The average attention span for an adult is currently 8.25 seconds—less than that of a goldfish. This doesn’t bode well for legacy cultural institutions like theatre, dance, and opera that require sitting down for a few hours at a time. Many also might wonder: What is the value of live performance in a time when you can watch video of one on your phone? Pittsburgh cultural institutions face an uphill battle, but the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and Pittsburgh Opera are all devising ways to draw in new audience members and keep their art alive.
Pittsburgh Cultural Institutions Seek Out New Audiences with Community Programming
Part of that battle is making people feel welcome at what many perceive as historically elite pastimes. Though some ballet performances are directed at younger children, it’s harder to engage young professionals. Classic seasonal performances like The Nutcracker are evergreen, but the challenge is getting audiences to feel like ballet isn’t a once-a-year outing but something they can integrate into their lives.
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre focuses on the universality of the storytelling in ballet, and upgrades to classic shows like punk-inspired costuming in their recent performance of Peter Pan. Another way Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre engages audiences is through their adult ballet classes that allow anyone to learn the basics of ballet through their 9-class Ballet 101 package. More seasoned dancers can also study at a higher experience level. The PBT School lets people see that ballet isn’t just to watch, with classes at an affordable price point.
“Whether you’re an aficionado or experiencing ballet for the first time, you’ll see your story on stage and feel engaged and welcomed at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. Ballet is for all and is vibrant, energizing, and beautiful,” Nicholas Dragga, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre Executive Director, said. “We hope all of our programming, community partnerships and messaging communicate a warm and enthusiastic welcome. We invite all community members to ‘Come Dance With Us!'”
Bringing Popular Culture and Classical Music Together
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra leans into the ways they can vary their programming through a mixture of classical music standards and pop culture-inspired performances. “The Pittsburgh Symphony has a variety of programming which means there’s no single ‘typical’ audience to reach. That variety requires us to reach new audiences constantly,” Keene Carter of PSO explained. “The patrons coming to Mr. Symphonic or Lord of the Rings in Concert may be different from those coming to Tchaikovsky, but they also might not be so different. Likewise, concerts such as January’s One Piece—music from a hugely popular anime series—or last year’s Laufey might see lots of first-time ticket buyers, and it becomes our mission to make sure those people feel welcomed back by other programs that pique their interest.”
PSO wants to encourage lifelong interest in music, even as early as kindergarten and pre-K. “We recently launched a cohesive student program, PSO Go, to encourage high school and college students to attend regularly at a very low cost, which also serves as a kind of bridge between our Learning & Engagement programs and subscription concerts in classic and pop genres.”
Carter also recognizes that digital marketing isn’t the enemy. “Short-form video content on social media has been important to reach non-followers, with content not just about the symphony but Heinz Hall and our involvement in the Pittsburgh community. We’ve had enormous growth on our social engagement through that strategy.”
Anyone Can Love Opera
The Pittsburgh Opera has one of the most robust community engagement strategies in the city: The Pittsburgh Opera New Guard, a community for people ages 21-45. “The New Guard provides an easy entry point for folks who are opera-curious,” Christian Cox, Communications manager at the Pittsburgh Opera, said. “The New Guard has a lot of social events such as happy hours around town where people can meet, mingle, and enjoy brief performances by Pittsburgh Opera’s Resident Artists. Membership is very affordable and comes with either two (for a Single membership) or four (for a Dual membership) tickets to the opera of your choice.” A single membership is only $75, probably less than most of us spend at the grocery store. You can also find a whole list of free & low cost events on the Opera’s website, for anyone to attend regardless of New Guard membership.
And the opera is lucky that it has a staff that deeply believes in the art form’s relevance, even in changing times. “At its core, opera is storytelling through music and song. It’s nothing to be afraid of or intimidated by,” Cox said. “If you like the occasional Broadway musical, that’s storytelling through music and song – so is opera. If you enjoy going to The Nutcracker during the holidays, it has beautiful music, choreography, and costumes – so does opera. A play can have compelling drama or social satire, clever dialog with great acting. So does opera. Opera rolls all these things up into one amazing experience. If you’ve never been to the opera, you owe it to yourself to come check one out.”
Story by Emma Riva / Photography courtesy of Pittsburgh Opera
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