How do you target yourself?
About two months ago, a fellow colleague at LACO (Addie) and I traveled about an hour and a half north of LA to the charming city of Ventura for a workshop on arts participation. The daylong workshop, hosted in Ventura’s City Hall, was led by a man named Jerry Yoshitomi. Jerry is an arts and culture consultant with a long history in researching and speaking about cultural participation, leadership and the public value of arts. He also served for a number of years as Executive Director of the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center (JACCC) in LA.
The highlight of the workshop for Addie and me took place when each organization was asked to (1) name a constituency group and (2) explain how your organization would like to improve its relationship with the group. Each of these components was written down and workshop participants were then asked to vote for their top choices on which topics to brainstorm as a collective entity.
Addie and I, after a long conversation on this exact topic during our drive to Ventura, decided to pick the young professionals demographic (working individuals who are out of school without kids…basically us). We wanted to see more of these people at our concerts and involved with LACO in general.
Well, as fortune would have it, our topic ended up number one on the overall list. A very productive brainstorming session followed as Addie and I began to realize the vast potential in taking this project from vision to reality. As the workshop wrapped up and everyone said their goodbyes, Jerry shocked us both by expressing such enthusiasm in our ideas that he offered us a weekend retreat at his beachside condo for LACO staffers to plan the project at absolutely no cost. On top of that, he also openly dedicated time to speak with and advise us during the retreat!
Needless to say, Addie and I jumped at the opportunity and the Young Professionals Initiative LACO retreat was born. Since that day, this project has evolved into a great learning experience for me as a management Fellow at LACO. It has given me another chance to think strategically about advancing audience development in a demographic I am presumably quite familiar with.
The retreat is set to take place this weekend. A total of seven staff members, all under the age of thirty, will be present as we dissect the thoughts and motivations of our own demographic and attempt to increase its representation in this art form.
Sound interesting? Check back later and I'll let you know what we come up with.
The highlight of the workshop for Addie and me took place when each organization was asked to (1) name a constituency group and (2) explain how your organization would like to improve its relationship with the group. Each of these components was written down and workshop participants were then asked to vote for their top choices on which topics to brainstorm as a collective entity.
Addie and I, after a long conversation on this exact topic during our drive to Ventura, decided to pick the young professionals demographic (working individuals who are out of school without kids…basically us). We wanted to see more of these people at our concerts and involved with LACO in general.
Well, as fortune would have it, our topic ended up number one on the overall list. A very productive brainstorming session followed as Addie and I began to realize the vast potential in taking this project from vision to reality. As the workshop wrapped up and everyone said their goodbyes, Jerry shocked us both by expressing such enthusiasm in our ideas that he offered us a weekend retreat at his beachside condo for LACO staffers to plan the project at absolutely no cost. On top of that, he also openly dedicated time to speak with and advise us during the retreat!
Needless to say, Addie and I jumped at the opportunity and the Young Professionals Initiative LACO retreat was born. Since that day, this project has evolved into a great learning experience for me as a management Fellow at LACO. It has given me another chance to think strategically about advancing audience development in a demographic I am presumably quite familiar with.
The retreat is set to take place this weekend. A total of seven staff members, all under the age of thirty, will be present as we dissect the thoughts and motivations of our own demographic and attempt to increase its representation in this art form.
Sound interesting? Check back later and I'll let you know what we come up with.
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