copyright © 1998-2007
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.

2. Population Mobility

Markets such as the Triangle region of North Carolina and Columbus, Ohio are aptly known as transfer towns with huge turnover in population every year. With their growth in corporate headquarters, thousands of newcomers have entered these markets in the past five years, with little knowledge and no background or built-up loyalty to local arts institutions. These newcomers have to be found, wooed, and won quickly, before their leisure interests turn elsewhere.

The corporate environment of these and many other cities also affects participation habits. Huge numbers of the local white-collar work force now "commute" off to work in cities all over the country, week in and week out. And, they are as likely to drop in at an art museum in a few hours at the end of a business trip, in some other city, as they are to take a Sunday afternoon to attend their local museum -- maybe more so. They are as likely to attend an opera, play or symphony concert while traveling, as at home.

Inevitably, they are more able to compare quality of one city's arts institutions to their local institutions than did prior generations. Their expectations of the level of quality they want to see and hear at home have increased. When a huge segment of the arts' potential and current market has come from somewhere else, and can easily attend and participate somewhere else, the quality challenge for local institutions is monumental.

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