Example of arts marketing for real life: Kansas City Symphony

One of the things I’m always gently reminding arts folks about is that regular people attend the arts for many different reasons. Those of us that love our art form deeply and have significant education and experience with an art form can lose sight of what it’s like to be a non-expert.

This ad that I saw in the airport in Kansas City for the Kansas City Symphony when I was coming home from the Artists Thrive Summit is tapping into some of these more “everyday” reasons people go to arts events.

Ruth Hartt is one of the people in arts marketing encouraging arts organizations to do more of this kind of marketing to more effectively reach people by speaking to how the arts can fill a need in their lives. I think this is a shift that should be broadly adopted to get the arts practicing better marketing and reverse the slide of attendance we’ve been experiencing since 2000.