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Take a Lesson from House
Last Saturday, I spent the whole day speaking at the Denver conference of The Association of American Cultures. It was a good experience for me and I thank Anthony Radich and the staff of Western States Arts Federation for inviting me and giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts with the terrific people and organizations that were present.
While I was in Denver, I stumbled upon a useful metaphor when it comes to thinking about the state of our industry.
Like many people, I love to watch the television series, “House.� Hugh Laurie’s brilliant, but obnoxious character, Dr. House, is tolerated - even occasionally celebrated - because his diagnostic abilities save lives.
At least three to four times an episode, when one of House’s acolytes or colleagues press their particular hypothesis and correlating treatment, House is heard to say, “Sure, go ahead. The patient will be dead in X hours.�
My point here is that House’s competency as “the best doctor in the hospital� does not come from his “bedside manner� or his popularity. The man’s dislikability is concentrated like espresso. His effectiveness doesn’t come from his intuitive skills; if he were intuitive, he wouldn’t constantly hurt and annoy everyone around him. House is effective because he obsesses about solving the right problem. And he spends a lot more time in diagnosis than he does in the cure. He knows that, if he hasn’t diagnosed correctly, the cure is irrelevant to fatal.
As I have often written here, I am concerned about the current state of thinking at many arts organizations throughout the country. Millions and millions of dollars are spent developing and acquiring tools, information, and skills that are simply not being used. Even our biggest - and supposedly leadership - institutions stubbornly persist in assumptions, operating models, policies, and ideology that are not only ineffective and irrelevant, but potentially threatening.
One of these wrong-headed approaches, in my opinion, is “audience development.� The data I see persuades me that retaining audiences is a much more urgent priority. It’s good news that so many people are giving the arts a try. It's bad news that so many of them try just once and don’t come back. It’s amazing, but when I listen to most professional arts marketers, the word “retention� almost never comes up. A myopic focus on 1) building awareness and 2) focusing on acquisition continues to drive most arts marketing departments. Meanwhile, the signals sent by those who are acquired, but who don’t come back continue to be ignored. Go figure.
A big cultural sector has been built in this country over the last thirty or so years. Some people are convinced that the sector has been over-built. This extraordinary legacy of bricks-and-mortar, professionals, audiences, funding streams, volunteers, and communities is deserving of tough-minded and intelligent stewardship. We need more than a few Houses of our own.
One of Denver’s Cultural Affairs Commissioners characterized my day in Denver as “Tough Love for the Arts.� I’d say it’s needed.
Posted on July 17, 2007 12:26 PM | Permalink
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Comments
So true, Neill. It amazes me when arts staffers prefer to look elsewhere at the expense of retaining and deepening engagement with the people who are already supporting them. Maybe it's human nature -- it seems to me that for-profit businesses are always chasing the new client while taking their loyal clients for granted.