copyright © 1998-2008
Durham Arts Council, Inc.
120 Morris Street
Durham, NC 27701
919.560.ARTS

TODAY'S ARTS MARKET:
THE BIG PICTURE

By Louise Stevens, ArtsMarket, Inc.

11. Packaging the Arts: A Weekend Away, Versus Local Participation

This is a subset of the mobility factor, and of the hassle factors which influence day to day arts participation. If it is perceived as a hassle to go to the arts locally, and at the same time, as people spend more vacation time in short spurts -- long weekends and quick get aways -- people talk of saving their arts participation for those weekends, vacations or trips. Two or three days of museum going, taking in a performance, and dropping in galleries makes up for no arts participation the previous six months. That means arts organizations need to be mindful of this larger and growing segment of participants from out of town -- often just driving in from a smaller community elsewhere in the state or region -- to replace their own local market which, in turn, is getting in the car or plane and going somewhere else. Cultural tourism may be a net wash, replacing local market share with those from another market.

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