ArtsBoston Audience Initiative

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Greater Boston has never had a resource for actionable data about arts audiences, and The ArtsBoston Audience Initiative directly addresses this need.

The ArtsBoston Audience Initiative (AAI) is the region’s first resource for actionable data about arts audiences specially designed to provide the information the cultural sector needs to measure, support, and promote participation in the region.

Representing a sector-wide collaboration of over 50 arts organizations in its inaugural year, the AAI helps participating organizations better understand current audiences, while also providing critical contextual insight across the local arts marketplace to help reach new audiences. As the database grows over time, the knowledge it presents will expand and deepen, providing valuable insight into the levers of market change.

Empowered with a greater understanding of both the marketplace and audience participation, arts organizations can become more nimble, cooperative, and successful in their marketing and operations.

Key Benefits of the AAI

1. Understanding Audiences
   Through our partnership with TRG Arts (TRG), participating organizations have access to the Data Center system, an online, user friendly interface that includes analytical tools and reports to help them better understand current audiences. In addition, TRG appends accurate demographic information to approximately 75% of the data supplied at no additional charge, which allows organizations to pull free demographic reports.
2. Improving Marketing Efficiency and Effectiveness
   By better understanding where audiences are coming from and what activities they enjoy, organizations can tailor their message and target their outreach to not only engage new patrons, but get current patrons to return more often. All of the data is also run through the US Postal Service’s National Change of Address (NCOA) on a quarterly basis, helping reduce the number of returned pieces and maintaining compliance with new bulk mail regulations.
3. Contextualizing the Local Arts Marketplace
   Community level reporting is available to provide critical context of how arts organizations’ audiences compare locally, both in term of other cultural organizations and within the population as a whole. In addition, because TRG administers 19 patron databases around the county, they can provide a national perspective as needed.
4. Finding Your Best Prospects
   The AAI gives arts organizations access to over 1 million culturally active households, the ability to run comparison reports and simplifies the direct mail list trading process between organizations. Each organization maintains 100% control of their data through a permission-based request process.

Technology Built on Experience

TRG Arts is a renowned research and marketing firm devoted to the arts sector. TRG has spent the last decade building a robust online system for arts organizations to create, pull and distribute mailing lists. By combining that system with easily accessible market research on who audiences are and could be, its eMerge platform has become the leading database system of its kind nation-wide.

A Program Built on Community Input

Greater Boston has never had a resource for actionable data about arts audiences, and The ArtsBoston Audience Initiative directly addresses this need. To ensure that the AAI is representative of the community, a Market Knowledge Taskforce of ArtsBoston members guided its development. The taskforce included representatives from:

• American Repertory Theater
• ArtsEmerson
• Broadway in Boston
• Emerson College
• Huntington Theatre Company
• Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston
• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
• Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre
• Rockport Music

To learn more, receive pricing or to sign up, contact:
Victoria George
Membership and Marketing Coordinator
617.262.8632 x225
victoriag@artsboston.org