The Offstage Mic

Every episode this season has focused on business strategies that apply to arts management, such as patron retention, leveraging the subscription and membership economy, ecommerce, and digital content (to name a few!).

And in this episode, we look at how these strategies apply to my own business, Changing the Narrative—and how those same strategies have guided the evolution of my business over the last year or so as we’ve scaled up. 

We walk through my personal experience with growing Changing the Narrative, including the areas I needed to step away from, as well as the areas I decided to lean into further and build out. I also highlight some of the key lessons I've learned in hiring and building an effective team, using data and analytics for direction, and how important of a tool digital content is. My hope is you will find these lessons to be both relatable and applicable to your own arts organization.

The article mentioned several times: Scarcity Mindset Is Killing Your Arts Organization

Copywriting is one of the most important tools you can use to boost ticket sales, donations, and revenue across various platforms. And the best part is—it costs $0 to update the words you use.

In this episode, learn five actionable tips on how creating small, emotional connections through specific language creates a big and lasting impact on your revenue. Hone your copywriting skills as a no cost tool to grab your patrons’ attention, fill those seats, and bring in more donations.

For anyone who asks, “What’s the one thing I can do to increase revenue, ticket sales, audiences and donations,” this episode has your answer: copywriting.

For almost every arts organization, writing better, stronger copy is the free solution to upgrade every public facing channel you have, from website to program book, social media to fundraising appeals, subscription brochures to press releases.

The words you use are so powerful, and harnessing better copywriting is key to making every word work harder for you.

This episode covers four tips for you to implement right away to immediately start seeing more revenue—all at absolutely zero cost to your bottom line.

Example content referenced in episode:

• On my first day as CEO of an orchestra, the board chair told me they had just considered shutting down...
•  Can’t play Beethoven faster and save money...
• This is why planned giving is one of the most important things fundraising teams should be working on

Major gifts are critical for every arts organization. This episode features board member and major gift philanthropist Susan Bay Nimoy, wife of the late actor Leonard Nimoy (most known for his role as Spock on Star Trek, and yes, we talk about it!). We cover all things major gifts, including relationship building, how that takes time, and what the process is that compels her as a major donor to give generously.

Susan Bay Nimoy has served on the board of many arts organizations, including the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, Symphony Space in New York, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and the Griffith Observatory. She recently endowed The Nimoy Theatre in LA, which is part of UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance.

Want to know what to say when building major donor relationships in the arts and ultimately soliciting a major gift? Download your free resource, the Major Donor Fast Track Guide.

The need for diversity in our audience and for the audience to reflect the community is a hot topic in the arts these days. And rightfully so.

There is a moral imperative to do this work at arts organizations, but I am also a fan of the business case for diversity. And in this episode, we are talking about what the numbers look like if and when the audience actually does look like the community — and wow, is there money on the table when the audience becomes more diverse.

This episode looks at just how many more tickets would be sold in a year if your audience makeup mirrored that of your community, or at least came close. We talk through the numbers, and I have a free download that does the math for you so you don’t have to.

Get your free Demographic Revenue Calculator and see the potential for sales growth in three easy steps.

How arts and culture organizations can use advocacy to drive awareness for your cause and brand, even when you’re not a global, visitor-based institution.

The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is known as an international nonprofit conservation organization with an annual budget over $400 million and thousands of staff and employees. They have two local front doors — the San Diego Zoo and the Safari Park — in addition several eco-regional “hubs” around the world.

The global work of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is helping the entire ecosystem, and this conversation with immediate past Board Chair Javade Chaudhri exemplifies that having a business mindset does not fly in the face of the mission driven work.

In fact, the data show that nonprofits of all sizes that advocate outperform their peers, and you do not have to be a $400M+ organization to engage in advocacy — it can happen small and locally. Chaudhri is candid about what separates organizations doing that well—having a business mindset being able to execute on that—versus those in his mind who aren’t.

We also talk about a few topics that have become near and dear to my heart in recent years, including company culture and staff compensation (as well as the need to pay staff competitively).

I am so grateful for Javade Chaudhri and him generously sharing his time, wisdom, and expertise. Enjoy his take on how the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and all kinds of arts and culture organizations can run it like a business, and get your free resource to help you start or uplevel your own advocacy work: the Advocacy Cheat Sheet.

The subscription model is thriving everywhere else besides the arts—to the tune of 20% of all consumer credit card transactions now go to subscriptions and memberships. So why then, are subscriptions and donations on the decline in the arts?

It turns out, there are three big things these successful brands are doing differently than arts organizations. This episode breaks it down, as well as offers ways to implement these ideas.

Get your free resource for this episode: 3 Reasons Your Subscriptions are Declining & 11 Ways to Combat It. 

00:00 Introduction to Season Three of The Offstage Mike

00:34 The Theme of Season Three: Running it Like a Business

01:43 The Importance of Subscriptions in the Cultural Sector

02:03 The Current State of the Subscription Economy

02:58 The Decline of Subscriptions in the Arts

03:05 The Discrepancy Between the Arts and Other Industries

06:58 The Three Big Differences in Subscription Models

07:50 The Importance of First Year Subscription Renewals

14:00 The Impact of Price Increases on Subscription Renewals

20:26 The Three Steps to Combat the First Year Cliff

29:13 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

This season on The Offstage Mic we are talking about strategies to combat the challenges in the cultural sector borrowed from the business world that have proven successful across patron retention, subscriptions, ecommerce, raising money, and digital content (to name a few).

And throughout the season, I’m occasionally bringing in some people who know the business world quite well to help me break it down: board members of our orchestras, operas, ballets, theaters, museums, zoos, and more.

These are the people governing our cultural institutions, who also have incredible professional experience outside the arts, and who are also among the most connected to and engaged with our mission-driven work.

All so that we can Run It Like a Business — without sacrificing the art we produce. Season 3 of the Offstage Mic is coming up right here. Hit “follow” or “subscribe” right now.

Yesterday was publication day for my new book, Run It Like A Business: Strategies for Arts Organizations to Increase Audiences, Remain Relevant, and Multiply Money—Without Losing the Art.

To celebrate, we put together something special for you: a live show we recorded just last night at the book launch party here in San Francisco. It’s a conversation with myself and Kelly Harris, Executive Director of Haight Street Art Center.

The book and our conversation is for people and arts organizations who want to:

• Grow audiences and keep them coming back again
• Make our organizations more inclusive
• Get younger attendees in the seats and on the donor rolls
• And generate millions more dollars in revenue, in order to
• Continue to create the art we love—without the stress of figuring out how to afford it

Book details and how to get your copy: https://www.aubreybergauer.com/book

What works and what doesn’t at the bargaining table with unions in arts and culture. Cellist Ted Nelson served as chair of the players committee at the Cincinnati Symphony, and clarinetist Jessica Phillips served as players committee chair at the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Both worked toward collaborative and creative agreements, and in this final episode of the season, they share first-hand about their experience.

What needs to happen before negotiations ever begin, how training musicians serving in these important roles is critical, and their thoughts on streaming contracts going forward so together we can make the pie bigger for all of us.