Monday, February 07, 2011
Attendance is not the only measure of demand
Createquity.: "If you’ve followed theater blogs even casually over the past week, you will have heard about NEA Chair Rocco Landesman’s comments on oversupply of performing arts in his address to the #newplay convening at Arena Stage in Washington DC. Trisha Mead is a Portland arts marketer who broke the story, got quoted (sloppily, without context) in the New York Times, and has been the only blogger, to my knowledge, to get a direct response from Landesman so far. But if you want a more complete view of Landesman’s thoughts, it may be more useful to start with the NEA blog. In fact, if this concerns you, please do read Landesman’s post on the official blog. It may help you avoid hyperbolic hyperventilation. You can also follow #supplydemand on Twitter and participate in the conversation as it unfolds.
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2 comments:
First off I think it is great that there has been an increase in the number of performing arts events over the past several years. This show that even during a recession theatre and art is still thriving. I believe that the 5% decrease is probably more a reflection of the recession not a lack in demand for performing arts. And as the author mentioned, these figures can't be directly compared. The 5% that were lost are probably the people who only attend one or two events a year and couldn't afford it. With the worst recession since the great depression and a huge loss to our GDP I think only a 5% loss is good and will probably turn around in the next decade. 2002 was right before the recession and the second survey was in the heat of it so I don't think this is that terrifying of a statistic and once these audience members attend more events they will find out there are more options than they previously had.
This is fascinating. Either way, both sides are spinning the statistics to make their point. Though, I think Anderson is right, it is more than ticket sales that describe demand. Another way to look at this is capitalism. Those who supply what the people want will survive. Non-profits are still businesses and need to program what the people want. Hopefully for that organization, they can find artists to create art that people want.
We have to continue creating performances of all kinds, continue to market, fund raise, develop, and beg for money to continue doing what we love and what at least 78 million people love. And hopefully that number will start to climb again.
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