Cultivating cafe society

WHERE should arts organizations go in search of better attendance? Down to the nightclub, bumpty, bumpty bump (to quote the 1970s funk ditty by Tower of Power). Or to the espresso-soaked haunts of poets, folkies and jazz fans.

That’s one of the recommendations in “Motivations Matter,” a survey and analysis commissioned by the Wallace Foundation as part of an ongoing project to help arts presenters build audiences.

The study, released last week, describes as a “particularly striking finding” the fact that 59% of the most avid arts patrons -- those who go at least eight times a year to museums, concerts, dance events, plays, and outdoor arts fairs and festivals -- also take in arts events at nightclubs, coffeehouses and restaurants.

“It makes you think it would be useful for arts organizations to reach out to those venues,” says sociologist Francie Ostrower, the Urban Institute researcher who wrote the report. Ostrower suggests that mainline arts organizations cultivate the coffeehouse/nightclub crowd by putting on events of their own in those venues -- or at least by advertising their programs in bars and espresso joints.

A core conclusion of the national telephone sampling last year of 1,231 adults, Ostrower says, is that “the arts aren’t a completely separate domain from the rest of people’s lives” and that organizations with tickets to sell need to tailor their pitches and programming to the varied motivations people have for attending -- which can include seeking a good time and socializing as well as gaining knowledge or having an aesthetic experience.

There’s ample room for growth: Only 44% surveyed went to four or more cultural events each year -- a figure that included pop music as well as high-art attractions.