How to Build Community at Your Arts Organization

Building community through art is one of the most rewarding parts of live events, and arts organizations play a vital role in sustaining communities.

In fact, we’d gladly wager that there is nothing that brings people together better than a show or a shared experience.

It’s not just about the performances happening on stage, it’s the excited chatter as the audience waits for the lights to dim, the high-fives traded between performers, crew, and front-of-house teams as everything comes together, the hugs shared after the curtain falls, the lively discussions on the way home. 

Community is at the core of what your organization does, and it’s more important than ever.  So, how do you foster community? How do you help people feel like your organization is a community in which they belong? And how do you make the most of the community you have?

We’re here to help you get active and strategic about how to build community at your organization.

Building community with your audiences

“Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name,” as the Cheers song puts it.  Your organization can be that special place for your audience. 

Launch a membership program

Memberships are a powerful way to bring folks in again and again, creating your own set of regulars and giving them a sense of belonging.

A few quick tips for setting up your own membership program:

• Include benefits such as priority booking or exclusive merch for members to really reward their loyalty and help them feel cared for. 
• Provide a membership card that members can proudly display. It’s especially easy with digital membership cards.
• As you choose which type of membership to offer, listen to your community and pay close attention to what your particular customers are interested in.
• Host a member night to cultivate community amongst your members.

Use data and segmentation to nurture affinity 

Shared interests and experiences are a natural route to building community. With the data in your CRM, you can get to know your audience, start identifying the characteristics that draw your patrons together, and make the most of those shared qualities. 

For instance: 

• If your data shows a growing segment of customers who only go to your comedy shows, start a monthly comedy night with targeted marketing to that group. 
• If you want to bolster your local community, set your system up to automatically recognize anybody who lives in a certain town, region, or zip code and offer them a discount. 
• Create a targeted newsletter about children’s programming to customers with kids. 
• If you run participatory classes or groups, identify regular members and invite them along to your core performance program so they can enjoy every aspect of your offer. 
  
  

The better you get to know your audience, the easier it will be for you to create the right space for them.

Building community with your donors

Community-centric fundraising stems from a movement to align fundraising practices with social justice and equity by placing emphasis on the collective community, as opposed to donor-centric development. 

Three principles that we like to highlight about community-centric fundraising are:

• Individual organizational commissions are not as important as the collective community
• We treat donors as partners, and this means that we are transparent, and occasionally have difficult conversations
• Nonprofits are generous with and mutually supportive of one another

So, how do you put that into action? To start, you can: 

• Listen to your community and put their needs front and center. Align your development strategy with the impact on the collective community.
• Be transparent. Clearly communicate your goals, priorities, and challenges. This helps your donors feel like they are part of something when they give to your organization. 
• Partner with other organizations in your shared community. That could mean pairing up with other local organizations, or working together with organizations that share a similar audience or mission. 

Building community with other arts organizations

One of our core beliefs here at Spektrix is that organizations in the arts and live entertainment sector all benefit from each other’s success. And when we foster that community amongst organizations, when arts leaders support each other, we’re all stronger for it. 

Attend a Spektrix Hubs event near you 

We can’t resist tooting our own horn a little bit here, because in the past few years of putting on these events for our user community, we’ve seen a lot of magic happen when arts professionals come together. 

Spektrix Hubs are one-day conferences that we host annually across North America and the  UK, and they’re free for our clients. In addition to presentations from experts and your fellow arts leaders, these events give you the opportunity to be part of discussion groups with other people in similar roles to yours and to network in a friendly environment. 

Join a membership organization for other arts professionals like you

These associations are a marvelous way to connect with other leaders who are likely going through similar experiences as you, build up relationships, and keep your finger on the pulse of your sector. 

Here are some that we recommend: 

• International Ticketing Association (INTIX)
• Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP) 
• League of American Orchestras (LAO)
• National Association of Musical Theatre (NAMT) 
• Western Arts Alliance (WAA)
• Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT)
• Arts Reach 

Share what you learn

We’ve seen first-hand, time and time again, that the arts sector is only made stronger when leaders are open with each other, and that by supporting each other in this way, everybody is able to grow and thrive. 

Whether it’s in one of the above contexts or in informal conversations with other leaders, talk about what you’ve tried at your organization and how it went. This doesn’t just mean sharing success stories – it’s helpful to know what didn’t work too.

These conversations often spark new ideas or inspire a different approach to a long-standing problem. And even better, they can remind you that whatever you’re  facing in this moment,  you are not alone. 

We believe in the power of community

At Spektrix, we see endless value in forging connections and supporting each other. As you think about how to build community at your organization and beyond, you’re both making the world a better place and cementing a strong foundation for your organization’s success. 

Bethany Nothstein (she/her) is the Sector Strategy and Community Manager at Spektrix.