Thursday, September 26, 2013

A New Survey Finds a Drop in Arts Attendance - NYTimes.com:

"Theater is the artistic discipline in America that is losing audience share at the fastest rate in recent years…For musicals, the 9 percent drop in the attendance rate between 2008 and 2012 was the first statistically significant change in that category in more than 25 years. Straight plays fared even worse, with a 12 percent drop over the same period, a figure that has contributed to a whopping 33 percent rate of decline over the past decade."

I have been saying this with HOW THEATER FAILED AMERICA since 2008—this latest NEA survey actually tracks a 33% decline for straight play attendance in 10 years. Biggest drop across all arts.

Dynamic pricing does not and did not work.
Tremendous ticket prices does not work.
Lying and pretending that attendance is rising will not save us.

People who should have known better have laughed knowingly at me for years and years while averting their eyes to the fires burning in their houses.

You fucking fools. Wake up. Our house is on fire.

We have to change our life.