Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Graying of arts audience a concern
Post Gazette: "Ever look around at the crowd when the lights come up at a live performance around Pittsburgh and get the feeling it seems a little old? No need to adjust your bifocals. Your eyes are not deceiving you."
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2 comments:
I feel like the aging of theater audiences is always a concern, not just in Pittsburgh. I know that at home in CT, we used to make jokes that we would have an audience that was awake by the end of the matinée, because so many of the patrons were older.
I do think cheap tickets for students is an excellent way to increase outreach. Many students will go see theater if they have a method to see it without costing them a lot of money.
I have also felt that live performances have been full of the older crowd and I'm really glad to see the huge effort Pittsburgh is making to try and incorporate a younger audience. I think that the pricing is a huge step in the right direction, especially now that movie ticket prices are often exceeding $10. I personally think that the "Group Discounts" through universities is an excellent way to do it, but I personally would hate to be at a show with a bunch people from the same school. I think in theatre's offered "Student Discounts" they would be able to draw an even larger crowd. They also mentioned that an excellent way to draw kids is with booze, which I think can help things dramatically even with slight hiccups now and again.
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