Marketing and communication are an essential part of the orchestral practice. As a marketeer of an orchestra, you are used to thinking about and working with audiences. You translate the product of the orchestra (concerts) to a wide range of target audiences, and you are continuously looking to attract new audiences. You develop ways to communicate both internally, to musicians and staff, and externally, to the different stakeholders of the orchestra. And you analyse audience feedback to support the programming and the organisation of the orchestra.
What does audience participation entail from a marketing perspective? Participatory or experimental concerts have to be marketed differently. But for marketeers, audience participation involves questioning how audiences already participate in what any orchestra does: how they are imagined and addressed in marketing campaigns, and how their relationship to the orchestra is constructed. Making these routines explicit is the first step in imagining how they could be different. The result could be a re-imagination of marketing itself: from making sure that seats are occupied to giving a voice to the audience in the orchestral practice.
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