{"id":2087,"date":"2019-10-06T17:05:11","date_gmt":"2019-10-06T21:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/managementandthearts.com\/5e\/?p=2087"},"modified":"2019-10-06T17:05:18","modified_gmt":"2019-10-06T21:05:18","slug":"management-and-the-arts-5e-october-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/managementandthearts.com\/5e\/blog\/management-and-the-arts-5e-october-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Management and the Arts 5e – October 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Success Story. Questions on Pricing.<\/em> I thought these two recent articles were relevant to chapters in Management and the Arts<\/em> on leadership, planning, strategy, access to the arts, and audience development and engagement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Good<\/em><\/strong> News Success Story <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was good to read in American Theatre<\/em> that Karamu House [1] in Cleveland, Ohio, has navigated through one of its most challenging periods. During its 100-plus years, this organization has been employing arts programming as a unifying force in the community. Since 2015, the leadership of the organization was focused on bringing it back from the brink of insolvency. Al Heartley\u2019s article includes observations and insights that can be used to launch discussions about leadership, planning, strategy development, and donor engagement. There is also a link below to what is titled \u201cStrategic Plan,\u201d but it is actually is a capital campaign document. The \u201cAspirations\u201d brochure could be put to use in honing critical thinking skills by analyzing how Karamu House frames its \u2018case for support.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[1] Karamu is\na Swahili <\/em>word meaning \u201cPlace of enjoyment in the Center of the\nCommunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—————–<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When is the Price Right? <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arts Professional<\/em> recently reported on the results of a survey<\/a> (n=629) of its readers on ticket pricing \u2013 a topic that can produce lots of opinions. (See pages 58 to 60 in the PDF of the survey results for information about the organizational characteristics of the respondents. However, only 294 responded to the question \u201cWhich of the following most closely describe your organization?\u201d) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking the limitations of the survey into account, it still offers useful information that can be integrated into a class discussion. There also are numerous respondent comments that may help students see the range of opinions and philosophies people have on pricing. The article excerpted below was a follow-up posting dealing with a few critical questions on affordability, means-testing, and issues related to price vs value. A discussion focused on pricing strategies is valuable, especially as it relates to topics covered in the book on economics, marketing, and audience development. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks again for your interest in Management and the Arts<\/em>\nand for subscribing to these updates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill Byrnes<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

===============================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How\nKaramu House Went From Deficit to Durability<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four years ago the Cleveland theatre was losing money.\nNow, thanks to savvy, responsive leadership, it\u2019s running a surplus.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al Heartley<\/a>, American Theatre<\/a>,<\/em> September 30, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big\nthing.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you work in theatre management or in business as a\nwhole, you\u2019ve likely heard of Jim Collins and his book Good\nto Great<\/a>, in which he explains that organizations that focus and invest in\ntheir core competitive advantage\u2014the hedgehog\u2019s one big thing\u2014are what\ndistinguishes a successful organization from the rest. Apple focuses on\ninnovative technology, and Southwest on creating a superior customer\nexperience. The focus on that core value is what drives the organization forward.\n<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as I spoke with Tony Sias, president and CEO of Karamu House<\/a> in Cleveland, I started to\nconsider whether this parable may apply well to organizations, but perhaps not\nto its leaders. It is my contention that a leader must be a fox and a hedgehog:\nTo succeed you must have a focus on the one thing which allows the company to\nthrive, while also having an array of tools in your toolbox. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is what I discovered when speaking with Sias about\none of the most overlooked success stories in our field: how a century-old\ntheatre of color, once in a state of crisis, has been revitalized and\nrejuvenated. In a time when there are questions about the durability of theatre\norganizations, Karamu House\u2019s journey over the last four years serves as a case\nstudy to the importance<\/em> of management and leadership operating in tandem to\npull the company from the brink of collapse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Link to the full article – https:\/\/www.americantheatre.org\/2019\/09\/30\/how-karamu-house-went-from-deficit-to-durability\/<\/a>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Link to Strategic\/Capital Campaign document – https:\/\/karamuhouse.org\/uploads\/editor\/files\/Capital_Campaign_BrochureFINAL.pdf<\/a>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

———————————–<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is\nprice a reason for low engagement – or just an excuse?<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tim Baker<\/a>, Arts Professional<\/a><\/em>, September\n26, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the problem is\n\u2018making the arts affordable\u2019, then the key question must surely be \u2018for whom?\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this question leads to others. Should all admissions\nor seats in a theatre be affordable? If not, then which and how many? Should\nall performances and events be affordable? Or should you keep back some tickets\nto sell at an affordable price to people who aren\u2019t on the mailing list or\ndon\u2019t have the ability to plan and pay months in advance?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One respondent to the recent Art of Pricing survey<\/a> commented: \u201cSetting\naside allocations for audience development is very important \u2013 identifying\npeople who may not be able to afford even the entry level price or who may need\nmore of an incentive to take a risk. It\u2019s important however, that ambitions for\nthese audiences are long-term \u2013 not just parachute them in when it serves a\npurpose.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Versions of the \u2018pay what you can\u2019 approach appear to be\npopular, where people are trusted to make this judgement for themselves. But in\nour experience, except when carefully targeted, such as through outreach\nprogrammes, these schemes usually just lead to very low revenues and typically\nare disproportionately used by frequent attenders who would otherwise pay full\nprice. As a sector, perhaps the time has come to challenge the extent to which\norganisations who trumpet their \u201caccessible\u201d pricing are truly widening and\ndiversifying their audience base.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Link to the full article – https:\/\/www.artsprofessional.co.uk\/magazine\/article\/price-reason-low-engagement-or-just-excuse<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Link to the \u2018Art of Pricing\u2019 survey mentioned in the article\n– https:\/\/www.artsprofessional.co.uk\/pulse\/survey-report\/pulse-report-art-pricing<\/a>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Success Story. Questions on Pricing. I thought these two recent articles were relevant to chapters in Management and the Arts on leadership, planning, strategy, access to the arts, and audience development and engagement. A Good News Success Story It was good to read in American Theatre that Karamu House [1] in Cleveland, Ohio, has navigated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9mams-xF","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/managementandthearts.com\/5e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/managementandthearts.com\/5e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/managementandthearts.com\/5e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/managementandthearts.com\/5e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/managementandthearts.com\/5e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2087"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/managementandthearts.com\/5e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2093,"href":"https:\/\/managementandthearts.com\/5e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2087\/revisions\/2093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/managementandthearts.com\/5e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/managementandthearts.com\/5e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/managementandthearts.com\/5e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}