Online Audience Development Resources

Audience development should be a top priority of every musician and arts organization.

For musicians and arts organizations to achieve financial sustainability, it’s vital that they develop new audiences and build communities of supporters.

Attracting and stewarding new audiences isn’t easy, of course, but numerous free online resources provide pathways to audience growth, enabling performers and organizations to adopt effective strategies at minimal cost.

In this article, I compile 10 sites offering high-value, free audience development resources.

Online Audience Development Resources (free)

Along with audience development tools, the following websites also offer a range of other information to help arts organizations and independent musicians succeed.

1. National Endowment for the Arts:

• When the Going Gets Tough: Barriers and Motivations Affecting Arts Attendance (2015)
• National Archive of Data on Arts & Culture

2. Wallace Foundation:

• Knowledge Center: The Arts

3. The Musician’s Way Blog:

• Building New Audiences (2023)

4. Chamber Music America:

• Audience Engagement Research & Resources

5. Musical America Case Studies:

• Growing Audiences: 7 Success Stories

6. League of American Orchestras:

• Audience Growth Initiative

7. Americans for the Arts:

• Arts Impact Explorer

8. Culture Hive (UK):

• Free online resource hub

9. WolfBrown:

• Reports, Publications, Presentations

10. Createquity:

• Why Don’t they Come?

For more articles geared to independent musicians and arts organizations, browse the Entrepreneurship category.

Related posts:
3 Traits of Successful Concert Programs
Commissioning and Funding New Music
Design Thinking for Audience Development
Motivations & Barriers to Arts Attendance
Supply and Demand for Classical Musicians 

© 2023 Gerald Klickstein