Conducted in June 2020, the Audience Outlook
Monitor’s first phase finds respondents eager
to return to performances, but not until public
health conditions improve.
Majority of arts goers surveyed won’t be ready
to return until at least January 2021.
BOSTON – July 30, 2020 – A brand new survey chronicling how local arts audiences feel
about getting back to
cultural activities in Boston shows an intense desire to return to
theater, dance and music performances, as well as
museums, but also a significant hesitancy to do so until public
health conditions improve.
Conducted by the international arts consulting firm WolfBrown, and
sponsored locally by the non-profit arts
marketing and advocacy group ArtsBoston and the City of Boston
Mayor's Office of Arts and Culture, the Audience
Outlook Monitor (AOM) surveyed more than 3,000 Boston-area arts
goers from 16 Boston cultural organizations
in June 2020. The Audience Outlook Monitor (AOM) is a longitudinal
survey to keep tabs on arts attendees’
thoughts, concerns and intentions as the pandemic—and the state’s
reopening guidelines—evolve. The survey is
helping arts organizations prioritize decision-making and resource
investment as they plan for future programming,
fundraising, and audience engagement.
KEY FINDINGS
Overall, 91% of respondents said they were “very” or “somewhat
eager” to return to local performances and events.
Despite that enthusiasm though, 89% indicated they would pursue
cultural events again only when epidemiological
conditions improved, including availability of vaccinations, broad
testing and treatments, and a reduction to near
zero in new infection rates. A majority (55%) didn’t expect to
return to cultural events until at least January 2021.
Eighty-eight percent (88%) of respondents said the pandemic would
have no substantial impact on their long-term
future attendance: three-quarters expect to attend the same number
of events; 13% plan to attend more. But they
expressed caution about the types of activities they would do; in
June, they identified museums, outdoor events and
community art spaces/studios as the activities they would be “somewhat
comfortable” visiting. Respondents who
made firm future plans to resume cultural activities expressed
confidence that conditions would improve in three
(28%) to seven months (65%).
FUTURE SPENDING & SUPPORT
There was other positive news for arts organizations. Eighty-nine
percent (89%) of respondents indicated they
planned to spend as much money or more on subscriptions, tickets,
memberships, and admissions, with the average
respondent saying their spending would remain at 99% of previous
levels. Similarly, future philanthropic giving
appears bright: 96% of patrons indicated they will maintain
similar or larger donations to organizations they
previously supported.
“We have a long way to go before Boston arts enthusiasts are ready
to return to theaters and indoor performances,”
says ArtsBoston Executive
Director Catherine Peterson. “But as this survey tells
us, when they are ready, they’ll
come back with gusto, enthusiasm, and at levels of engagement and
support at least as good—or better—than before
the pandemic.”
Peterson says audiences’ itch to see live music, theater, dance
and opera again bodes well for cultural groups and
the related industries that benefit from arts goers’ spending. “Pre-COVID,
the arts in Greater Boston made a $2
billion impact on the region, employed as many people as the
pre-pandemic retail industry, and kept the city a
vibrant place to live, work and visit. In the past, arts goers
outnumbered sports fans four times over. And arts visitors
spent more money in restaurants, retail stores and other places
than any category of tourist. It’s in everyone’s
interest to protect Boston’s cultural assets until they can
welcome audiences again.”
MAKING AUDIENCES FEEL SAFE
In order to return to cultural facilities and events, respondents
want arts groups to employ best public health
practices. Among the measures deemed most important to their
feeling safe: daily public space disinfection;
availability of hand sanitizer; socially distanced seating; and
enforcement of physical distancing guidelines. A large
majority of respondents say they will wear masks and adhere to
distancing guidelines in order to attend events.
WolfBrown principal Alan Brown said Audience Outlook Monitor respondents across the country,
especially in
Boston, were knowledgeable about public health conditions and
appropriate safety precautions. “We were
impressed how the open-ended questions posed as part of this
survey revealed that respondents understand the
science and acknowledge the risks of returning too soon. They are
clear that their own personal confidence about
the risk being minimal will be what persuades them to return,” he
said.
Peterson and Brown said the survey would not have been possible
without the support of participating organizations,
the thousands of local arts goers who participated in the first
round, and future respondents who will make ongoing
survey deployments as robust as the first.
ORGANIZATIONAL PARTICIPANTS
The regional arts organizations participating in this survey
include: Actors’ Shakespeare
Project; American
Repertory Theater; ArtsBoston; ArtsEmerson; Boston Symphony Orchestra; Celebrity Series of
Boston;
Central Square Theater; Company One; The Dance Complex; Emerson Colonial
Theater; Global Arts Live;
Handel & Haydn Society; Huntington Theatre
Company; Lyric Stage Company of Boston; the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston; and the Museum of Science. Each organization receives its own audience’s responses, as well
as the ability to compare their results to other organizations and
the group as a whole. ArtsBoston will make the
aggregate data available to its full membership of arts groups, to
benefit the region’s cultural sector.
The Audience Outlook Monitor is a project of WolfBrown in
partnership with ArtsBoston and in collaboration with
the City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture. Additional
information about the project is available here.
