TCG Announces New Audience Development Program: Audience (R)Evolution

Theatre Communications Group (TCG) has received $1.45 million from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to launch a new program for audience and community engagement, Audience (R)Evolution.  Building off of the success of TCG's twelve-year New Generations: Future Audiences program, the program will study, promote and support successful audience engagement models across the country. Unfolding over three years, Audience (R)Evolution will include four components to achieve these goals: research and assessment, a convening, grant-making and widespread dissemination of audience engagement models that work. 

"Our long-standing partnership with the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation empowers us to take this bold, multi-pronged effort to strengthen the bonds between theatres and the communities they serve," said Teresa Eyring, Executive Director of TCG. "A lot has changed since Danny Newman's Subscribe Now! was first published by TCG in 1977 and revolutionized the performing arts field. There's a growing body of research on audiences and audience engagement. Audience (R)Evolution will create a comprehensive home to better share, measure and implement this knowledge across the entire field." 

Audience (R)Evolution will take place over three years through the following four phases:

Phase I: Assessment – Beginning in 2012, TCG will partner with AMS Planning and Research to assess the best audience engagement models, and explore how and why they work. The theatres that participated in TCG's Future Audiences program will make up the backbone of participants, in addition to a broad sampling of theatres from across the nation.

Phase II: Learning Convening – In January 2013, theatre-makers will come together to discuss the synthesized findings from the assessment period. Attendees will learn one-on-one from practitioners with track records of successful audience engagement. 

Phase III: Grants – Ten grants up to $65,000 each will be awarded to TCG Member Theatres to replicate successful audience engagement models. Additional general operating funds will be distributed on a prorated basis amongst the grant recipients. Requests for proposals will be accepted in spring 2013.

Phase IV: Dissemination – Theatres at large will have fast access to the project's findings to implement effective programs through TCG's website, social media outlets and American Theatre magazine.

"We are delighted to support Audience (R)Evolution, designed to build on lessons learned in our twelve year investment in audience development programs supported through the New Generations program," said Ben Cameron, Program Director for the Arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. "We hope that this new approach will not only lead to broader understanding of viable new audience engagement strategies but will help the field continue to refine and expand its practices for the benefit of theatres everywhere." 

Along with the AMS Planning & Research staff of Steven Woolf, founding principal, Lynnette Turner, project manager, and Clint Studinger, research manager, two long-time thought partners will be joining the team-Catherine Maciariello, consultant and former program officer for performing arts at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and AnDrew Taylor, Director of the Bolz Center for Arts Administration and author of "The Artful Manager" blog.

For more information about Audience (R)Evolution, visit http://www.tcg.org/fifty/revolution.cfm or contact audiencerev@tcg.org

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation's (www.ddcf.org) mission is to improve the quality of people's lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and the prevention of child abuse, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke's properties. 

Since 1988, AMS Planning & Research (www.ams-online.com/) has been supporting the success of the arts and cultural sector through applied research and strategy development. From major research studies of the theatre and music sectors nationally to the development of creative solutions to improved effectiveness, AMS has developed innovative methodologies and deep perspectives on cultural markets, cultural consumers and cultural organizations. Their work is characterized by objectivity and rigor and grounded in real-world data. From their leadership role in research around the Wallace Foundation's investments in more than 45 not-for-profit theatres in the 1990s to their seminal work with 15 symphonies participating in the Knight Foundation's Magic of Music Initiative in 2002-2003, they have served hundreds of clients with thoughtful and creative research. AMS has also taken a leadership role in the dialogue regarding the changing dynamics of the arts and cultural sector and the related impact on organizations and facilities.

For 50 years, Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, has existed to strengthen, nurture and promote the professional not-for-profit American theatre. TCG's constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to nearly 700 member theatres and affiliate organizations and more than 12,000 individuals nationwide. TCG offers its members networking and knowledge-building opportunities through conferences, events, research and communications; awards grants, approximately $2 million per year, to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and serves as the US Center of the InterNational Theatre Institute, connecting its constituents to the global theatre community. TCG is North America's largest independent publisher of dramatic literature, with 11 Pulitzer Prizes for Best Play on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning AMERICAN THEATRE magazine and ARTSEARCH®, the essential source for a career in the arts. In all of its endeavors, TCG seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of its member theatres, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field and promote a larger public understanding of, and appreciation for, the theatre. For more information visit www.tcg.org