Full Transcript for Community Is the Killer App: Human Connection & Growth at TLCC 2026

physical barrier. 00:04:45.519 --> 00:04:51.040 You had the museum where suddenly the art was sort of behind these big stone walls. 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:58.480 And I think uh, and there's lots of wonderful reasons for that, and that it's incredible to have the experiences in these, in these venues. 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:14.720 But I think it also created a distance that um that worked for a long time, but but as our world has gotten a lot different, I think that people are craving the the reduction of that distance more and more. 00:05:14.720 --> 00:05:31.680 Um, and so I've noticed that when organizations start prioritizing the word community and their mission and their vision and their work, and not just, oh, and by the way, we have some community events or we do a couple education things, but that they make it central to who they are. 00:05:31.680 --> 00:05:35.120 Um, I've watched those organizations thrive as a result. 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:45.519 And so in this talk, I just strung together a couple of different organizations that really seem to have embodied that um to really pretty transformational effect. 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:48.720 Yeah, I I remember you talked about theater squared. 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:51.759 I think and and the redesign of their space. 00:05:51.759 --> 00:06:01.839 One of the things you mentioned was that their performance space now had a giant window that let the odd the people walking by on the street get a little bit of a glimpse of what was in there. 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:06.560 And I think that speaks to kind of breaking down some of those barriers that you were just alluding to. 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:07.120 Yeah, yeah. 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:12.000 Theater squared, their rehearsal studio looks out onto the looks out onto the street. 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:15.199 So the community walking by can literally see their work in progress. 00:06:15.199 --> 00:06:20.720 I mean, you see that, like maybe the best example of that is um Dizzy's Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center, right? 00:06:20.720 --> 00:06:28.319 I mean, that was decades ago that they decided to have that huge open window so that you can actually see the performances happening there on Columbus Circle. 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:29.759 But but yeah, I mean it is. 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:30.079 You're right. 00:06:30.079 --> 00:06:38.639 It's that's the physical embodiment of this is not this sort of h hallowed temple of art and only the, you know, the special people can see it. 00:06:38.959 --> 00:06:42.639 Well, well, just to go a little bit deeper on the stories that you shared yesterday. 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:48.720 I mean, the last time you were on mic with us, you warned against treating audiences or fans like an ATM. 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:54.000 And you you made the case for moving from a transactional mindset to more of a relational one. 00:06:54.000 --> 00:07:06.560 And and can you share one, whether it's the Theater Squared or one of the other examples you talked about yesterday, can for our podcast audience who wasn't there, can you share one of the examples that you brought up in your keynote? 00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:07.839 Yeah, absolutely. 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:15.759 Um, you know, the one that I'll share, I should start by saying this is an organization that's never had a transactional mindset. 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:20.879 So this is more about leaning even more into an already relational mindset. 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:27.279 So there's um, so twice on this podcast, I'm going to reference the Age of Enlightenment, which is interesting. 00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:38.800 Um there is a wonderful, small but but very well established and and famous um orchestra called the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:40.639 They're based in London. 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:51.600 Um and they are an original instruments ensemble, which means that they they perform work on instruments that that would have been the instruments that had they were originally performed on, right? 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:57.040 So if it's Bach, it is the kinds of violins that existed in the early 1700s. 00:07:57.040 --> 00:08:01.120 Um and so it's a niche, right? 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:05.040 Like this is not like mass market, nor do they want to be. 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:14.560 But it's also the sort of thing original instrument, sort of Baroque Bach music is can be stereotyped as elitist. 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:29.519 And in fact, you know, if if if they were to look at kind of the kinds of people who who join them or or come to their concerts um or give money to them, um, it's probably more of a certain stereotype. 00:08:29.519 --> 00:08:39.279 And they didn't want, I mean, they're they they love that, but they wanted to be, you know, they wanted to broaden their they wanted to have a bigger tent, I guess I would say. 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:59.440 And they had this this opportunity slash problem that they had to deal with, where they had these, their, their offices were in this quite posh corporate central London building, and the rent went up by like a lot, and they had to decide whether they were gonna just, you know, deal with the rent or go find somewhere cheaper to live. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:19.039 And their their chief exec, uh Crispin Woodhead, sort of figured out a way to to um solve two problems at the same time because he has he had a friend who was a head teacher of a of a working class uh uh high school, secondary school, as they call it, in in North London. 00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:25.840 And this particular high school had extra space lying around that they were willing to rent relatively cheap. 00:09:25.840 --> 00:09:32.559 And so they were like, well, it's a lot less expensive and it's in the heart of, you know, just regular London. 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:34.320 It's not posh London. 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:44.000 And so they moved the orchestra into a high school, into a

secondary school, comprehensive school, as they call it, and into like two of the classrooms that weren't being used. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:45.120 I've been there a couple of times. 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:51.759 It is literally, you know, you have to like get security and wear a badge and be escorted and like, and it's just it's just kids, right? 00:09:51.759 --> 00:10:00.000 Except it's kids, and then there's like, you know, um couperon playing from the assembly hall because they're rehearsing in there. 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:08.639 So suddenly they were making sort of connections with the students and with the teachers and with the students' parents and with the community itself. 00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:13.759 They were hosting community events at the school where just the folks from the community came. 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:16.639 And they're creating these friendships and these and and all of these things. 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:22.799 But the thing that that really sort of brought down the house was there's a dance program at the school. 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:27.200 And the this the students are are most of them are street dancers, right? 00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:31.120 Break dancers, as I would have called them in my it back in my day. 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:33.679 Um, and these students are amazing. 00:10:33.679 --> 00:10:37.440 Like you see the the video and they're just like so facile. 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:46.720 Um, and Crispin, the the CEO, one day he was like, he went to the kids during COVID and he was like, you know, do you fancy dancing with the orchestra? 00:10:46.720 --> 00:10:54.320 And, you know, they sort of gave him, you know, gave him a hard time a little bit, but they decided to try something and and they kind of got into it. 00:10:54.320 --> 00:10:58.799 So then he brought in a choreographer, a very famous choreographer, Kim Branstrup. 00:10:58.799 --> 00:11:02.720 Um, they started working together, and they're like, they're we're actually making something. 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:06.000 Like, this isn't this is no longer just like an exercise. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:13.840 And they ended up creating a whole program um that they debuted at the Edinburgh Festival last summer called Breaking Bach. 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:22.480 It was like brought down the house, sold out, incredible reviews in The Guardian and The Observer, and it was all these students dancing to Bach. 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:27.519 But the, the, the rhythms and the complexity of Bach actually really matched the breakdance. 00:11:27.519 --> 00:11:36.879 So, all of this to say, when you think about relational, um, we're we're talking about an organization that has become part of the community. 00:11:36.879 --> 00:11:53.519 And not just the orchestra that's in our community, but the orchestra that's performing with our kids while they're showing their own talent, uh, which one might think has nothing to do with the music that was written in the early 1700s, and yet they've created something brand new that wouldn't have happened before. 00:11:53.519 --> 00:11:58.000 And had they not left their posh offices in central London, this wouldn't have happened. 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:11.200 So when I talk about changing your story, they made an intentional decision to change their story from sort of, you know, this ensemble uh that was really, you know, maybe more for an elite audience to an ensemble that was for everybody. 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:13.360 Um, they've tripled their fundraising. 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:18.080 Um, they're the darling of the uh Arts Council England, which is the big funder over there. 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:23.039 Um, it's it's completely changed who they are as as an organization, and yet it hasn't changed what they play. 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:27.440 Like their core, playing early music on original instruments, hasn't changed. 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:29.039 Everything else has changed. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:33.279 Hey guys, Damien here. 00:12:33.279 --> 00:12:39.840 I just want to take a quick moment to say if you're enjoying this podcast right now, odds are you're in the business of selling live experiences. 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:45.440 And if you don't know my team at the advertising agency situation, you most definitely should. 00:12:45.440 --> 00:13:00.559 Aside from just being an awesome group of human beings, they're a global team of professionals covering a brand based in sports, arts, theater, culture, museums, or any live experience that requires people coming together. 00:13:00.559 --> 00:13:03.600 Big, small, all shapes and sizes of brands. 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:07.360 You can hit them up at the information below in the show notes. 00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:14.720 Um well, I want to pivot a little bit. 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:21.200 Uh, there are at the conference, there are a lot of technologists here because I think you know you are a technology company. 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:31.440 Um, and one of the strongest ideas that we talked about a year ago was that technology shouldn't replace meaningful human interaction. 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:39.120 Um, it should remove the frustrations, for sure, uh, but but hopefully it's making room for more meaningful, meaningful ones. 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:53.200 I think you used the example of the box office, you know, let's automate the the things that people call the box office for that can be answered by technology, but then create space for those conversations about, you know, what did you think of the new Lloyd Weber? 00:13:53.200 --> 00:13:57.200 Um, you know, to to create room for that real human interaction. 00:13:57.200 --> 00:14:04.240 Where do you think the industry is getting that balance right today, 12, 13 months later? 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:08.240 And where is it still at risk of losing human connection? 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:57.200 It's a funny sort of conference, the Tessatura conference, because it is a

technology conference. 00:14:57.200 --> 00:15:08.879 Um and so there's a great sort of celebration of the importance of tech, but also an understanding that tech isn't primary, nor should it be. 00:15:08.879 --> 00:15:18.159 You know, I think that there are plenty of tech conferences or tech schools of thought that you hear about in Silicon Valley where tech is the most important thing. 00:15:18.159 --> 00:15:24.000 And tech is is a wonderful thing, but at this conference it's not the most important thing. 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:36.639 And so I think the the balance continues to be um, you know, what we talk about is reducing the mundane work and increasing the virtuous work. 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:44.480 Um and for so many of our members, the virtuous work is goes back to the community, is are you sp are you able to spend more time in community? 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:47.600 Are you able to spend more time making that human connection? 00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:55.759 Um arts and culture is ultimately a communal art form, right? 00:15:55.759 --> 00:15:57.519 It's a communal life form, I guess. 00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:08.559 I mean, we saw that during COVID, like how the arts and culture sector just kind of ground to a halt for a minute there, because it's like your whole reason for being is gathering people to have a shared experience. 00:16:08.559 --> 00:16:15.840 Um so you know, I would continue to say, um, you know, technology is there to elevate humanity. 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:17.919 Um, and we're continuing to see that. 00:16:18.720 --> 00:16:31.360 Do you ever have to have conversations where you are arguing for technology to continue to do that, help the humans do that virtuous work? 00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:36.000 Because I think sometimes the temptation is to throw out the baby with the bathwater. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:48.159 Um, no data centers anywhere versus a smart community-informed construction of data centers that will help the humans be elevated. 00:16:48.480 --> 00:16:48.720 Yeah. 00:16:48.720 --> 00:17:13.119 I mean, yeah, when you get into AI and and and um the data centers and the sort of ethical, responsible use of AI, um, knowing that as quickly as it's changing and as fast as you know, just the the insane amount of money that's being piled in um to capital to to build out the really the infrastructure for AI. 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:17.759 Um I can understand why people recoil at that. 00:17:17.759 --> 00:17:26.319 And in fact, um I teach a class at Indiana University, an adjunct class on digital um for arts and culture students. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:28.880 And and you know, this summer I taught the class. 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:47.519 And there's, you know, most of these are sort of Gen Z students, master students, um, very well informed, um and and just aren't having it when it comes to AI because they're looking at their future um and the environmental impact. 00:17:47.519 --> 00:18:05.920 And they're looking at the bias

that's that's inherent in AI, and they're looking at um these data centers that are often going into neighborhoods of of people who don't have um the ability to protect themselves because you know of their economic situation. 00:18:05.920 --> 00:18:10.240 Uh and so there is there is a lot of problem behind this, right? 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:17.359 Like, and and we can't ignore that, or we can't sort of pat it on the head and say, but yeah, look at all the good stuff it's doing. 00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:22.960 I think you do have to figure out how to reconcile it and balance it. 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:26.240 Um and so, you know, I'll just talk about Tessatura for a minute. 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:46.799 Like at our company, um, we have an ongoing um couple of of governance committees right now that are really sort of doing doing this hard work with our team because we have plenty of members of our team, even though we're a tech company, who absolutely get the benefit and appreciate the benefit, but also want to make sure that we're doing this in a responsible way. 00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:57.680 So um I think it's an interesting balance because you can't, it is in our mission to provide continually innovated technology. 00:18:57.680 --> 00:19:03.599 Um and so we are at at the same time, we are really gung-ho about AI, AI. 00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:07.359 Um, and we just came out of the tech keynote where they were talking a lot about AI. 00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:17.839 We are also you know doing the hard work and having the hard conversations on how can we do this and you know, sleep at night and and you know, and live, live with integrity. 00:19:18.000 --> 00:19:18.799 So yeah. 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:24.880 What do you tell your students at the end of the course or throughout the course? 00:19:26.160 --> 00:19:28.400 Um, I listen a lot, right? 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:31.599 Like I I can't tell them how to feel about this. 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:48.720 Um and I think the thing that I've come to understand that's different about AI than any other technology that that, you know, and and you're probably younger than me, Peter, but like, you know, I remember the internet, like when the internet boom happened or or even, you know, the PC era started. 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:56.319 Uh those were much less sort of moral kinds of things, you know? 00:19:56.319 --> 00:20:02.640 It was like when PCs came, it was just like it's the next technology after typewriters or whatever. 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:10.960 Um this one is this one has such a sort of a visceral and emotional and moral component to it. 00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:14.079 Um, you know, some of the students are like, we just won't use it. 00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:16.079 And I'm not gonna tell them they can't. 00:20:16.079 --> 00:20:21.920 I I will remind them in their in a class called digital, you know, and so they're gonna learn about it. 00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:29.440 But um I won't tell them to get over it or,

you know, um, I think that we each have to make our own decision there. 00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:37.359 Yeah, what when I'm lucky enough to speak to students about this topic, I encourage them to ask really hard questions. 00:20:37.359 --> 00:20:39.200 It's not all about the enthusiasm. 00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:53.119 And I encourage them to write the rule book that that they are the leaders of the future and and the decisions will be made in a way that is that has to take into account the people that are asking hard questions about it. 00:20:53.119 --> 00:20:57.519 I I am I am old enough to remember when some of those technologies first came in. 00:20:57.519 --> 00:21:04.480 I think what's different about this one is it's happening professionally and personally at the same time. 00:21:04.480 --> 00:21:04.880 Yeah. 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:11.839 With the internet, it kind of started in the offices first and then worked, everyone got broadband at home later with social media the other way around. 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:12.079 Yeah. 00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:15.119 This is one that's hitting us everywhere all at once. 00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:17.839 And I think that's causing some dissonance. 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:18.640 Yeah. 00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:23.039 Hey guys, Damien here. 00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:31.920 If you're listening to this podcast, I'm gonna bet that you're probably thinking about how your team works and adapts right now in this new technology landscape. 00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:40.960 That's why the one person I always point people to is my co-host, right here, Peter Yajistic, and his company, a Mind at Work Consulting. 00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:48.079 They run smart, tech-infused workshops that help teams build new skills and actually put ideas into action. 00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:52.240 Peter is way too humble to brag, but I have no problems bragging for him. 00:21:52.240 --> 00:21:56.880 So if you're serious about what's next, talk to a Mind at Work Consulting. 00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:58.720 More in the show notes below. 00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:08.000 I I want to talk a little bit about this conference, this amazing show that you've put on. 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:10.480 Um, a conference like this doesn't just happen. 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:17.920 Uh it takes a lot of hard work from a lot of dedicated humans, a community of humans over many, many months. 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:28.480 What is an in-person gathering like TLCC uniquely able to unlock that online community, which is very strong in Tessatura, just can't do? 00:22:28.480 --> 00:22:30.319 Why why gather in person? 00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:33.519 Uh it's a great question, and thank you. 00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:37.920 Yeah, we're uh the the team that puts this together is is amazing. 00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:40.720 Um and you said, I mean, you mentioned the community. 00:22:40.720 --> 00:23:00.720 Like, you know, we have a team dedicated to this conference, and then we have a you know part of many of our team members, whether they're presenting here or they're moderating, or they're preparing content, or they're at the sort of solution center or they're helping out with um, you know, individual meetings on on learning more about Tessatura. 00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:06.880 Um, and then there's the community members themselves who are delivering a lot of the content. 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:10.880 Like, you know, a good portion of these presentations are given by the members themselves. 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:12.880 They prepare them, they rehearse them. 00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:17.599 Um, the volunteer lift here, I mean, it's gotta be hundreds of people. 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:21.759 I guess as a virtual company, you know, Tessatura is fully virtual. 00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:25.440 Um I think it it's a bit of an analogy. 00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:32.079 So almost all of the work of Tessatura is done over Teams or Zoom or Slack or email. 00:23:32.079 --> 00:23:40.240 Um, but when members of the team do get together, and we do, like we don't necessarily get the whole team together, but we get groups of the team together. 00:23:40.240 --> 00:23:46.960 We we find that our level of productivity and creativity goes up, you know, exponentially. 00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:51.119 Because there are just, I mean, we are social creatures, right? 00:23:51.119 --> 00:23:57.200 Like humans are not meant to be, you know, a barnacle on the bottom of a rock. 00:23:57.200 --> 00:23:58.960 Everything about us is social. 00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:07.680 And so there's something physiological about being in the same room with somebody where you the level of conversations, I think the random interactions, right? 00:24:07.680 --> 00:24:13.279 Like if you get on a on a Teams call, you know who's gonna be there and you know what you're gonna talk about. 00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:14.160 Yeah, right. 00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:32.799 When you sit down at lunch at the conference and you're from a science center, and you sit down next to somebody from a ballet company, and it turns out that you both are trying to figure out a group sales thing, and suddenly the ballet company learns how the science center does group sales and it blows their mind, like that would probably never have happened, right? 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:41.119 It just and and it's only because I happen to sit down at this table, because it was closest to, you know, the the win, the the front door or whatever. 00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:45.200 So I think the random, the random professional development. 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:54.000 Um and the other thing that I've learned about this community, which is going to come as no surprise because this is a community of arts and culture people. 00:24:54.000 --> 00:24:57.279 This is a this is a group of people who love to celebrate. 00:24:57.279 --> 00:24:59.680 They love to celebrate each other. 00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:02.960 They love to celebrate the software at the band. 00:25:02.960

--> 00:25:11.359 You know, we have a rock band that will be performing tomorrow night, um, and they will be singing songs about the software, and everyone will be screaming along. 00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:13.839 Um, and that's something that we tried it. 00:25:13.839 --> 00:25:18.319 I mean, we did our best during COVID to replicate it online, but there's just nothing like it. 00:25:18.319 --> 00:25:22.559 They like to celebrate when, you know, somebody has a great question. 00:25:22.559 --> 00:25:31.519 Um, the amount of applause and cheering that just goes on in in any random session um is something that's really hard to replicate. 00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:53.200 And I'll I'll I'll sort of finish this line by saying, kind of going back to the very first question, at a time when there's just so much hard stuff going on at these organizations or in the world, depending on your worldview, um, being able to come to a place with, you know, kind of birds of a feather, other arts and culture people, and celebrate the good. 00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:58.720 Um I just hear, you know, we just hear it again and again from folks that it just fills them up. 00:25:58.720 --> 00:26:03.359 Like it just gets them ready um to go back and and do great things. 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:06.960 Well, you've teed up my last question for you perfectly. 00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:14.720 Um, and and I think the the idea of giving people a place to celebrate together is so so needed and so important. 00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:28.319 As everyone leaves the conference uh on Thursday, Wednesday night, Thursday morning, and and returns to their organizations where they're facing some very real financial staffing, audience pressures. 00:26:28.319 --> 00:26:42.079 What what is one commitment that that you hope they carry home, not simply as tessatory users, but as leaders who are responsible for nurturing fandom and connection of people with culture. 00:26:42.720 --> 00:26:44.400 I mean, I would say you are not alone. 00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:48.319 You know, I mean, I think that's the most important thing. 00:26:48.319 --> 00:26:55.599 That if they didn't know it when they got here, they know when they leave that they're not alone in this. 00:26:56.160 --> 00:26:56.880 I love it. 00:26:56.880 --> 00:26:58.480 Andrew, it's been great. 00:26:58.480 --> 00:27:00.480 Thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today. 00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:01.839 Total pleasure, Peter. 00:27:01.839 --> 00:27:02.960 Thank you so much. 00:27:05.519 --> 00:27:13.599 And now for a special lightning round edition of Fandom Unpacked from the 2026 Tessatura Learning and Community Conference in Washington, D.C. 00:27:13.599 --> 00:27:27.359 We invited leaders, innovators, and change makers from across the arts and culture sector to take a break from their busy conference schedule and share their predictions for the single biggest growth opportunity for live experiences in 2027. 00:27:27.359 --> 00:27:38.799 Now we're serving up the best insights back to back, from audience immersion and social prescription to uncovering shadow audiences, human connection, and the transformative power of saying no. 00:27:38.799 --> 00:27:40.400 Let's dive in. 00:27:40.880 --> 00:27:41.519 Hello, hello. 00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:43.119 My name is Fernando Masterson. 00:27:43.119 --> 00:27:46.240 I am the director of marketing at New York City Center. 00:27:46.240 --> 00:27:54.400 I use this acronym TIA of like if something is tangible, interactive, and accessible, then people are going to be naturally going to want to engage with it. 00:27:54.400 --> 00:28:01.759 There has always, or there is, especially lately, this obsession with like capturing Gen Z or bringing young audiences into our spaces. 00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:08.640 Young audiences seem to really respond to art, to cultural experiences that are interactive in some way, shape, or form. 00:28:08.640 --> 00:28:20.960 The word immersive gets thrown around a lot, but experiences that are going to be able to like put the audience right in the thing in a way that they can maybe become the maker of the thing, I think, are gonna be the thing to profit. 00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:22.640 My name is Toni Garcia. 00:28:22.640 --> 00:28:25.680 I'm the marketing coordinator at the San Francisco Symphony. 00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:32.079 At the San Francisco Symphony, we have some very exciting news that we recently shared with the music director Destinate. 00:28:32.079 --> 00:28:33.759 Her name is Alim Chan. 00:28:33.759 --> 00:28:40.480 She's one of the first women to lead an orchestra, especially of the San Francisco stature and size. 00:28:40.480 --> 00:28:54.079 And one of the reasons why Alim is a great pick for the San Francisco Symphony is she does this great thing where she turns around on the podium and she interacts with the audience and she gets the audience engaged and involved. 00:28:54.079 --> 00:28:58.319 You're giving a voice literally to what you're about to witness. 00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:01.920 Everyone is in a shared moment of engagement listening. 00:29:01.920 --> 00:29:04.960 You smile and you laugh with the person that you came with. 00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:06.559 It's just a very human thing. 00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:08.000 It's connection. 00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:09.599 My name is Brad Dunn. 00:29:09.599 --> 00:29:13.920 I'm the vice president of marketing and communications at Lyric Opera Chicago. 00:29:13.920 --> 00:29:18.240 I think the differentiator for opera is that there's not a lot of places. 00:29:18.240 --> 00:29:24.319 It's the symphony world and the opera world where you can hear a piece of music performed by 50 or 60 musicians, right? 00:29:24.319 --> 00:29:27.599 And then the power of the live voice. 00:29:27.599 --> 00:29:44.640 And so the opportunity to tell stories using those assets, but perhaps not always in the traditional art form, is a great way to bring new people into the house to experience

that musicianship and that level of singing and storytelling through it. 00:29:44.640 --> 00:29:48.799 The biggest one was our collaboration with Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins. 00:29:48.799 --> 00:29:54.559 He wanted to take Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness and turn it into a sort of operafied work of art. 00:29:54.559 --> 00:30:05.200 And so we worked with him and an arranger and uh turned 10, 11, 12 tracks from that album into this really gorgeous piece of operatic music. 00:30:05.200 --> 00:30:06.240 And it was beautiful. 00:30:06.240 --> 00:30:14.480 I think it was a great way of showing how more sophisticated rock and roll compositions can actually lend themselves to the art form. 00:30:16.319 --> 00:30:17.119 My name is Matt Zarracina. I'm the CEO, 00:30:17.119 --> 00:30:18.480 co-founder of True Tickets. 00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:24.000 When you look at the vast majority of venues in this space, they know one out of three people coming through the door. 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:36.240 How do you compete in an attention economy when digital service providers, Amazon, Netflix, Google, Apple TV, know 90 to 99% of the people engaging with their content? 00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:44.240 And so when you have a full house of, let's say, 100 people, 85% of those people are just trying you out. 00:30:44.240 --> 00:30:54.000 It's the 15%, the superactive, the active that are coming back that they represent, you know, they are 10, 20, 30, 40 X of your values. 00:30:54.319 --> 00:30:55.839 My name is Parker Krug. 00:30:55.839 --> 00:31:00.000 I am the director of partner development for the Broadway Lane at EBG. 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:01.839 There's just so much going on. 00:31:01.839 --> 00:31:10.160 And even the keynote was talking a lot about how we can understand arts and culture and the well-being benefits that come from attending it. 00:31:10.160 --> 00:31:15.119 There's so much that people have been investigating with the people that are on stage, right? 00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:21.200 The musicians, the actors, and the creators, and how that kind of affects us internally, right? 00:31:21.200 --> 00:31:27.519 What is that biometric change because of the positive impacts that participation in the arts can do? 00:31:27.519 --> 00:31:33.759 I think there's so much there that we can actually begin to quantify and try to really understand the wellness. 00:31:33.759 --> 00:31:51.680 Because as we look at funding, where things are coming from, how the arts is integrated in our community post-pandemic and with all technology that's going on, it's really exciting to be able to maybe find a way to really hone in on that data understanding and arts and medicine in general, almost in a preventionary measure, right? 00:31:51.680 --> 00:31:52.960 As we look at these changes. 00:31:52.960 --> 00:31:53.920 That's what's really exciting. 00:31:53.920 --> 00:31:56.640 Cause there's also a lot of studies from child development. 00:31:56.640 --> 00:31:57.359 That's a big thing. 00:31:57.359 --> 00:32:01.119 Make sure they have arts, make sure creativity and all of that stuff is engaged. 00:32:01.119 --> 00:32:03.519 But then you finish high school, you go to college. 00:32:03.519 --> 00:32:08.400 If you don't go into the arts, how do we get you back into that idea? 00:32:08.960 --> 00:32:13.119 My name is Jill Robinson, and I'm the CEO and owner of TRG Arts. 00:32:13.119 --> 00:32:25.920 If you set your sights on a destination that you can describe, put a story around, create a narrative around, and then begin to act toward, you can create something that's quite different. 00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:31.599 The nonprofit mindset can frustrate and challenge the results that they get. 00:32:31.599 --> 00:32:36.000 And the things that I see about that are every stakeholder is important. 00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:38.160 I have to satisfy every single person. 00:32:38.160 --> 00:32:39.359 I can't say no. 00:32:39.359 --> 00:32:47.519 If you don't say no, you are scattered and you can't focus and you don't get the kind of impact or results that you want. 00:32:47.519 --> 00:32:50.880 The opportunity for growth is in saying no. 00:32:50.880 --> 00:32:52.799 It's so counterintuitive. 00:32:52.799 --> 00:32:54.240 For my business too. 00:32:54.240 --> 00:33:08.319 I mean, it's like the hardest thing to do to say, I'm not going to do these two things, or I'm going to pause doing these three things in favor of doing something that will enable us to be our best at this thing. 00:33:08.319 --> 00:33:18.559 And I have never felt as strongly about the need for that in small business creative, commercial, and nonprofit arts and creatives than now. 00:33:18.559 --> 00:33:23.920 Because the instinct when you're when things feel insecure is to do everything. 00:33:23.920 --> 00:33:27.759 And the ones that really succeed say three things. 00:33:27.759 --> 00:33:29.599 We're going to do really well. 00:33:29.599 --> 00:33:34.960 And we're going to focus on that so that we can build the engine that can fuel exploration. 00:33:35.920 --> 00:33:49.039 Whether it's inviting audiences to become active participants, better understanding the people in our venues, demonstrating the measurable impact of the arts, or having the discipline to focus on what matters most, one thing is clear. 00:33:49.039 --> 00:33:56.319 The future of live experiences is becoming more human, more intentional, and more connected. 00:33:56.319 --> 00:34:11.920 We'll see you next time on Fandom Unpacked.