copyright © 1998-2007
Durham Arts Council, Inc.
120 Morris Street
Durham, NC 27701
919.560.ARTS

CASE STUDIES

The ADI participant organizations identified three areas that were of particular concern to arts groups in the Triangle area of North Carolina:

• reaching newcomers;
• providing compelling customer service; and,
• understanding more deeply how to serve African-American audiences.

In exploring strategies that addressed those issues, participants tried a number of experiments that are referenced in the case studies:

Reaching Newcomers

1. Leasing mailing lists that included date of house purchase for targeted mailings -- both for single organizations and cross over offers.
2. Running ads in three major cinemas which drew their audiences from likely arts attender clusters.
3. Talking with businesses who already prospected newcomers: realtors, banks, newspapers for inclusion in "newcomer offers."
4. Collecting names from Chambers of Commerce and Convention and Visitors' Bureaus of those who have inquired about the area.
5. Making web sites useful to someone out of the area prospecting for information before moving.

Customer Service

1. Hired "secret shoppers" to assess facility and box office impressions.
2. Brought in customer service trainers to discuss how an organization presents itself through its staff and how an organization presents itself through its marketing.
3. Produced a three-day customer service workshop that addressed assessment tools, creating first impressions through personal interaction and web sites and providing customer service through box office practices. Three essays documenting that workshop are part of this site. (See "Customer Service" section.)

Serving the African American consumer

1. Researched data on African-American consumers nationally.
2. Held a round table about African American entrepreneurs who had developed a diverse customer base
3. Specified African-American focus groups in both the initial 1995-1996 study and as part of the final follow up research in 2001-2002. Final report will be at this site when it is available.

Click here to view the Case Studies.