5 reasons declining media coverage of the arts isn’t the problem

At the end of a long list about why audiences are shrinking, a burned out, defeated arts manager’s last bit of ire will be directed at the declining arts coverage in the mainstream media. It will be the final gasp of their venting session. Then their voice will trail off, they’ll throw up their hands, and reach for their glass of bourbon. 

The decline in arts coverage is well documented. The discussion amongst us insiders describes two ways this has made our life more difficult: lack of media coverage contributes to declining audiences because arts organizations rely on media coverage to sell tickets and declining media coverage contributes to audiences not understanding or appreciating complex works of art. 

I agree with that these are outcomes of declining arts coverage. But it’s time to stop being defeated and blaming declining coverage for declining attendance. It’s WAY past time. At least 30 years past time.

Here are five reasons why the current problems can’t be blamed on less media coverage:

1. The mainstream media has been shrinking since cable television splintered the media landscape in the late 1980s and the internet rose in the 1990s. That’s been plenty of time for arts organizations to have adjusted marketing strategy and tactics. But they haven’t. Other than adding email marketing to their mix and implementing the bare minimum of sophistication about pricing and sales techniques (like learning that it works to actually ask people to buy tickets on marketing messages) that other sectors had been using for nearly a century, arts organizations have continued to rely on advertising and media coverage as their primary marketing tactics. 
2. Arts organizations missed the social in social media. Instead, arts marketers treated social media like just another advertising outlet and never got on board with the audience engagement and community building possibilities of social media. If arts organizations had built engagement and community online between 2006 and now, it would have helped to bring along people who were on board with their mission and programming and the larger social project of the arts because they would have a two-way relationship with the organization and the arts as a force for good. More to the current need: it would have helped to attract new audience members to replace the ones that were being lost. (See the book New Power by Jeremy Heimans and outgoing Lincoln Center President and CEO Henry Timms and For the Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want to Be by Dr. Marcus Collins). But that phase of social media is now over and social media is dominated by content marketing. However…see #3.
3. Arts organizations are hitting off foul balls on content marketing – and that’s even when they come to bat. Since at least last year, social media platforms are dominated by content and not engagement. Arts organizations could be hitting home runs on content marketing from a marketing and a mission perspective. One of the laments about the decline in arts criticism is that the audiences are now less informed and educated about the art form. Arts organizations could be using these platforms to educate their audience. But – and this really baffles me – arts organizations are letting this pitch go by just like they did with engagement in the first 20 years of social media. Despite having staff in artistic, education, and marketing offices whose life’s mission (and job) is to inspire others to love their art form, social media accounts for arts organizations don’t post with nearly the frequency they need to to make social media work to reach new audiences or engage current audiences.  And when they do post, it’s just more advertising, not content that people are actually interested in for entertainment or education, which is why people are going to social media (even for nonprofits). And when an arts organization does try to do something engaging, it’s stilted and mismatched for the style and norms of the platform. The content looks like it should be played on the video screens at a gala, not on TikTok or Instagram. There’s not enough content, and not the right content. But let’s focus on the future by investing in the people doing the work. Hence, #4:
4. Staff skills are out of date or staff are being stifled. Given what I know about the anemic investments of arts organizations in staff training and inferring from what I see everyday on social media – I’m assuming that organizations haven’t given their staff time and/or money to train on current marketing techniques. Or they’re just getting trained within the nonprofit arts bubble that are all making these mistakes. Or staff that do want to bring the organization’s marketing up to 2024 are getting blocked – see #5. Marketing staff, this has been an extremely tough time for you, and I see you. You’ve been the focal point of a lot of pressure and criticism, to say the least. But I suspect that you’ve also been left on your own without guidance OR you’ve been trying to drive change but not gotten through to leadership. Am I right? Either way: take your training into your own hands. Turn your personal social media time into professional development time and look outside the arts for what’s working. Get outside the arts bubble. Do all the free trainings available from social media companies and free advice put out by content creators. You need to experiment to hone your own skills and find the style for your organization that you can put out consistently and repeatedly. If you aren’t allowed to do this with your organization’s accounts (and you want to) use your personal social media as a place to experiment making content – about you, about your professional skill set, or about your organization. Maybe a byproduct is that you develop your own side hustle as a creator yourself.
5. Leadership is leading from fear of change. I’m looking at you Executive Directors, Managing Directors, Producing Artistic Directors, Marketing Directors, Board members. What your marketing departments are doing right now is not working and it’s harming the image of your organization with the audiences you want to attract. It’s time to admit it and allow your staff to make some drastic changes in strategy and tactics. I know you know the marketing is not effective because you’re looking at the numbers every day.  You’re either holding your marketing folks back from bringing your organization up to current marketing practices, or you need to regroup with them, inspire them to get excited about trying new things, and get real about getting current.

Action needs to be taken on this now. Content marketing and branding strategies take time – months and years – to pay off in the solid foundation of trust and awareness with a new constituency that can translate into sales, visits, and donations. Don’t make a committee. Don’t start a strategic process. Take a few days, do some research, get some ideas, and get going putting out content. You have plenty of content right in your building with your artists, technicians, educators, staff, interns, audience, community partners. Pick up an iPhone, fire up Canva and post. Other sectors would LOVE to have the raw material that the arts has to make content – use it. It’s gonna take experimentation. 

Mainstream media is not coming back. Arts organizations are their own press agent, reporters, and publisher. You’re your own arts and entertainment section, local news and interest section, magazine, evening television news, scrappy blogger, and public radio talk show. Get your own story out yourself. Work those algorithms and reach those new folks you swear will love your work if the only knew about it.

See this as an opportunity. You can finally do what you relied on others for: telling your story with the depth, nuance, and whimsy. You get to set the tone and the terms. Have fun with it and the audience will have fun too.

Photo by Ethan Sykes on Unsplash