The Mystery of the Missing Audience
From Woods Bowman, writing for Nonprofit Quarterly:
F. Paul Driscoll, editor of Opera News magazine, calls the Chicago opera scene vibrant and says, “Chicago has a huge appetite for music.” True, but struggling opera companies want to know what they can do to hang on and hopefully to lay the groundwork for growth.
Allow me to help. I have studied nonprofit organizations for 15 years, as long as I have been a subscriber to Lyric Opera and other musical ensembles in Chicago, and I think I can discern some secrets of their success. But first let’s review the basic rules that all successful performing arts organizations follow instinctively. They may be obvious, but they deserve emphasis.