Ideas

March 2020 feels like decades ago, but it was just one year ago the U.S. went into lockdown. We released a blog post to help arts marketers navigate these uncharted waters, but it was uncertain where this pandemic would lead us.

Throughout the course of a year, we saw the sheer resilience of arts administrators in the face of crisis. We pivoted to digital programming to bring art into our audiences' homes. We officially want to discard the word ‘pivot’ from our vocabulary. We explored new ways to keep our audiences engaged. But most of all, we were consistently reminded just how passionate and inventive the arts and cultural community can be.

What is the impact of the pandemic on arts marketing? Capacity Interactive conducted a survey of 53 diverse arts and cultural organizations, collecting data from FY2019 and calendar year 2020, with WolfBrown as research consultants advising on the methodology, survey design, data visualization, and analysis.

We’ve outlined key takeaways to help you understand the data, and posed key questions to help you build stronger foundations for your organization. If you like this blog post, be sure to check out this livestream recording with more insights and in-depth strategic recommendations for the months ahead.

Before you start reading, though, treat yourself to a deep breath: we are a year into this pandemic and it has had a profound impact on all of our lives. All of the data we are about to explore is inextricably tied to the loss and trauma we’ve endured to varying degrees. Give yourself some grace, snuggle a nearby furry friend if you have one, and get ready to dive into the data.

Here we are in a place that we could never have imagined only a short time ago; robbed of audiences, our lifeblood. As the realization has slowly descended upon us that this won’t necessarily be a short intermission from the way things were, we have been forced to reckon with the idea of embracing a new way of delivering our art.

If you haven’t already started, you will soon be charged with creating theater on video. As organizations rush to develop new content and platforms, we can see firsthand where it hits and where it misses.

While it may feel like we have been in election season for years (because what is time?), we really are in the final weeks before the election. Following the actions of foreign and bad actors in the last presidential election, Facebook is implementing some new rules aimed at preventing the spread of misinformation about candidates and voter suppression in this election. Facebook announced a ban on new ads during the week leading up to the election October 27 - November 3.

It’s no secret: 2020 has been a challenging year thus far for arts organizations. But we’re collecting market research surrounding arts entities at IMPACTS Experience, and some trends are actually working in organizations’ favor when it comes to establishing new strategies not only to survive this year but also to thrive long into the future.

Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the arts and culture industry has been spilling out of online spaces. We’ve embarked on virtual tours, taken online classes, and watched countless live-streamed performances. We’ve seen foster dogs meeting fish, Instagram dance classes, and science snacks. Here at Tessitura, organizations using our e-commerce platform have sold more than 10 times as many digital experiences on their sites this year than at this time last year.

So how do you get started with monetizing virtual experiences? We’ve taken a look at the arts and cultural industry, including the leaders who shared their insights in “CI to Eye Live: How Arts Organizations Are Monetizing Livestreams and Digital Content” (available on YouTube), and have put together some tips to help you plan.

We didn’t rehearse this.

No one did.

Almost overnight, arts administrators everywhere had to put on their programming hats for an entirely new venue—a digital venue. Instead of curated experiences involving lobbies, printed programs, and curtain calls, it’s a world of livestreams, blog posts, and emoji reactions. You are the arbiters of your organizations’ digital presence and now have to improvise events with smaller teams and less money. Cool.

Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) was one week into their 2020 season when COVID-19 shut down in-person production. But as luck would have it, video recordings shot for posterity would turn into a monetized digital content opportunity. We worked with them to explore YouTube pre-roll campaigns to promote this new, video-based endeavor.

In many ways, The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, and The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston could not be more different. One is a historic building with a private permanent collection of European, Asian, and American art with an idyllic courtyard. One is an art museum and research institution featuring Degas, Homer, and other greats, sitting on top of 140 acres in the Berkshires. One is Boston’s waterfront museum, which hosts leading contemporary visual artists and performances, recently featuring the works of William Forsythe and Yayoi Kusama.

Despite significant differences, these museums have one thing in common: they were all allowed to open as of July 6th per Massachusetts’ Phase III Step 1 of post-COVID reopening.

In the midst of a pandemic, arts organizations are leaning into Facebook’s organic features to reach their audiences as they spend more time at home and online. Livestreams, watch parties, video premieres, curated playlists, archival clips—you name it, someone’s probably tried it.