The Philadelphia Inquirer ran an interesting article Tuesday about a
National Endowment for the Arts survey which measured audience attendance
rates for various kinds of arts in assorted U.S. cities.

While the main point of the article was that Philly was only in the middle
or lower range of these rates among large cities, I was more interested in
the overall rates for CM and opera.  According to the study (and surveys of
this kind, in which people are asked what they attended, always need to be
approached somewhat skeptically), the percentages of the total population
who said they attended at least one event during 1997, for classical music,
ranged from 23.2% in Boston to 14.4% in Los Angeles (New York was 19.5%,
Philadelphia was 14.9%, and the U.S.  average was 15.6%).  The figures for
opera ranged from 10.0% for San Francisco to 5.0% for Chicago (New York was
7.6%, Philadelphia was 6.1%, and the U.S.  average was 4.7%).

The news, I think, is that the figures for CM are as high as they are.
The president of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Joseph H.  Kluger, was quoted
as saying, "Before hearing the numbers, I would have guessed 5 percent
 [attended] in this country and maybe 15 percent in Europe.  The 15 percent
in Philadelphia I find the most encouraging thing I've heard in some time."

The article goes on to note that attendence rates in Philly are probably
held down somewhat by the fact that joint marketing efforts for "cultural"
activities, which are commonplace in such cities as Boston, San Francisco,
and New York, are just getting off the drawing boards here -- such things
as producing widely-distributed comprehensive cultural calenders, offering
half-price packages and other ticketing alternatives, and exploring
coordinated programming among several organizations.

As is usual in the rather staid, reserved Philly cultural community, the
realization is only slowly dawning that, these days, anything that wants
to get noticed by the general public has to be promoted as a razzle-dazzle
media extravaganza, the greatest thing since sliced cheese (or hereabouts,
the cheesesteak).  We just have to grit our teeth and let the marketing
experts make the biggest noise they can, hoping that they won't destroy
the original "product" in the process.

Jon Johanning // [log in to unmask]