Assistance and
Collaborative Learning Opportunities
Demographics
Geography
Psychographics
AAI QUICK FACTS
56 Participating Organizations
5+ Million Records Uploaded
1.3 Million Unique Households
750+ Reports Run
1+ Million Addresses Traded
METRO BOSTON PRESENCE
1 out of every 3 homes in Metro Boston is currently in the database.
AAI PARTICIPANT DEMOGRAPHICS
Genre
2%
6% 4%
Music
Theatre
9%
46%
13%
Multi-Discipline
Presenting
Museum
20%
Dance
Comedy
2%
13%
Budget Size
26%
$5m
$1-5m
20%
$500k - $1m
35%
4%
$100 - 500k
$50 - 100k
Under $50k
The broader we
can go, the more
different types of
organizations we can
invite in, the better
picture we’ll have of
what the potential is
for the arts in
Greater Boston.
David Dalena
Huntington Theatre Company
ARTSBOSTON AUDIENCE INITIATIVE (AAI) PARTICIPANTS
Actors' Shakespeare Project
Boston University College of Fine Arts
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
American Repertory Theater
Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra
Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre
ArtsBoston
Broadway in Boston
Lexington Symphony
ArtsEmerson
Cantata Singers
Lyric Stage Company of Boston
Blue Heron
Cappella Clausura
New Repertory Theatre
Blue Man Group
Celebrity Series of Boston
Opera Boston - DATA ONLY
Boston Ballet
Central Square Theater
Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra
Boston Baroque
Chameleon Arts Ensemble
Radius Ensemble
Boston Center for the Arts
Chorus pro Musica
Revels
Boston Chamber Music Society
Citi Performing Arts Center
Rockport Music
Boston Classical Orchestra
Company One
SpeakEasy Stage Company
Boston Early Music Festival
Danforth Art
Stoneham Theatre
Boston Gay Men's Chorus
Discovery Ensemble
Symphony Nova
Boston Lyric Opera
Emmanuel Music
The Boston Conservatory
Boston Midsummer Opera
From the Top
The Handel and Haydn Society
Boston Philharmonic
Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts
Walnut Hill School for the Arts
Boston Symphony Orchestra
Huntington Theatre Company
Wellesley College
Improv Asylum
WGBH
Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston
Zumix
HOW ARE ARTS GROUPS USING IT?
January 1, 2012 – December 31, 2012
Participants pulled:
341 Mail or Email lists
295 Demographic Reports
214 Segment Penetration Reports
118 Zip Code Penetration Reports
Quarterly NCOA on 1,956,125 records
These services are valued
at more than
$415,000
And are all included at no
extra cost to participants.
SAMPLE ORGANIZATION REPORT
Arts groups can pull up a
variety of reports that compare
their data to all patrons
included in the AAI as well as
contextual data for all of
Greater Boston.
Data points include age, race,
marital status, education and
income level.
24/7 ONLINE ACCESS
Participants have 24/7 access to their own patron data and community-level reports, plus
automated mailing list trading, through TRG Arts’ online data management system, eMerge.
ORGANIZATIONAL REPORTS
“I can run a demographic report on our audience in 15 minutes. There’s no way we could get
this level of accurate insight with a traditional audience survey.”
-Henry Lussier, Director of Marketing for The Lyric Stage Company of Boston
ZIP CODE PENETRATION
SEGMENT PENETRATION
DEMOGRAPHIC OVERLAY
BIG PICTURE SECTOR DATA: WHAT THE AAI TELLS US
Q: Of those attending more
than one organization (24%),
how many did they attend?
A: 2 Orgs: 14%
3 Orgs: 5%
4 Orgs: 2%
5+ Orgs: 3%
Q: How many households
were brand new to the orgs
in the database?
A: 22%
from Patron Origination Report
AUDIENCE FACT
Multi-buyers are great
prospects since they have
a proven track record of
participation.
AUDIENCE FACT
New patrons can be
incented to come again and
become regular arts
attendees!
NATIONAL NETWORK OF SHARED LEARNING
Because TRG Arts manages 20 databases across the
country, participants can benefit from national best
practices and national market research.
TRAINING: SMALL GROUP WORKSHOPS
To provide technical assistance and encourage shared learning, ArtsBoston hosts monthly small group
sessions with 5-10 people to learn more about system tools, and help users turn
research into action. Workshop topics include:
Digging into eMerge l l Targeting and Engaging Audiences with the AAI
Individual Donor Trends and Tracking l l Next Level Segmentation Strategies
AAI KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE E-NEWSLETTER
ArtsBoston‘s monthly Knowledge
Exchange Newsletter keeps
participants informed on how
to take full advantage of the
system, and is one reason AAI
usage rates are so high.
John Beck
617.262.8632 x 240
johnb@artsboston.org
BEST-IN-CLASS: NATIONAL USAGE RATES
Thanks to ArtsBoston’s multi-faceted training and technical assistance,
Boston’s arts groups have actively embraced our community database
as a practical tool for analyzing and building audience participation.
100%
90%
80%
70%
Boston
60%
Chicago
50%
Philadelphia
40%
San Francisco
30%
Los Angeles
20%
10%
0%
Usage
High Usage
(5+ inquiries through system)
DATA=POWER. BUT HOW DO YOU COLLECT IT?
Ticketed Events: Encourage patrons to buy in advance,
and train box office staff to collect data from walk-up sales.
Norman Rockwell Museum
Non-Ticketed & Free Events: Much trickier…
Here are two examples of how others have
tackled this challenge:
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Norman Rockwell Museum installed a kiosk
where guests can enter their information for a
chance to win a special prize. It works!
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum has interns
and volunteers who approach visitors with an iPad
to ask for their information. It works too!
DATA=POWER. BUT HOW DO YOU COLLECT IT?
Ford Hall Forum (free lectures) gathers patron data using Eventbrite:
AAI CASE STUDIES
The Huntington Theatre Company is utilizing the reporting
tools in the AAI to track participation in its new Community
Membership program, which reaches out to clients of local
social service agencies.
Handel and Haydn Society is using
the AAI to develop a new single
ticket buyer loyalty program. An AAI
workshop allowed them to work
with ArtsBoston staff and
colleagues to explore how they
should establish a baseline and
what benchmarks would indicate
“success.”
American Repertory
Theatre used the AAI to
identify prospects for its
annual new subscriber
mailing. Analysis showed
that although the standard
1-2% bought subscriptions,
an extraordinary 20% of
those who received the
subscription brochure went
on to purchase single
tickets at some point
during the season.
CASE STUDY: DENVER BUTTERFLY PAVILION
Situation
Goal: Prove that the Pavilion is serving a wide audience in order to
receive funding from the City of Denver.
Solution
Reporting: Pulled a demographic match report & zip penetration on all
of their data.
Result: They were prepared and ready for the
presentation to the committee. Funding Received!
CASE STUDY: NORTHLIGHT THEATRE SKOKIE, IL
Situation
Traditional marketing for the company focused ONLY on Skokie residents
until a new marketing director became concerned about marketplace
saturation
Solution
Searched the co-op and discovered pockets of theater-goers traveling “past”
Skokie to get to downtown theaters
Targeted marketing efforts at theater-goers North and West of Skokie
promoting “high quality theater, more convenient to where you live”
Result: Discovered whole new markets for their product
CASE STUDY: EMP MUSEUM SEATTLE, WA
Situation:
Needed to increase admissions to achieve a more financially sustainable
business model
Solutions:
EMP recognized the value of data, learned how to act on it, and used what
they learned to inform marketing decisions for increased ROI/cost of sale
EMP re-set pricing, simplified and streamlined discount policies
Instituted discount for online advanced sales
Improved messaging to communicate unique value proposition
Result: Online purchases have gone from 1% to 22% in 2013 (and growing)
For more information contact:
Deputy Director John Beck at
johnb@artsboston.org
Executive Director Catherine Peterson at
catherinep@artsboston.org
Or click:
http://www.artsboston.org/page/audienceinitiative
THANK YOU!