Anchorage Arts Groups E-Venture into Success

By Sarah Henning, Anchorage Daily News, Alaska

Mar. 12–Change doesn’t always come easy for fine arts organizations. When you think about it, it’s sort of counterintuitive to expect a cutting-edge Internet presence from a group rooted in the era of powdered wigs and tights.

But now that Carnegie Hall recitals are on YouTube and your MySpace friends can include Renee Fleming and Yo Yo Ma, clearly artists are turning a corner.

Some Anchorage fine arts organizations are following suit, tentatively testing sites generally associated with pop culture, not fine art.

For some, it’s too early to say how this new e-venture will work out. “I just set up the MySpace page for the symphony,” said Kristin Cosgrove, marketing director for the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra. “We have two friends, and one of them is me.”

But for those who’ve used these networking sites for a few months, anecdotal evidence shows that offering free audio and video samples online is definitely creating more buzz about events, and probably helping sell tickets.

“When ‘Frogz’ (touring theater) was in town we sent the video to some people on our e-mail list, they started posting it on other people’s MySpace accounts, and word got back to me that lots of people were seeing that video and excited about the show,” said Nona Hamilton-Head, marketing associate for the Anchorage Concert Association.

“It’s kind of like a game of telephone or something, but I believe that if people can just see proof of how great a show is, they will buy tickets.”

Historically, arts have been behind the technology curve and are only now catching up, said Jamie Grady, a national presenter on arts marketing and a professor at Point Park University School of Business in Pittsburgh.

Grady said mastering Web marketing will be key for the future of the arts, especially when trying to attract younger patrons. She said studies show arts attendance among Generations X and Y is tied to education and income as it is for older arts goers, but is also motivated by a desire to be social. That’s where networking Web sites can play a part.

For now, most of Anchorage’s arts nonprofits are playing it safe. For example, the Anchorage Museum is holding focus groups with UAA students next month to ask them how they want to be contacted. The museum wants to make certain if it uses MySpace that it’s not just jumping on a fad based on inaccurate assumptions.

Marketing director Janet Asaro said the museum will weigh the focus group information against the possibility that MySpace could threaten an organization’s carefully cultivated image. “With all these thumbnails of your friends, someone can start at your MySpace page and click through to someone else’s, and who knows what content is on there? The viewer might connect that information to you. You can lose control of your image.”

Hamilton-Head, 29, attended an Arts Reach conference in New York City last fall about e-marketing. Presenters there validated the Anchorage Concert Association’s whole-hearted jump into online sampling and networking. “I’ve tried to explain MySpace to people before who aren’t of my generation, and it can be kind of above and beyond them, but this really is a great way to reach a younger audience,” she said. “I have a lot of friends who listen to the radio or watch TV and flip channels as soon as a commercial comes on, but for some reason, we will sit through hours of ridiculous commercials on YouTube.”

Cosgrove has found that to be true in the symphony’s first foray into online video, despite the fact that the symphony’s subscriber base is largely between the ages of 46-65. The “Triumph” concert commercial — designed to give an audio taste of a new composition — has been viewed on YouTube 680 times so far. “When you’re marketing music, you can write that it sounds powerful and jubilant, but it’s different when people can hear it for themselves,” she said.

Shane Mitchell, artistic director of TBA Theatre Company, said the concept of artistic free sampling is as least as old and as proven as movie trailers. He welcomed the opportunity to put the company’s traveling show, “Folk Tales,” on MySpace. He said the photos and video broaden the company’s appeal to presenting organizations and audiences.

“As a ticket-buyer, even if I don’t see video of the exact play I’m going to see, I want to see a clip of past performances to know this company is quality,” Mitchell said. “Video can establish credibility for a company.”

Using MySpace is like going to a crowded party, Grady said. Organizations need to find a way to stand out by being funnier, more interesting or better dressed. “Individual arts organizations need to understand what differentiates them from their competition, and then ask how new technologies can enhance and contribute to that difference.”

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