Love the audience you have

Dustin Boyer is one of my favorite arts industry creators on TikTok. He’s the Director of Marketing for Venture Music in Nashville. One of his latest posts talks about how it’s a mark of professionalism to put your everything into performing, no matter how small the audience. And as a band trying to make it, that can be a small crowd. Those people paid and made the effort to come out, so respect them enough to give them your best. I remember in my Off-Off-Off-Off Broadway days in the early 2000s, the bar for success was having more people in the audience than were on the stage, so I’m somewhat familiar with this even though I’ve never been in a band.

It reminded me of a saying that I think I heard from the staff at TRG Arts: “Love the audience you have.” It may be a smaller audience than for another show, but they love the work, paid the money, and made the effort. And they’re the ones keeping the more niche work alive, so give them your appreciation.