Some Theatrical Perspective on Cultural Arts Surveys

Gender aside, the Barksdale Theater's Bruce Miller is the closest thing Richmond has to a diva of theater (by which I mean his passion for and longevity in Richmond's theater business is beyond impressive). So I recently paused to read a fairly lengthy piece that Miller posted at the Barksdale Buzz weblog about the Richmond Region Cultural Action Plan and its recent survey/assessment of the state of culture in the Richmond area.

While not totally dismissing the value of reaching out the a broader population in the area to ask questions about how Richmonders consume or engage themselves in the arts, Miller does map out some very fundamental reasons that there needs to be a bit of perspective leavening the survey outcomes (which can be read in full here). More importantly, Miller goes a step further than simply offering a critique. He offers some specific examples of how Barksdale plans to respond to the data -- without waiting for the Cultural Action Plan task force to sort through the data:

25% of all respondents said that they “haven’t but would like to try” “attending play readings.” Based on this and other observations, Barksdale will be establishing a play reading series next year.

19% of all respondents said that they “haven’t but would like to try” “taking classes.” Based on this and other observations, Barksdale will be attempting to fill this need in the near future.

24% of those people who have a history of buying few tickets to performance events indicate that they “haven’t but would like to try” “attending musicals” and “attending plays.” Through our new Entertainment Stimulus Package, Barksdale and Theatre IV have reduced prices on 10,000 tickets in the remainder of our 2008-09 Seasons to reach out to those who haven’t been attending due to higher ticket prices. We will also continue our existing $15 rush ticket policy.

All of us who care about theatre have much to learn. That’s one of the things I love about my job. There’s something new to learn every day.

A great companion read to Miller's post is David Timberline's December 10 post at the Richmond VA Theater weblog -- because the great insider commenting following the post tells you more about the state of Richmond theater than anything you'll read in the newspaper.