From the vantage point as someone working in executive search, organizational strategy, and coaching, we spend a lot of time thinking about what it means to authentically encourage people. How do we create and sustain a universal welcome in the virtual and real worlds of our organizations and  our workplaces? What are the words, actions, and practices that might plant the right seed at the right time for the right person to take a step towards finding their place in the audience, on the team, or on the board?

Across the industry, performing arts organizations are reporting a decline in subscriptions numbers and revenues since reopening their doors post pandemic. The 2022-23 season in North America – and the 2023 season in Australia – is certainly seeing some uptick in both renewing and new subscribers, but the trends seem to indicate that the numbers may not return to pre-pandemic levels.  Over the last couple of years we’ve been advising clients on how to respond to the trends, and have been recommending experimenting with new models and approaches

When an executive leader announces their departure from an arts organization, one of the Board of Directors’ most senior responsibilities is activated: seeking and naming a replacement. This is also one of the most fraught areas of tension between board and staff at arts organizations, and rightfully so. If you find yourself debating this issue as a search is launching at your organization, you might find it helpful to frame your view by sharing these advantages to changing up the traditional search committee,  enriching the search.

We love ambitious people, and we want more people to push themselves in pursuit of their perfect next role. That perfect next role could also be (and I would argue: should be) a stretch. When sizing up possible next moves, I want to share a framework that I often share with job seekers, mentees, and students: Count Your Leaps.

It is worth focusing marketing effort and budget on understanding new audiences and crafting campaigns that speak to those people who are reevaluating their priorities in our post-pandemic reality. These audiences could provide the roadmap to recovery for our industry as we emerge from the difficulty of the past two years.

Last year, as part of Tom O’Connor Consulting Group’s continued work towards living our values regarding Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Access, and Anti-Racism (DEIAA), we drafted our own Inclusion Statement. Informed by our research and other great examples in the field, we crafted and now include that statement in all of our job profiles.

Effective immediately, Tom O’Connor Consulting Group will only conduct searches on behalf of clients who agree to disclose either a salary range or salary estimate within the job description/position profile. This is in accordance with our standards and values with regard to equity, and we also simply believe it is a practice that bestows the respect that candidates and job-seekers deserve.

Engaging your internal teams around a concept or a project should be the first step in any audience engagement plan. If we expect our staff to represent our organization or institution they need to be aligned with the vision and mission, and, importantly, understand why we are programming the work we are programming and who we are serving with our work.

If what we desire is an equitable culture inside and outside of our institutions, we cannot afford to lose the perspectives of the people of the global majority nor the experiences of those who could not purchase access with their privilege. It is not about radical change overnight, as wonderful as that would be for many. It’s about significant steps, bravely taken, in a timely fashion.

We’ve seen our colleagues and clients tackle enormous challenges over this period and make enormous organizational changes. If some of these new ways of working and interacting with audiences “stick” we believe that they will not only make huge impact for individual organizations but also help our industry meet our audiences where they are and return stronger than before.

Transformation doesn’t occur through a new logo, a new piece of technology, or one new hire. These are parts of a system that move together, and this is a time for forward movement.

For the last eight months, I’ve been based in Sydney and able to experience a live performance industry reopening in real time. Here’s some observations for our friends in the UK and US as they plan their reopenings.

Rani and Jordan recently sat down (on Zoom, in their respective home offices in Sydney, Australia and Atlanta, Georgia) to learn a little more about each other, and the challenges and opportunities as they see them for the arts and culture industry at this moment.

Let’s talk about a few ideas for how you can support new additions to your team in this time, and how we can increase the chances that they will have longevity, impact, higher quality of work life, and a chance to find their voice within your company.

Over the past year, arts marketing as a discipline has weathered as many changes as the industry we support. From the work that we do, to the roles that we occupy within organizations, and the ways that we relate to one another—everything is in the process of evolution right now.

For arts marketers, our traditional objectives or KPIs have been tied to visitation or to ‘butts on seats’, and all of the related metrics such as frequency, recency and value. When our venues are shuttered this season and possibly next, what can we measure and what objectives can we set for ourselves with this data?

Our President Tom O'Connor and a panel of colleagues recently shared their thoughts on the state of the arts in 2020 on the latest episode of the Capacity Interactive - Digital Marketing Consulting for the Arts CI to Eye podcast.

While recently working on a project with Cory Garfin from Slover Linett Audience Research, we connected on our shared perspective that the arts and culture fields could use more social work knowledge and perspective.

In 2020, we’ve been given the opportunity to disrupt the model and start over, and find models that not only serve our organizations but put the needs of our audiences front and center.

It may not be easy, but it’s amazing what people—namely you—are achieving from home right now. Regardless of the medium, we are working every day to help organizations navigate these turbulent times, and come out stronger on the other side.