The Oregon Bach Festival, one of the largest classical music festivals in the world, has received $68,000 in grant money to conduct audience research in hopes of boosting attendance.
The 18-day, Eugene-based summer festival has attracted people from every state and dozens of countries each year and is syndicated on 248 stations, including National Public Radio, American Public Radio, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, British Broadcasting Corporation, Voice of America and numerous foreign programs.
Last summer, however, classical music organizations across the nation – including the Oregon Bach Festival – experienced a decline in ticket sales and attendance. According to the Bach festival’s Web site, the festival attracted 27,000 visitors from 35 states and six countries, down from the 2004 total of 32,000. Box office receipts of $350,000 fell far below 2004’s $430,000.
George Evano, director of communications at the Oregon Bach Festival, said the grant money from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and the Oregon Cultural Trust will fund studies on how to attract new audiences.
“In the end, after a three-year period, the research completed with this grant money will enable us to bring new people out and do exciting things,” Evano said. “It helps us stay innovative.”
Evano said by engaging a consultant and asking the festival’s audience the right questions, the research can be used to implement new ideas and attract a younger audience to the festival.
“Last year, sales were below average,” Evano said. “We thought, ‘How do we get modern and contemporary audiences to attend?’ We know the music is timeless; we just need to know how to make it relevant.”
The grant money will be used over the course of three years to research new ways to attract a wider audience. By conducting surveys, the grant money will fund audience research in areas such as marketing, audience demographics and programming. Once the research is complete, the Oregon Bach Festival hopes to share this information with other classical music organizations.
Royce Saltzman, executive director of the Oregon Bach Festival, said that with the help of an outside professional company that conducts audience research at a national level, the festival will be able to apply questions to its audience to innovate and expand its outreach.
“Classical music organizations everywhere are experiencing a decrease in ticket sales,” Saltzman said. “We just ask ourselves ‘What has happened around the country? Why the decrease? Are people’s spending habits changing? Is it because the arts is being taken out of schools? How do we reach out and share our appreciation for this music?’”
The programming for the 37th-annual Bach Festival beginning in June will include, for the first time, a jazz interpretation of classical music with Bach’s Goldberg variations and a multimedia production.
“The great thing about Eugene is so many people enjoy and appreciate what we do and find it valuable to the community,” Evano said. “We just try to let people know what great music we’ve got.”
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