Steward Your Supporters
Evidence-backed tips and tactics for sustaining audience engagement
Audiences are empathetic towards artists and venues and concerned for the future – they see a big role for the arts and they want to show their support. Make it easy for them to make donations, amplify your messages and normalise attending. Tips and tactics include:
Make sure there are ways for people to commit and spend their budget with you today – via ticket sales, merchandise, memberships, online experiences and/or donations.
Review your donation pathways and if you need support, don’t hesitate to ask audiences for a donation, particularly at the time of event cancellations, which are a key moment of connection.
Personal, specific campaigns related to artists are most compelling to many audiences right now– and will help get funds where they’re needed most.
When planning for future campaigns and programs, consider linking your work to audience visions for culture, post-pandemic.
Tailoring campaigns is always a good idea. Age and frequency of attendance are good ways to segment audiences.
Levels of support may not last forever, so plan now for stewardship of new and repeat donors to sustain relationships into the future.
Experiment with social norms by sharing donorship statistics with audiences.
Consider your own short- and long-term sustainability and what other options you have to support yourself in creative ways.
Find new ways to show appreciation and care for staff and suppliers and prioritise relationships that are important to you.
The facts
In March 2021, 95% of audiences were strongly (44%) or moderately (51%) committed to supporting arts and cultural organisations through the pandemic.
A growing proportion of audiences say they had recently made a donation – while 30% of audiences hadn’t donated yet but said they were likely to in future.
There are signs that subscriptions and memberships could be growing – being seen as a less risky way to buy tickets and show support for organisations.
When events were cancelled due to lockdowns, 20% of audience members donated the value of unused tickets – while other audience members suggested they would have liked to donate, but didn’t get the opportunity.
Despite current challenges, the outlook for live attendance in late summer and 2022 is more positive and locked-down audiences want to make up for lost time.
Three quarters (74%) of audiences expect to spend the same amount or more on arts and culture over the next 12 months (up from 70% in March) and some want to ‘make up for lost time’.
Australians have saved more than $140 billion since the start of the pandemic – and many have the capacity to spend when options become available.
Key perspectives
“There may be rough periods where the audience doesn’t feel safe coming back, in which case, lean into them and keep up the connection. It will pay off. Once the restrictions lifted and it was safe to go to concerts, the audience poured back - plus many new people. We have had the highest subscription year on record and for several of our concerts, a higher-than-normal level of new attendees.”
“I really wanna support the artists and companies, and am ready to shell out cash or donate to things I may not have previously. I just need to know my money is going to the right places.”
“Having them taken away has made me realise in a very real sense the value and richness arts and culture events and organisations bring to my life and my family’s life. I am also aware of how painful this period has been because of close friends who have been so badly affected, directly, by these COVID-19 related disruptions.”
