After spending some months visiting major arts facilities across the globe on a Churchill Fellowship to study programming and marketing to young people, Bronwen Fallens is of the opinion that the way to attract those sought-after younger audiences is mostly a matter of being seriously committed to the task.
‘The biggest problem in reaching the youth audience is that people in the wrong age group are trying to do it… Younger people should be listened to, because they know. They can say, first-hand, “This is what I would respond to, so let’s try it this way.” This isn’t “age-ist” at all, but I think that when you do have somebody who’s 50, they don’t really know anymore.’
An Australian currently resident in the UK, Fallens was formerly co-ordinator of the ‘Vibe’ youth program at major Melbourne arts facility, the Victorian Arts Centre. In her research, she looked at best practice across the UK, US and Asia in bringing the 18-35 age-group to the joys of the arts – or, perhaps more correctly, of bringing the arts to them.
Indeed, Fallens’ final conclusion is that it is the organisations – whether they like it or not – that must do the bending to accommodate the contemporary youth market, which has not grown up with an ‘appreciation’ for art, and which enjoys unparalleled competition for its disposable income.
‘Trying to force-feed young people certain types of things just doesn’t work,’ Fallens contends. ‘If organisations are serious about reaching the youth market, then they’ve got to get young people involved… Organisations often say, “Oh, we have a [youth] committee, we have a panel,” but you’ve got to be serious about the panel. You’ve got to listen to what these people are saying, and if they tell you, “I would respond to this”, then do it.’
‘At the Tate Gallery, for instance, they have this panel, and staff might say to them, “Well… for this year, who would be an artist that you think young people would be interested in?” And they might say, Andy Warhol or Jackson Pollock or Picasso, even,’ she continues. ‘The gallery then says, “OK, well we’ll have workshops and we’ll put things together. How do you think that would work?” So, these [panel members] are actually saying that this is what they would respond to, and they’re in the age-group.’
But making physical as well as conceptual space for young people is also an important part of the successful youth marketing programs.
‘In my research, what I found is that a lot of young people think, “I’ve seen the show, I’ve enjoyed it, but where do I go now?” There’s no space for them to go and talk to like-minded people,’ Fallens observes. ‘Maybe that’s about licensing… In New York, you can go to these groovy, underground places where there are poetry readings, and maybe people are doing improv… I’d love to see that in a large organisation.’
The South Bank Centre’s annual ‘Meltdown’ festival, for instance, allows patrons to bring drinks into the venues, to make for more of a pub-like atmosphere; while specific small spaces, such as the Sydney Opera House Studio and the Victorian Arts Centre’s Black Box, can create space for specific programming and a youth-friendly ‘feel’.
But, like the committee, Fallens argues that it’s useless having a space if you aren’t ‘serious’ about developing it – and this will take time, effort and expenditure.
Meltdown, she believes, is an exemplary music-based event, in terms of appeal to its primary market of 18-35s. ‘It’s a festival that runs for two weeks, and an Artistic Director is invited to come in to program it – usually quite groovy, hip people. Last year, it was David Bowie. Most people aged up to 35 and even 40 would very much relate to him and his music, and… he is still an icon for teenagers today.’
The cross-over between popular culture and art, Fallens affirms, is something very appealing to younger, post-modern audience members, who do not lock into the ‘high art’ hierarchies of their parents and grand-parents. ‘Just because something was created in the past 100 years, whether you think it’s creative or not – and that includes pop music and movies and the rest – it needs to be included, because history will reflect that that is what that century brought,’ she affirms.
‘The idea of stage and seating doesn’t necessarily work for this age group [either]… The issue is about comfort and how people feel comfortable being entertained. It’s not the same as 50 years ago, when people sat in a seat and stared at something.’
‘That’s where you need the cross-section. You’d have your “normal” venues, where people sit and go to the opera – that’s great for the older market, who are used to being entertained in that way and prefer to be entertained in that way. But then have a space, have a venue that accommodates the youth market… It wouldn’t matter if it was small. Young people love the idea that they couldn’t get in… that “exclusive” idea. They’re “joiners” – if their friends enjoy something, they are more likely to do it.’
Fallens says she was not overly surprised by her research results: ‘I found that the same problems that organisations in Australia were suffering, were happening everywhere: financial instability, [and staff] feeling like there weren’t getting what they wanted from management.’
‘I think the problem is that because the arts have so much funding cut whenever there’s something [else] needing money… venues and organisations very much become focused on the bottom-dollar, which is fair enough. But then you also have to say: “Hey, this might be your big market now, but what about these people who are getting older [and older]? If you don’t capture the [new] market before then, where are you going to be in 15 years?”’
To read Bronwen Fallens’ research report, CLICK HERE.
