The Mythological Museum Visitor – The Young Cosmopolitan

By Adam Rozan

The author at the Oakland Museum of California, showcasing and Creative Time presents Mark Tribe's Port Huron Project 5: The Liberation of our People.

The Targeting Young Cosmopolitans in Museums study was born out of a 2009 session of the Association of Midwest Museums conference entitled, The Next Generation: Targeting Young Audiences in an Uncertain Economic Climate.

The report was designed to measure the energies involved in young cosmopolitan programming by examining 170  museums, varying in size, affluence and scope.

The term “young cosmopolitan” describes a hybrid generation born out of Generation X (those born between 1967 and 1977) and Generation Y (those born between 1978 and 1993). They “are exceptionally social, ethnically diverse, college educated, technologically savvy, and have a creative and open mindset.” Alexandra Gregg, co-author of the Targeting Young Cosmopolitans in Museums survey, wrote earlier in a post on WestMuse:

YoCo – young cosmopolitan – because it focuses more on a psychographic than on specifically drawn lines of age, gender, etc. YoCos are the people who are highly social, are all over Facebook and iPhones, and are curious, creative, and cosmopolitan. It’s the people who go to the Hirshhorn’s famous after-hours event in DC, or the Hammer’s Bike Night in LA… But YoCos can still be understood in terms of geography and economics – they tend to gravitate around cities and have a general US buying power of $924 billion.

A recent cover from Time Out New York reads, “You’re smart. Cultured. And you’ve never been to the Rubin?… Museums: The Actually Cool Guide.” Inside the article reads as a tasting menu of New York city’s many museums, highlighting various activities, events and parties held each month targeting this cosmopolitan audience.

Despite such articles, this scene is not the norm across the country, rather the opposite–only 37% of museums that participated in the Targeting Young Cosmopolitans in Museums study offer such programs.

With the key attributes of the YoCos in mind (e.g. highly social, college educated, creative, etc.), why are the other 63% of museums studied in this survey not engaging these audiences? Funding, limited staff time, lack of board support, and “not enough time to organize an effective program to YoCos,” prevailed as the primary reasons provided. Furthermore, 8% of those surveyed felt “this demographic cannot be reached” and accordingly another seven museums provided that this target group was not relevant to their institution. While seven museums are far from a majority, can any institution truly afford to ignore this diverse and knowledgeable audience?

YoCo programming remained the primary responsibility of the education and programming departments for 51% of the study, and sadly, only 7 museums reported “cross-departmental collaboration (primarily between education and marketing),” and only one institution had a “YoCo team with representatives from marketing, events, development, etc.”

The 77% of museums that host YoCo programs reported having clear goals and objectives, and used terms like “attract,” “welcome,” “target,” “reach,” or “increase attendance” to describe some of their goals; another group used “engage” or “educate” to best describe their objectives. Because only 23% of respondents “have or consult a young adult advisory board or related committee,” it is not surprising that some of the museums felt they were not adequately targeting the YoCo audience.

What is to be done with YoCos?

Time Out New York’s article on museums highlights activities such as “behind the scenes tours, lectures, films, and even the quirky B-movie nights,” which are similar to those mentioned by the museums surveyed. These events usually occur at night and are aimed at attracting YoCos to museums. The evenings differ between alcohol and no alcohol, tours to lectures, and so as I have written earlier here at WestMuse:

At first, with young adults the need was to create the parties, and provide the invitation. Now, that they are arriving, and are interested–isn’t this the time to change our programs, exhibitions, and other existing models of activity? Let’s begin to re-think how visitors act and interact inside galleries, and with our collections. Asking what is the role and purpose of exhibitions, and programs, and how our visitors are to use them and participate. Maybe the best place for the deejay is inside the gallery, on a Saturday afternoon, next to the collections?

Rethinking our visitors and the visitor experience is paramount to the successful museum, not just in outreach exercises, but in the delivery of the modern museum visit. What that means is unique to each museum: however, we can no longer avoid the new rules assumed by today’s modern audiences. The lives of YoCos are defined by their digital identities and social and cultural connections with their psychographic interests. The balance between one’s iPhone and one’s personal life has merged, and yet at the same time the need to socialize, learn, and interact has never been more present.

Museum of Modern Art Twitter Sign in to Recommend STRETCH A yoga class at MoMA surrounded by a video installation by the Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist.

In many ways we are entering an era focused on experiences. In the 2009 Museum Section of the New York Times, Carol Vogel writes:

Yoga classes and bicycle get-togethers may not be your typical museum fare, but in these rough economic times, anything goes…But lean times are bringing out a pioneering spirit as museum officials strive to develop creative strategies for what is undeniably a new world… Most, if not all are expanding their public program. More than before, institutions big and small have adopted the same mission: to transform once-hushed museums into vibrant cultural centers where the activities go far beyond what’s hanging on the walls.

Today’s economy has given permission to experiment, and has required us to evolve.  Audience development for museums is not by any means a new pursuit, nor is recognizing underserved audiences within our institutions. Moving away from demographic pursuits to psychographics and augmenting our institutions to today’s audiences is necessary to captivate today’s audience and tomorrow’s patrons.

(Note: Special thanks to Kathleen McNally for her assistance with this article!)

Trans-Civic Arts Marketing: 510Arts.com Launch

Four Cities One Web Site

Public/Private/Community Partnership Shines Spotlight on Diversity, Quality, Volume and Accessibility of Arts in the East Bay as one of America’s Highest Per Capita Arts Regions.

By James G. Leventhal

Today there was a press conference to launch the 510Arts.com portal website.  I live in Oakland.  I work in Berkeley and the Western Museums Association has its central office in Berkeley.  Around these parts, there’s the Oakland Museum, the Richmond Art Center and the Berkeley Art Center.  And Emeryville’s opening its annual  Celebration of the Arts tonight.  I’m all about the “510,” I guess.  It’s the local area code.  San Francisco’s is 415 and further east in the growing expanse that is the Bay Area it’s 925, and down on the peninsula, it’s…well, you get the picture.

Irvine and Hewlett Foundations and the EBCF

At the press conference, the cities of Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland and Richmond announced an unprecedented four-city collaboration that promotes the arts as a “proven catalyst for economic revitalization and community sustainability.”

Each city — Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland and Richmond — was represented at Oakland’s City Hall this morning, along with a small host of institutional funders.  It was a great kick-off event.  Today’s launch was the culmination of a two-year initiative, with early champions in John Killacky of The San Francisco Foundation, Mary Ann Merker of Berkeley and Steve Huss of Oakland.

It’s funny being a once New-York based transplant, because there are parallels here in what’s known as the San Francisco Bay area that are similar to the relationship between Manhattan and, say, Brooklyn, Queens etc.  And when I was leaving Manhattan some years ago, the Brooklyn and Queens art scenes were really taking off.

Artists and younger, new arrivals were settling in “the outer boroughs.”  Manhattan was too expensive and the art scene felt entrenched.  Arnold Lehman had overseen a significant expansion of the Brooklyn Museum, some years earlier the Sensation exhibition had drawn huge attention and then later the Brooklyn Museum’s social media presence and collections activation through those pipes expanded to be identified as maybe THE leader in the field.

Now the Oakland Museum is gaining in national attention with their successful expansion, thanks in large part to the leadership of Lori Forgarty.  Fogarty recently recruited René de Guzman from SF’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.  One of America’s most promising curators.  The East Bay, as this area is also known, waits with bated breath to see what he will unleash in the new Oakland Museum of California.

Oakland’s Art Murmur gives on the feeling the “scene” is gaining traction.  Berkeley’s theater scene, represented by the Berkeley Rep, Aurora Theater, Central Theater Works and others, is doing things like launching Green Day’s American Idiot.  Berkeley’s own Judah L. Magnes Museum has been curating traveling exhibitions getting national reviews.  The Berkeley Art Center has new leadership in Suzanne Tan.  And Richmond’s East Bay Center for the Performing Arts is developing a new space.  With Pixar Studios expanding in Emeryville, the city’s poised for big things, and it’s been a home for artists for decades.

510Arts.com designer Nicole Neditch

But really, all that’s “old news.”  Soon enough, and if the “portal” gains traction, if you want to know what’s going on right now in the four cities that make up a large portion of what’s known locally as the East Bay, you can now go to 510Arts.com.

The East Bay Culture Corridor is one of the highest per capita arts regions in the nation. This four-city collaboration is believed to be the first of its kind in the US and is designed to serve as a model of forward-thinking, economically and socially viable partnerships that put the arts forward as a proven catalyst for economic development, quality of life and community sustainability.

Wilchar and Sullivan of Emeryville

It’s hoped that with the increased focus on the East Bay Cultural Corridor and the development of this new web portal, it will foster relationships between the diverse arts communities of each city, leverage new audiences and resources for the arts, increase the visibility, accessibility and sustainability of arts communities, leverage new resources for each partner city and benefit local businesses through partnerships with the arts.

Together, the East Bay communities boast:

● One of the highest per capita artist populations in the country with more than 6,000 professional artists calling it home.

● More than 150 languages spoken and many times that number of culturally specific art forms practiced.

● One of the nation’s largest per capita collections of public art.

● For decades East Bay communities have consistently ranked at the top of national city diversity figures and their arts reflect this depth and variety.

● Hundreds of non-profit visual arts, music, dance, theater, culturally specific, multi-disciplinary and innovative organizations from the internationally known to neighborhood programs, education programs and offerings for youth, seniors and others.

● Alameda and Contra Costa Counties are home to 5,532 arts-related businesses that employ 21,477 people

Sanchez and Killacky

Hats off to the funders.  The developed understanding for an East Bay Cultural Corridor and the creation of 510Arts.org, through focus group work with artists, was supported by grants from the East Bay Community Foundation, The San Francisco Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the James Irvine Foundation and Leveraging Investments in Creativity.

It’s this kind of forward thinking that helps to combat the often entrenched or unmovable ideas of locals.  The Oakland Tribune already ran a piece about the new portal this morning before the launch and wrote, “…wishful thinking that a regional cultural identity will become a lucrative reality.  Besides the 510Arts Web portal, there is no hint of a concrete project or money flowing to any arts organizations.”

Horton and Merker

It’s O.K.  For me, it is the very nature of the not-for-profit and arts professions that they remain eternally optimistic.  In fact, it is the very act of facing a blank canvas and seeing more that can define much of art making.  The same goes too often for keeping cultural organizations afloat today.  And a perfect example is the success of the Oakland Museum’s continued expansion despite the current economic downturn.

Sure, a web site is not going to address the deep-seated issues that consistently present comparative economic challenge to the  decentralized areas that surround and comprise a megalopolis like the San Francisco Bay Area.  It’s the tourism and high real estate value in the center that often keep capital near to the core.  But as Diane Sanchez, Director of Grantmaking and Donor Services for the East Bay Community Foundation is quoted as saying on the Oakland Tribune piece:

…the project was an extension of an ongoing program to help artists become more successful. “This is just one piece,” she said.

That Night's Opening in Emeryville

Really, it is both the effective integration of the use of the 510Arts.com portal, along with an understanding that the portal itself is emblematic of a desire to work effectively across boundaries of commerce and art, and a heartfelt desire for recognition balanced with an understanding for integrity and the need for informed philanthropy.

There have to be other geographic areas that can learn from this kind of collaboration, transcending city lines and arts organization limits.  While these other regions in America may not be able to claim the kind of per-capita artistic concentration cited above, it is still an important collaborative, civic model to explore.

And not just for larger, richer areas like the Twin Cities or Tampa and “St. Pete,” where there must be issues related to limited resources and need for increased exposure for distributed arts offerings.

It is also important for other regions around the nation to consider, like those known to themselves as “Tri-cities” like northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia to “Quad-cities,” like around Davenport, IA.

The Statement of Operating Principals listed on the site makes for a substantial case study and starting point for most any exploration into the arts, civic engagement and economic stimulus.

Are there other places served by the Western Museums Association where you think this kind of approach can help?  I am looking forward to watching this new portal gain traction and, more, watching how this trans-civic collaborative arts and cultural marketing impacts on the individual artists and cultural organizations its been built to serve.

WMA Gets the First Glance: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts New Campaign

[Editors' note: Special to members of WMA and westmuse blog readers, thanks to Bonnie Powers and Volume Inc., here's a preview of the look and feel of the new summer campaign for the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.]

By Bonnie Powers

Enticing audiences: Volume Inc hijacks generic images in campaign for YBCA. Highlights contemporary art’s equally subversive and approachable character with surreal illustrations and humorous dialogue

Looking to escape the mundane? Try art, suggests Volume Inc.’s new campaign for the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), invading San Francisco streets in July.

More of today’s contemporary art is inclusive, meant to be embraced by everyone, and Volume Inc. is helping YBCA bring this new message to the people. The energetic and edgy guerrilla campaign–spread across city streets, transportation hubs, and even the sides of buses –operates like street art, where surreal illustrations hijack stock advertising images to deliver the message. The prank sends a clear message: Art is subversive, approachable, even fun. Visit the YBCA and get in on the action.

“I am very excited about this new campaign and the way it communicates the essence of YBCA to the general public,” said Ken Foster, YBCA Executive Director. “We strive to be both provocative and fun, and through that approach we hope to encourage people to see how contemporary art can also relate to their own lives.”

The campaign comes alive with vibrant color and an infestation of cheeky character illustrations against the flatness of various black-and-white scenes. Humorous dialogue disrupts the dull routines of daily life: a guy vacuuming, suburbanites barbecuing, kids running through a field.

One scenario shows a black-and-white photo of a businessman talking on his cell phone, but don’t expect the ad’s message to sell a new wireless plan. This generic image has been reappropriated and reengineered. A bright blue cartoon bubble above his head playfully shows his inner thoughts: “I worry that my cell phone is more interesting than I am.” Whimsical creatures tell the man to “Set Your Life to Vibrate” and get to YBCA. The promise is the Everyman will escape banality, and get a (artful) life. YBCA to the rescue.

[YBCA is a great, multi-media, contemporary art space with exhibitoins, film, performance, etc., right in the middle of a downtown museum center in San Francisco with SFMoMA, the Contemporary Jewish Museum and Zeum, all in very close proximity.  And, in not too long, The New Mint as the home of the San Francisco Museum and Historical Society.  Check out these westmuse links on: YBCA and The New Mint.]

Helping Friends: Posting Survey Links

Securing Future Audiences at Your Museum

Need some creative and cost-effective ideas on how to attract todays young cosmopolitans to your museum? Help us find out!

This new and unique study examines and raises awareness of programs across the country that engage this younger, socially minded, and creative adult audience known as young cosmopolitans (YoCos).

Your input is crucial to finding out how to attract the next generation of museum visitors and donors. Please help us by filling out this very brief survey. It will only take 5-10 minutes and the results will be emailed to you directly by the end of the summer. Click here to start http://tinyurl.com/yocosurvey

Thank you for your help!

Matthew Edling, Science Museum of Minnesota

Alexandra Gregg, University of Toronto

Jessica Koepfler

Adam Rozan, Oakland Museum of California