Giving Audiences What They Need

There has been resurgence over the last couple of months in discussions online around the Need vs Want issue in programming for the arts. Should we give audiences what they want, or what they need, and how do we know which is which?

Tips on Theatre Touring

Today I spent the day in a room with 130 other people interested in theatre touring, at the 2013 Victorian Theatre Touring Workshop. Present were venue managers, artists, producers, writers, theatre companies, support agencies and managers. What a fascinating conversation!

Should audience data inform programming decisions?

A couple of weeks ago the UK's Stage Newspaper asked a question - Should theatres make more use of audience ticketing data when deciding what shows to stage? Here’s my take on it.

Is Arts Centre Programming Really Failing?

For a couple of months I've been thinking about how I might put down on paper my own thoughts on the role of arts programming in audience development. It's taken some time as I've been sidetracked with programming of a different kind for the past couple of months. But this blog post by Ricky Bryan has got me back on track.

The Brochure isn’t dead…yet

There was some great discussion on the Linkedin forums and Facebook last week following my post on Is the Theatre Brochure Dead. I loved reading all the different points of view on the topic. On the whole, most agreed that there is still a place for some kind of printed marketing collateral, but the concept of a brochure had mixed reactions.

Should cinemas be screening the performing arts?

I've come across a few articles recently discussing the increasing trend for live theatre productions to be filmed and screened in cinemas around the world. The most prominent of these are the Metropolitan Opera's Live in HD series and more recently National Theatre Live and the Royal Opera House.

I've been aware of these screenings for some time, but never really considered them a risk to traditional performing arts. The articles I've read show that although many were initially concerned about the impact screenings might have on their live audience numbers, it seems the opposite is happening for some organisations.