The Road to Results: Effective Practices for Building Arts Audiences

The Road to Results: Effective Practices for Building Arts Audiences, which identifies and explains nine actions that arts organizations can take to increase the chances they will succeed in engaging audiences, was released by The Wallace Foundation. Release of this report was in conjunction with an announcement of a six-year, $40-million arts initiative, Building Audiences for Sustainability, designed to help an estimated 25 outstanding performing arts organizations create programs that attract new audiences while retaining existing ones.

Based on case studies of 10 arts organizations that undertook audience-building projects as part of the Wallace Excellence Awards initiative, this guide pinpoints nine practices that successful efforts had in common — from identifying a target group that made sense for the organization to determining what barriers needed to be removed for that target to join the audience. Filled with examples of successes and challenges from the work of museums, opera companies, a theater and other institutions, the report can serve as a guide to audience building for all arts groups. A separate infographic summarizes the nine practices on a single page.