In Search of the Magic Bullet: Results from the Building Audiences for Sustainability Initiative

Dance/USA is hosting a webinar with Francie Ostrower, Ph.D., who will share from her report on several key learnings from the nonprofit performing arts organizations who participated in Wallace’s Building Audiences for Sustainability (BAS) initiative from 2015 to 2019. 

National statistics have long shown stagnant or declining attendance at multiple art forms. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, challenges around audience and financial sustainability remain as pressing as ever, if not more so. This presentation shares insights from the University of Texas at Austin’s study of the audience-building efforts of 25 large nonprofit performing arts organizations in the The Wallace Foundation’s Building Audiences for Sustainability initiative. While no “magic bullet” emerged, findings offer valuable insights into strategies that proved effective and – equally important – into ones that proved ineffective.

Francie Ostrower, Ph.D., is a professor at the University of Texas at Austin in the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the College of Fine Arts. She is also the director of the Portfolio Program in Arts and Cultural Management and Entrepreneurship and is a senior fellow at the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service. She is principal investigator of the multi-year Building Audiences for Sustainability: Research and Evaluation study, commissioned and funded by The Wallace Foundation. Dr. Ostrower has authored numerous publications on philanthropy, nonprofit governance, and arts participation.   

ASL interpretation is provided, captions can be enabled through Zoom. This webinar will not be recorded.