Workshop 1:
Marketing for Culture – from Barrier to Bridge for Young Non-Visitors?

Patricia Stainer

In its current form, marketing for cultural programmes often seems unsuitable for successfully addressing people with less (‘high’) cultural affinity and experience. This applies in particular to so-called non-visitors in young adulthood. There is a danger that marketing for theatre, opera, museums etc. can (paradoxically) represent a barrier to attendance for this target group – if it does not reach younger people in the first place or does not convince them effectively – and in the worst case even deters them from attending.

An interactive workshop format is planned with a short presentation at the beginning. The focus will be on how marketing for culture can currently be inefficient in its approach to young non-visitors – e.g. in terms of the language style used, the content selected and the visual presentation. In particular, a lack of orientation and decision-making aids, of opportunities for interaction, and of suitable incentives to convince this target group will be addressed – because their motives for visiting often lie outside the inherent artistic characteristics of the products on offer. Participants of the workshop will have the opportunity to contribute and discuss their own suggestions and perhaps question one or two self-perceptions regarding the communication of cultural offerings – in order to start building communicational bridges to young non-visitors.