Audiences: What and who are they?

Which comes first, the meeting or the audience? Is that a silly question? What reasons do people have for associating with a subject, group, or organization? Shared Activity or Intellectual Interests How intense is that interest? Is it enough to get them out of their house? Their city? Their country? Can an “event” reasonably be scheduled around such an interest?

Who are they? Audience Demographics Age, socioeconomics, gender, educational background Ethnicity, politics, religious affiliation Occupational information and level

What are the audience’s interests, needs, and goals? What is their motivation to attend the event? What do they expect to learn or get out of it?

How much does the audience already know about the subject of the event? How much do you need to tell them before they arrive? What new information might they get from it? Does the information need to be specific and in-depth or general?

How many people will attend?

Audiences and the Eiteljorg Eiteljorg Museum STRATEGIC PLAN GOALS AND OBJECTIVES Growth and Sustainability

Product Alignment, Exhibitions: Goal: Produce Exhibits that appeal to broad markets, maximizing visitation, membership growth, and audience satisfaction. Objective: Identify and evaluate potential topics and produce a five year calendar for major changing exhibitions; and produce a two year calendar for Paul Gallery exhibitions. Call for input from staff, board to arrive at a universe of possibilities. Research audience needs. Specifically determine viability, produceability and level of priority for each topic—Int Group Product Development—select and prioritize exhibits and confirm calendars. Weigh audience to be served Evaluate potential for underwriting, visitation, and possible partnerships or collaborations with other institutions or entities.

Objective: Produce or contract for exhibitions that increase the institution’s reputation for sound scholarship and exciting interpretation As a part of evaluating exhibit topics and development of exhibition calendars, create improved tools for considering quality of interpretation and scholarship. For the extended calendars, determine strategy for research, publication, and interpretation. For in-house produced exhibitions, create clear strategies and goals to produce catalogs, books and other publications Create strategic relationships with university and commercial publishers to maximize the distribution and production quality of all books and catalogs. Make the presentation of adult programming through symposia, lectures, and public dialog a part of reaching new audiences and helping to define the museum as a forum for discussion and expression of topics in the museum’s mission.

Objective: Design techniques For the production of any exhibition, embrace formative and summative evaluation as an integral part of exhibition development. Act on the results. For reaching out to all possible audiences, consider added value of multiple languages in didactics; audio tours with multiple languages; techniques that allow better connections with diverse ages and learning abilities. Develop strategies and action plans for all exhibitions that identify alternative means of dissemination to reach new and more diverse audiences. This should include, but not be limited to: pod casts, web pages, etc.

Goal: Create and promote regular changes to the museum’s core exhibitions and galleries, to generate public perceptions of the museum as an active and stimulating place worthy of repeat visitation. Objective: Manage annual calendar of gallery changes and use them in promoting the museum. Objective: Coordinate new acquisitions strategies with the effective exhibition of new items and promotion of them within and outside the museum. Objective: Beginning in 2005, create the strategic definition of a plan for reinstallation of the Native American Survey gallery. Said plan to maximize collaboration with IUPUI, the Native American Advisory Council, and the NMAI. By 2008, have a fully defined interpretive plan and funding strategy.

Audience Development First and foremost, the Eiteljorg must develop major exhibits, programs and events that align with the needs and interests of its key target audiences. While not every exhibit can be a blockbuster, the exhibition schedule must include a steady diet of projects with broad public appeal achieved through topic selection, design and interpretation. The museum will continue and expand its programs and activities for its existing audiences, however increased energy and resources will be directed to programs specifically targeted to families, regional tourists and the under-forty audience.

Key to understanding these audiences and how to communicate with them is a brand identity development process, supported by audience research. The museum will use this information to create programs and activities that are appealing and to select the appropriate communication channels to reach them. Significant increases in marketing and promotion expenditures will be made. The museum will partner with media outlets and other agencies to leverage its limited resources. Partnering with other arts organizations is a key strategy to gain access to their artistic resources, audiences, and communication channels. For example, the museum is collaborating with major performing arts organizations in Indianapolis to infuse the museum with music and dance related to Native America and the West while reaching new audiences. Partnering with youth serving agencies allows the museum to deliver its products to new audiences for minimal investments. Taking advantage of its location, the museum will specifically target tourists and convention goers.

Where does the Eiteljorg Points of Contact Symposium fit? Who is its audience? Are there multiple possible audiences? What can we provide each group?

Where does the WAC Inter-Congress fit? Who is its audience? Are there multiple possible audiences? What can we provide each group?