Audience Feedback 2.0The Intrinsic Impact Study

(F-B) Beth Wilmurt and Stephanie Gularte in Shotgun Players’ production of Mary Stuart. Photo by Jessica Palopoli.

“As artists and arts administrators, we’ve turned ourselves into bean counters because the people we deal with, what they count is beans.”

– David Kilpatrick, executive director, La Crosse Community Theatre, Wisconsin

Two ways to say it (how it is now)“Culture constitutes a dimension of life that precedes and surpasses sectoral and economic concerns. By ignoring this consideration…we are de facto reducing the discussion to essentially financial concerns [and] lose sight of the fact that artistic creation is an essential and irreplaceable engine of cultural development.

“We must go out in public and urge citizens to take an interest in culture as a dimension of their individual lives, and, above all, as an indispensible dimension of their collective existence.”

- Simon Brault, No Culture, No Future

Two ways to say it (how it is now)

We have gotten very good at measuring “things financial”

We express our “value” and “impact” in sales numbers, butts in seats, community economic impact

But…we know that art’s value stretches a lot farther than that, we just have trouble articulating it in a common language

Intrinsic Impact Learning to measure the intellectual, emotional, social,

empathic effect of art on an individual using standard metrics and a common vocabulary.

Pioneered by Alan Brown at WolfBrown starting in 2006, with follow-up studies across the country and in Australia and the U.K.

Intrinsic Impact The five impact constructs:

Captivation Emotional Resonance

Intellectual Stimulation

Aesthetic Enrichment

Social Bridging and Bonding

"What you measure affects what you do. If you measure the right thing, you do the right thing."

– Joseph Stiglitz, economist

Why try measuring intrinsic impact? Artistic

Goal setting and assessment for artistic impact A fuller picture (qualitative + quantitative

response) “Did you leave the performance with any unanswered

questions? If so, what?”

Marketing/Audience Development Deepening engagement and

understanding motivations Effectiveness of pre- and post-event materials

Advocacy/Funding More nuanced arguments for value Companies can show value outside reviews

Why try measuring intrinsic impact?

Anticipation, Captivation and Retention: one big continuum. The more anticipation a patron had prior to attending a show, the higher the levels of captivation they reported during the show. In turn, the higher the captivation levels during the show, the more likely the patron was to return for future performances.

Figure generated by Rebecca Ratzkin of WolfBrown from data published in “Assessing the Intrinsic Impact of the Bay Area Free Night of Theater Program” by WolfBrown.

What are we doing? Intrinsic Impact: Audience Feedback 2.0 (with WolfBrown)

18 theatres, 6 cities, 3 productions each (>50,000 surveys distributed) Customizing protocols Buy-in from all departments

Online Dashboard (with WolfBrown) From expensive to affordable Dig into results to look for trends, customized reports, email updates

Audience Feedback and Artists (with Rebecca Novick) What is the role of audience feedback in an artistically-driven organization? 2 rounds of in-depth interviews with 12 artistic directors from study

Investigating Stickiness Long-form video interviews of frequent artsgoers Doubles as advocacy piece

Changing the Conversation/Creating a Vocabulary Compilation of results Multi-part national conversation with interested partners

Principle partners San Francisco Bay Area (Theatre Bay Area) New York City (A.R.T./New York) Los Angeles (LA Stage Alliance) Washington, DC (Helen Hayes Awards) Philadelphia (Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia) Minneapolis/St. Paul (Arts Midwest)

Major Funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.

Principle partners Arden Theatre Company Arena Stage Berkeley Rep Bristol Riverside Theatre Company City Lights Theater Company La Crosse Community Theater MetroStage Mixed Blood Theater Musical Theatre West Park Square Theatre People's Light and Theatre Company Roundabout Theatre Company South Coast Repertory Theatre The Cutting Ball Theater The Pearl Theatre Company The Public Theater The Theatre @ Boston Court Woolly Mammoth Theatre Co.

Timeline Surveying ongoing through August 2011 Interviews and web tool creation concurrent with surveying Community conversations fall/winter 2011 into 2012

Goals Measuring things other than the bottom line Creating a stronger, more well-rounded argument for the value of the arts Improving audience retention and experience Change the conversation for ourselves, our field, our funders and our community

The Feedback Loop

> > > > ? > … >

> > / > > > > > >

How do you convey your value (and impact) if you aren’t big enough to get reviewed?

“55% of my patrons told me that this show opened their eyes to a point of view they hadn’t considered before.”

Implications This research is young Implications for arts education Longitudinal research, stickiness

and retention over time

Integration into artistic/dramaturgical planning

Education of an audience on how to engage with art

If we want others to value us differently, we have to create and understand different metrics of value. We need to help companies set goals and evaluate work based on more than just economics, and we need to help funders, government officials and audiences understand what we all know to be true: art makes better human beings.

For the sake of the field, and the betterment of the people we serve, we need to get started counting some new beans, and we need to teach the people who fund and see our work how to understand the worth of those new beans, and of us.

This research, commissioned from WolfBrown by Theatre Bay Area, is generously supported by:

The Doris Duke Charitable FoundationThe National Endowment for the Arts

The Pew Center for Arts & HeritageThe San Francisco Arts Commission Cultural Equity Grants

The City of San Jose Office of Cultural AffairsTheatre Development Fund

A.R.T./New York, Arts MidwestThe LA Stage Alliance

The Helen Hayes AwardsThe Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia

www.theatrebayarea.org/intrinsicimpact

or get in touch with Clay at clay@theatrebayarea.org or 415-430-1140 x22