We’ve currently been focusing on pre-show conversations and activations, hosted in partnerships with other local and community organizations. While not a novel idea, we have seen a significant amount of success with it, as exemplified through an increase in positive responses to audience surveys and an increase of new patrons. Due to our collaborations, which are intended to be less transactional and more authentic, audiences for these events and performances have become more mixed, with new guests attending in addition to current members.
As the kinds of plays Steppenwolf produces blooms with variety, we’ve conducted membership research to better understand how to serve our expanding audience. From current members and multi-single-ticket buyers, we’ve learned that our audiences need more information to help them prepare for performances. We’ve taken a more active approach to meet this need by updating our marketing plans to include more reference materials (including making our newsletters more robust, with new video offerings, partner programs, etc.), and featuring the voices of our new artistic directors as we highlight why each play is chosen. All of this provides more context for audiences, which helps them process the work they see on our stages. We’re still perfecting these initiatives, and growing pains are par for the course.
Yes, Steppenwolf has received some negative feedback from long-time patrons (through phone calls, emails, and surveys) who miss the old days when our plays were more homogeneous, and who don’t seem ready for the future we’re building. But these have not deterred our new artistic directors’ goals and priorities, nor outweighed the appreciation from current members who are advocates for change, not to mention the “new to file” patrons who have become multi-single-ticket buyers or “flex” members.
My life’s vision is very much in sync with Steppenwolf’s goal for expansion and inclusion. My mantra: Utilizing the power of the arts as a driving force, I am dedicated to bridging the gap between cultures for decades to come. I encourage each arts professional to lead with this mind frame, from administrators to executive and artistic leaders, from run crew members to ushers. We must commit to being welcoming in our offices, creative shops, lobbies, and on our stages. It is the only way our industry, and world, will survive.
Chicago’s legacy of segregation has not made this easy to implement at Steppenwolf. But the staffing changes we are making are helping us fully and authentically support productions on our mainstages and in our black box theatre, where we host our LookOut series for itinerant artists and have helped to create a welcoming atmosphere.
One of our major productions last season was Purpose, by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (headed for Broadway next February). More than 30 percent of audiences were new patrons, and sales remained strong throughout the run. A Latinx colleague from another theatre company recently told me that she has noticed the changes occurring at Steppenwolf, which was very encouraging.
We can all do our part today to build audiences for tomorrow, and we must, as theatres have little control over funding and donations (on the decline along with memberships). Having contributed to strategy for, and the implementation of, Alvin Ailey’s audience development initiative, funded by Wallace Foundation, this mission of expansion and inclusion remains a priority in my work, and I hope that this is an industry priority as well.
More than 60 years after Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, in a so-called “post-racial” society, his vision hasn’t yet been widely implemented and sustained in this country—including at our theatres. Those whom society views as “other” have lived most of their entire lives without the core theatrical canon representing them or telling their stories, and it’s past time for the majority to room to flip the script. If all the world’s a stage, our theatres—onstage, in the staff offices, and in the festive lobby after the show—need to reflect that world.
PennyMaria Jackson is a dedicated arts professional, enthusiast, and advocate with more than 15 years of experience. She is now director of marketing and communications for Steppenwolf.
