Counting New Beans: Intrinsic Impact and the Value of Art
We make art because we believe it makes better human beings. We make art because we believe it makes being human better. So why do we spend so much energy quantifying the economics of what we do and so little quantifying the impact?
Arts Learning Xchange welcomed Alan Brown of the national research firm WolfBrown and Clayton Lord of Theatre Bay Area at a metro-wide workshop for a discussion about Counting New Beans: Intrinsic Impact and the Value of Art, the research results that examine the ways theatre artists, administrators, patrons, and funders value and evaluate the art they make and consume.
Attendees were among the first to hear the results of a two-year, nationwide research study called “Measuring the Intrinsic Impact of Live Theatre” that looked at 18 theatre companies across the county, 58 productions, over 20,000 survey responses – all in an effort to increase the field’s understanding of what seeing a piece of theatre actually does to someone emotionally, intellectually, and empathetically.
Along with this new book on the national study, the conversation included a discussion of the 24 interviews with artistic leaders and patrons included in the book about the changing relationship of artists and audiences.
Learn more about Intrinsic Impact.
Event Information
Date: Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Time: 9:00am-12:00pm
Place: Capri Theater, 2027 West Broadway, Minneapolis, MN 55411
About the presenters
Alan Brown is a leading researcher and management consultant in the nonprofit arts industry. His work focuses on understanding consumer demand for cultural experiences and helping cultural institutions, foundations and agencies see new opportunities, make informed decisions and respond to changing conditions. His studies have introduced new vocabulary to the lexicon of cultural participation and propelled the field towards a clearer view of the rapidly changing cultural landscape. Alan serves in a volunteer capacity on the Research Advisory Council of the League of American Orchestras, and has served on the organizing committee of the National Arts Marketing Project annual conference since its inception. He speaks frequently at conferences in the U.S. and Canada, as well as the U.K., Australia and New Zealand. Prior to his consulting career, Alan served for five years as Executive Director of the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, where he presented Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn and many other artists. He holds three degrees from the University of Michigan: a Master of Business Administration, a Master of Music in Arts Administration and a Bachelor of Musical Arts in vocal performance. Alan makes his home in San Francisco with a yellow Labrador Retriever named Golden Brown.
Clayton Lord is the director of communications & audience development at Theatre Bay Area, one of the country’s largest regional arts service organizations, which is devoted to uniting, strengthening, promoting and advancing the theatre community of the San Francisco Bay Area. At Theatre Bay Area, he oversees communications, marketing, audience development, research and advertising. He is the project director for Measuring the Intrinsic Impact of Live Theatre, the national intrinsic impact study, and also runs Bay Area Free Night of Theater, the Bay Area Arts & Culture Census and the Leveraging Social Media program with Beth Kanter. Along with in-house research, Theatre Bay Area’s research program has commissioned work from Target Resource Group, Enertex Marketing and WolfBrown, among others. Clay was a founding member of Project Audience and currently sits on the conference planning committees for the National Arts Marketing Project and the Association of Performing Arts Service Organizations. He writes for Theatre Bay Area magazine and theatrebayarea.org, has contributed to American Theatre, Stage Directions, InDance, ArtsJournal.com, ARTSblog, Art Works, and ArtsMarketing.org, and has presented at the TCG, NAMP, and APASO conferences, among others. He holds a B.A. from Georgetown University in English and Psychology. You can read his blog, New Beans, on new art for new audiences, at ArtsJournal.com and follow him on Twitter @claytonlord.
Counting New Beans
Copies of the Counting New Beans: Intrinsic Impact and the Value of Art are now available. Purchase your book by visiting www.theatrebayarea.org/intrinsicimpact. There, you can also see the executive summary of the work, read interview excerpts, and even offer up your own stories about art, audiences and the impact of what you do.
