PROGRAM

NATIONAL ARTS MARKETING, DEVELOPMENT & TICKETING CONFERENCE, NEW YORK

07.23.24 - 07.24.24

PLENARIES & KEYNOTES

Run It Like a Business

If you hate that phrase, you’re not alone. But the arts are a business, a sector worth billions whose institutions serve almost every region in the country. Today, arts organizations are trying to rebuild audiences, reclaim relevance, and confront centuries of systemic discrimination.

The solutions are right before our eyes though. Volumes of data, research, and case studies from the for-profit sector demonstrate how to achieve success across customer engagement, the user experience, company culture, the subscription economy, digital content, new revenue streams, and brand relevance.

Just because arts organizations are non-profits doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make money; it means the money we make goes back to fund the mission. And it means a sustainable model is still necessary. Running it like a business isn’t unwitting board speak; it’s essential to revitalize this critical, massive economic engine and ultimately better serve the art and its consumers in the new normal ahead.

Aubrey’s book, Run It Like a Business, will be available for sale.

Aubrey Bergauer
Chief Executive Officer Changing the Narrative

AI: What is Real in 2024 and What Could It Be Going Forward?

Since the arrival of ChatGPT in the fall of 2022, the hype machine deluged us with both utopian and dystopian stories about the future impact of AI.

Let us get real!

At this session, we will explore: Where are we with AI technology? What does this technology offer us in 2024? How to start using this new tool? And look at what AI could do and mean for us going forward.

Patrick Courtin
Consultant

The 1% You Should Love: The Nonprofit Superpower of Marginal Gains

In "The 1% You Should Love: The Nonprofit Superpower of Marginal Gains," Todd Vigil, a leading nonprofit marketing strategist, adapts James Clear's revolutionary concept of marginal gains to the nonprofit world. This talk will explore how small, sustained improvements can lead to substantial organizational growth and impact. Designed specifically for leaders of resource-strapped nonprofits, Todd will illustrate the profound effect of 1% improvements across various facets of nonprofit operations. Through engaging case studies and actionable strategies, attendees will discover the extraordinary power of incremental changes in driving their missions forward. Todd's dynamic presentation not only pays homage to Clear's foundational principles but also adapts them to the unique challenges and opportunities within the nonprofit sector. Attendees will leave empowered, with a clear roadmap for applying marginal gains to achieve their organizational goals.

Todd Vigil
Founder & CEO EleeHub | Pathfinder Search Ads

The State of DEI Initiatives

What is the state of DEI initiatives in arts organizations today? In the midst of political polarization, "culture wars" and a changed post-pandemic landscape, are these inclusion efforts experiencing retrenchment, or are they here to stay?

Moderator: Alisa Martin
Vice President, Education Operations and Engagement Tenement Museum

Dr. Durell Cooper
Founder and CEO Cultural Innovation Group

Sarah J. Hom
Director of Audience Services ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY

Stephanie Ybarra
Program Officer Mellon Foundation

BREAKOUTS AND PANELS

Marketing and Optimization with a Side of AI are Definitely on the 2024 Menu

SEO is not dead – but it is always different. Keeping up with best practices is vital to your relevant traffic. DWG will provide an overview of the basics, a discussion of recent changes and how AI can make this better and easier. They’ll share what you can do on your own and what requires support from informed SEO experts. Bring your questions, analytics, and examples for discussion.

Marketing of Performances/Events includes optimizing them as well as using AI to enhance your marketing calendar. DWG will show examples of how AI can help with your marketing/optimization planning.

LaMae Weber
CEO Dream Warrior Group / ARTdynamix

Behnam Ataee
CTO Dream Warrior Group / ARTdynamix

Sure, You’re Talking… But What Are You Saying?

Developing effective messaging to connect with diverse constituents and drive both earned and contributed income

A hands-on workshop

Much of your organization’s communications—across marketing, development, education, and community engagement—on your website, in brochures, on social media, in emails, and in person—involves words, and usually a good number of them. All these words are opportunities to move current and prospective attendees, donors, and partners closer to you—to better understand and value you—or not. Ensuring that your words come together to form effective messaging is vitally important, particularly as we all emerge from the difficult years of the pandemic.

Yes, you have a lot to say, but is there consistency of message? Are you differentiating your organization in what is often a very competitive landscape? Is there a high-level narrative to give context to more program-specific writing? Are there also necessary constituent-specific messages? (A prospective single-ticket buyer is not the same as a long-term subscriber... is not the same as a parent of your education program, or a planned giving prospect.) Your messaging needs to meet people where they are.

This workshop will help you to develop guiding attributes, evolve informing storylines, and provide guidance around crafting a high-level message—and show how that message might be “tilted” for a specific constituency or opportunity.

After an introduction to a tried-and-true methodology for building effective messaging (paired with examples from arts organizations of different sizes and stripes), you’ll work in break-out groups with templates that will help you build on what you’ve learned. The goal: significantly improve the authenticity, distinctiveness, and effectiveness of your messaging.

This session is ideal for all those who commission, evaluate, and create messaging—across all levels of your organization.

Roger Sametz
President and Chief Executive Officer Sametz Blackstone Associates

How to Sustain Donor Loyalty (and Why this Could be Transformational for Your Shop)

Donor loyalty is not only about retaining your current donors, but also about deepening their commitment and increasing their lifetime value. In this session, you will learn how to create a donor loyalty program that rewards your donors for their support, engages them in your mission, and inspires them to give more. You will discover why donor loyalty is essential for your long-term sustainability and growth, and how specific proven retention tactics can help you achieve your fundraising goals.

Louis Diez
Founder Donor Participation Project & Annual Fund Toolkit

The Donor Development Continuum is Dead: Better Ways to Think About Getting and Keeping Donors

The traditional donor development continuum, which assumes a linear progression from awareness to interest to involvement to investment, is no longer relevant in today’s dynamic and diverse fundraising environment. In this session, you will learn how to replace the outdated continuum with a more flexible and effective framework that adapts to the needs and preferences of your donors. You will also learn how to segment your donors based on their behavior, motivation, and potential, and how to tailor your communication and cultivation strategies accordingly.

Louis Diez
Founder Donor Participation Project & Annual Fund Toolkit

Reshaping the Patron Experience and Saving Money with Digital Program Books

Digital program books can cut costs, generate revenue, and eliminate waste while providing an interactive, engaging patron experience. Over the past two years, arts organizations have examined every aspect of their operations for new ways forward – many have decided to make the shift from printed programs to digital program books.

Join InstantEncore’s David Dombrosky for a closer look at this growing practice. Why are organizations shifting from print to digital? What are the benefits and challenges of going digital? How can the transition be accomplished most efficiently? What impact does this have on the patron experience?

In this session, we will explore recent examples from the field, share industry data on the relationship between printed and digital program books, and highlight emerging best practices.

David Dombrosky
Chief Marketing Officer InstantEncore

The 5 Metrics Worth Investing In

In this time of unique buyer behaviors and shifting priorities a new landscape has emerged. How does your team determine where to dig in? There is so much you could be doing at this time but take a moment together to illuminate your goals through the lens of your data. Explore 5 key metrics from your CRM and ticketing system and how they track against your wider targets, including email engagement, transactions, audience behaviors, and more. Together we’ll share actionable ideas, success stories, and essential technologies to improve performance across communication channels.

Key Learning #1: Establish the benchmarks that matter most to inform your organization’s strategy.

Key Learning #2: Explore practices and technologies to measure and improve these key metrics.

Key Learning #3: Compare your organization’s performance to current sector trends.

Bethany Nothstein
Sector Strategy & Community Manager Spektrix

From Clicks to Curtain Calls: Understanding Audience Behavior in Theater Marketing

Join BroadwayWorld Regional Sales Director Alex Freeman and Editor-in-Chief Nicole Rosky as they reveal both internal and external data on theatergoing audiences. Focusing on how this data shapes the strategies of the BroadwayWorld team, attendees will gain invaluable insights into the evolving landscape of marketing to theatergoers. Exploring the intersection of audience engagement and campaign design, this presentation will offer practical guidance for companies seeking to optimize their marketing efforts in alignment with audience preferences and industry shifts, providing a roadmap for effective promotional strategies in the dynamic world of live entertainment.

Alex Freeman
Regional Sales Director BroadwayWorld

Nicole Rosky
Editor-in-Chief BroadwayWorld

Unlocking the Power of Social Media Advertising

How Arts Organizations Can Maximize Impact by Balancing Paid Ads and Organic Content

As arts organizations face increasing competition for audience attention in the crowded digital landscape, many struggle to effectively leverage social media advertising to connect with their target audiences and drive ticket sales. Paid social media advertising offers a solution, but organizations with limited budgets often hesitate to invest without a clear understanding of how to maximize their return on investment. The key lies in balancing paid ads with organic content.

In this session, Benjamin Tyrrel, Director of Arts Programming at Utah Tech University, and Marketing and Operations Strategist with over 20 years of experience in arts non- profits and digital marketing, will share insights on creating a winning combination
of paid and organic tactics. Drawing from his experience helping numerous organizations and business generate over $10 million in sales, Benjamin Tyrrel will provide attendees with a framework for understanding the role of paid ads and organic content in the marketing funnel, as well as proven strategies and actionable tips for maximizing the impact of their social media advertising efforts.

Attendees will learn:

The most common mistakes arts organizations make in social media advertising and how to avoid them
A framework for understanding the role of paid ads and organic content in the marketing funnel
Proven strategies for creating effective paid ads and engaging organic content that work together to achieve marketing goals
Actionable tips for allocating budgets, measuring performance, and optimizing social media advertising efforts

Benjamin D. Tyrrel
Director of Arts Programming College of the Arts Utah Tech University

July Madness: Bracketology, Arts and Culture Style

One side is fundraising, and the other side is audience cultivation. In this session, we’ll square off the tactics and data points of an Arts and Culture enterprise, winnowing down what matters most to our fictional organization. We’ll make tough choices on a tight budget, and while we do, we’ll show how to quantify the risk, probability, opportunity, and impact. It’s about both strategy and how to consolidate and use data across ticketing and your database. We’ll keep it interesting--it’s a bracket, after all.

Jeremy Wine
Elevent Co-Founder

2024 Cultural Compass: Digital Marketing Benchmarks to Guide Arts and Cultural Institutions

Becky will present Capacity Interactive’s recent study on digital benchmarks that addresses questions on the minds of all arts marketers today such as:

How does my media spend compare to my peers?
What’s the most effective way for me to diversify across additional digital channels?
What can I learn from the work of other organizations that share my region, budget size, and genre?
How successfully is my content driving ticket sales and engaging audiences?

The data will help you inform optimizations to your marketing mix, build a case for investing in website improvements, and inspire strategic planning for FY25.

Becky Ludkiewicz
Senior Consultant Capacity Interactive

Our Sponsors

Dream Warrior Group provides graceful yet technologically savvy solutions for Arts organizations. The goal-driven services focus on audience and action. As your technology advocate, we will be your ally and can manage and fully implement your online presence. Our services (à la carte or contracted) include: Web site design and development, e-marketing, e-promotion, social media management and optimization. We implement your message in a digital environment.
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InstantEncore powers over one million patron experiences every year. helps arts and culture organizations thrive. Our two innovative mobile services – Appscension and InsideGuide - breakdown barriers to attendance, increase convenience for patrons, and drive ROI for you.
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BroadwayWorld is the largest theatre site on the internet, covering Broadway, the West End and beyond to 100 US cities, 45 countries and in 12 languages worldwide. With over six million monthly visitors, BroadwayWorld delivers complete up-to-the-minute Broadway, off-Broadway, and regional theatre news, in-depth interviews, extraordinary photo coverage, entertaining video features, lively message boards, ticket discounts, reviews, and more.
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Spektrix is a complete solution for ticketing, marketing, fundraising, and CRM, designed specifically for the performing arts. With world-class technology and support, Spektrix helps 650+ organizations across the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. grow their revenue and deepen patron relationships. Powerful, intuitive software, at-a-glance insights, frequent and seamless upgrades, training, support, and strategic consultation with experienced professionals come at no additional cost - making Spektrix the fastest-growing solution for arts organizations today.
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Arts organizations that put their audience in the spotlight will fill their houses. We work with you to make sense of the chaos and create a plan that gets your audience excited for your next show.

Count on us to be your steady partner on anything from strategic guidance to tackling Tessitura or executing a campaign — all while helping you find ways to be relatable to your audience members. You also won't be left figuring out how to implement a lofty plan. We can execute it for you so you can focus on your endless to-do list. Or help you prioritize and get efficient execution systems in place that work for you and your team. Get to know us better at one of our Executive Roundtable Discussions. Learn more and RSVP at NEW-MarketingSolutions.com/events.
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EleeHub was founded in 2021 to address a critical gap in the nonprofit marketing domain. It became evident that most nonprofits could be categorized into three groups: those unaware of the Google Ad Grant, those who had attempted to utilize it but were deterred by its complexity, and those engaged with costly consultants yielding minimal or expensive outcomes. EleeHub emerged as a beacon for small to mid-sized nonprofits seeking an efficient, cost-effective, and impactful marketing strategy.

As a certified Google Partner, EleeHub champions the belief that all nonprofits should fully utilize the Google Ad Grant, with professional assistance, to optimize their outcomes. The EleeHub team brings together over thirty years of collective expertise in nonprofit marketing and Google Ads, positioning itself as a leading force in the sector. https://www.eleehub.com/
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Elevent is the multi-event ticketing & membership platform made to modernize all things ticketing for professionalized venues, festivals, and seasonal event organizers. White-label by design, high-scale, omnichannel, and holistically blended with a real CRM, Elevent digitally transforms your event organization into what you envision. https://readyset.goelevent.com/
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At Ludus, we believe ticketing, marketing, and fundraising should be effortless, allowing you to focus on what truly matters: your events. Our simple, web-based software simplifies event management with integrated tools for ticketing (both online and in-person), marketing, fundraising, and built-in CRM tools. Additionally, Ludus offers Collections for payments beyond tickets, registration tools, a streaming platform (AnywhereSeat), and volunteer management features. Ludus is completely free, with no contracts tying you down. Plus, enjoy live support every day and night, including weekends. We listen to our community and continuously evolve, creating new features and updates to serve you better. Simplify your operations and free your time with Ludus, ensuring a successful and streamlined event season. https://hello.ludus.com/
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