Audience (R)Evolution is a multi-year program designed by TCG and funded the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to study, promote and support successful audience engagement models across the country.  Building off of the success of TCG’s twelve-year New Generations: Future Audiences program, Audience (R)Evolution will include four components unfolding over three years to achieve these goals: research and assessment, a convening, grant-making and widespread dissemination of audience engagement models that work. 

Audience (R)Evolution will take place over three years through the following four phases:

Phase I: Assessment – Beginning in 2012, TCG will partner with AMS Planning & Research to assess the best audience engagement models, and explore how and why they work. The theatres that participated in TCG’s Future Audiences program will make up the backbone of participants, in addition to a broad sampling of theatres from across the nation.

Phase II: Learning Convening – In February 2013, theatre-makers will come together to discuss the synthesized findings from the assessment period. Attendees will learn one-on-one from practitioners with track records of successful audience engagement.

Phase III: Grants – Ten grants up to $65,000 each will be awarded to TCG Member Theatres to replicate successful audience engagement models. Additional general operating funds will be distributed amongst the grant recipients. Requests for proposals will be accepted in spring 2013.

Phase IV: Dissemination – Theatres at large will have fast access to the project’s findings to implement effective programs through TCG’s website, social media outlets and American Theatre magazine.

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s mission is to improve the quality of people’s lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and the prevention of child abuse, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke’s properties.

Since 1988, AMS Planning & Research has been supporting the success of the arts and cultural sector through applied research and strategy development. From major research studies of the theatre and music sectors nationally to the development of creative solutions to improved effectiveness, AMS has developed innovative methodologies and deep perspectives on cultural markets, cultural consumers and cultural organizations. Their work is characterized by objectivity and rigor and grounded in real-world data. From their leadership role in research around the Wallace Foundation’s investments in more than 45 not-for-profit theatres in the 1990s to their seminal work with 15 symphonies participating in the Knight Foundation’s Magic of Music Initiative in 2002-2003, they have served hundreds of clients with thoughtful and creative research. AMS has also taken a leadership role in the dialogue regarding the changing dynamics of the arts and cultural sector and the related impact on organizations and facilities.

For questions regarding Audience (R)Evolution, please email audiencerev@tcg.org.