Arts Alert: When Will Audiences Return?

Good morning, advocates,

Alan Brown of WolfBrown has published a new Audience Outlook Monitor study on people's readiness to return to in-person performances and events. Click here to watch the video and download the slides. Overall, Brown reports, “The upward trend in comfort level with large theatres continues for April, except for Detroit,” where infection rates have climbed. The trends for audience comfort attending museums and galleries is also rising and overall, most people are comfortable with outdoor events.

Our biggest takeaways of the study:

• Currently, around 40% of respondents are looking forward to the immediate resumption of indoor events
• For outdoor events, 80% are ready to go now 
• Anywhere from 15% to 25% of respondents don’t see going to indoor events until January 2022 or later

Stay healthy and be kind,

Jennifer Halcrow, interim executive director