Eureka! Institutional Repository

According to the U.S.-based National Endowment for the Arts (NEA, 2009]), American audiences for performing arts are declining and aging. According to the NEA, these trends are not attributable to the economic downtown but reflect deeper and more systemic sociocultural shifts. Americans are increasingly participating in newer media forms. For public performing arts centres, these data are alarming. For communities, they have very real implications, for arts participation is highly correlated with civic participation, ranging from volunteerism to attendance of community activities. We present a case study of an historic performing arts centre and its efforts to adapt to changing consumer preferences as it faces stiffening competition, diminishing ticket sales, and loss of public revenues. Methods employed include an on-line survey, focus groups, and depth interviews. Findings suggest that Midwestern American consumers desire “accessible” arts and are concerned with managing tensions created by opposing desires for traditional arts (indicative of deep historical ties) and increasingly imaginative forms of arts expression. While consumers express sympathy for the plight of arts organizations, this does not diminish their demands. They call for facilities to meet increasingly diverse needs, and provide, in the words of one informant “a place of gathering for culture” that benefits the entire community.