The Stephen Colbert interview in which Yo-Yo Ma says he likes people, needs friends and believes the world should have more good songs about pickup trucks and kickin' ass. This Colbert Nation-lovin' classical music fan is in heaven!
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October 2008
October 30, 2008
October 06, 2008
My thoughts, exactly
The LA Times recently ran an article on the greying of arts audiences, framing the time-weathered debate that people will seek out more performing arts experiences as they age vs. organizations needing to develop new strategies to attract younger audience. The article by Diane Haithman makes these points:
- Performing arts audiences are indeed getting older, and at a faster rate than the general population is aging.
- "Young" parents are older now than they were 20 years ago. So while back in the day, kids were out of the house by the time parents were 40, giving them plenty of free time to explore the arts...now more parents aren't empty nesters until they're well into their 50's. (That's certainly true at our house.)
- Taste for particular kinds of arts experiences may change or "improve" as people age. (Gosh, this sounds elitist to me. As Alex "The Genius" Ross says, "Some discerning souls believe that the music should be marketed as a luxury good, one that supplants an inferior popular product. They say, in effect, 'The music you love is trash. Listen instead to our great, arty music'...They are making little headway with the unconverted because they have forgotten to define the music as something worth loving.")
- There are a lot more entertainment choices now. Organizations need to make their performances stand out amidst the clutter.
The comment that resonated most with me is from John Tavenner, director of marketing for Los Angeles Opera. He insists that it's "overly optimistic" to expect that people will develop an interest in the performing arts simply as a function of age -- early exposure is still required. "I think the bulk of the audience is not going to appear magically like that..."
As I commented in a previous post:
Who will be attending and supporting live symphonic music in the coming years? From what historical data tells us, it should be people like me who will be hitting their prime years of classical music patronage in the next decade or so. Yikes. But I look around at my friends and acquaintances, and they're simply not interested in spending money to attend symphonic concerts. It's not something they aspire to do, nor do they feel their cultural lives are lacking. Is this belief system suddenly going to change when they become that "certain age"? I just don't see it happening...isn't 50 the new 30?I think we're going to have to work harder to find out what people under 55 want when they come to the concert hall, and give it to them.
John gets the "Soul Connection Award of the Month" from me! Lucky guy.
