Major gifts are critical for every arts organization. This episode features board member and major gift philanthropist Susan Bay Nimoy, wife of the late actor Leonard Nimoy (most known for his role as Spock on Star Trek, and yes, we talk about it!). We cover all things major gifts, including relationship building, how that takes time, and what the process is that compels her as a major donor to give generously.Susan Bay Nimoy has served on the board of many arts organizations, including the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, Symphony Space in New York, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and the Griffith Observatory. She recently endowed The Nimoy Theatre in LA, which is part of UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance.Want to know what to say when building major donor relationships in the arts and ultimately soliciting a major gift? Download your free resource, the Major Donor Fast Track Guide.

The need for diversity in our audience and for the audience to reflect the community is a hot topic in the arts these days. And rightfully so. There is a moral imperative to do this work at arts organizations, but I am also a fan of the business case for diversity. And in this episode, we are talking about what the numbers look like if and when the audience actually does look like the community — and wow, is there money on the table when the audience becomes more diverse.This episode looks at just how many more tickets would be sold in a year if your audience makeup mirrored that of your community, or at least came close. We talk through the numbers, and I have a free download that does the math for you so you don’t have to. Get your free Demographic Revenue Calculator and see the potential for sales growth in three easy steps.

How arts and culture organizations can use advocacy to drive awareness for your cause and brand, even when you’re not a global, visitor-based institution.The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is known as an international nonprofit conservation organization with an annual budget over $400 million and thousands of staff and employees. They have two local front doors — the San Diego Zoo and the Safari Park — in addition several eco-regional “hubs” around the world.The global work of San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance is helping the entire ecosystem, and this conversation with immediate past Board Chair Javade Chaudhri exemplifies that having a business mindset does not fly in the face of the mission driven work.In fact, the data show that nonprofits of all sizes that advocate outperform their peers, and you do not have to be a $400M+ organization to engage in advocacy — it can happen small and locally. Chaudhri is candid about what separates organizations doing that well—having a business mindset being able to execute on that—versus those in his mind who aren’t.We also talk about a few topics that have become near and dear to my heart in recent years, including company culture and staff compensation (as well as the need to pay staff competitively).I am so grateful for Javade Chaudhri and him generously sharing his time, wisdom, and expertise. Enjoy his take on how the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and all kinds of arts and culture organizations can run it like a business, and get your free resource to help you start or uplevel your own advocacy work: the Advocacy Cheat Sheet.

The subscription model is thriving everywhere else besides the arts—to the tune of 20% of all consumer credit card transactions now go to subscriptions and memberships. So why then, are subscriptions and donations on the decline in the arts?It turns out, there are three big things these successful brands are doing differently than arts organizations. This episode breaks it down, as well as offers ways to implement these ideas.Get your free resource for this episode: 3 Reasons Your Subscriptions are Declining & 11 Ways to Combat It. 00:00 Introduction to Season Three of The Offstage Mike00:34 The Theme of Season Three: Running it Like a Business01:43 The Importance of Subscriptions in the Cultural Sector02:03 The Current State of the Subscription Economy02:58 The Decline of Subscriptions in the Arts03:05 The Discrepancy Between the Arts and Other Industries06:58 The Three Big Differences in Subscription Models07:50 The Importance of First Year Subscription Renewals14:00 The Impact of Price Increases on Subscription Renewals20:26 The Three Steps to Combat the First Year Cliff29:13 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

This season on The Offstage Mic we are talking about strategies to combat the challenges in the cultural sector borrowed from the business world that have proven successful across patron retention, subscriptions, ecommerce, raising money, and digital content (to name a few).And throughout the season, I’m occasionally bringing in some people who know the business world quite well to help me break it down: board members of our orchestras, operas, ballets, theaters, museums, zoos, and more.These are the people governing our cultural institutions, who also have incredible professional experience outside the arts, and who are also among the most connected to and engaged with our mission-driven work.All so that we can Run It Like a Business — without sacrificing the art we produce. Season 3 of the Offstage Mic is coming up right here. Hit “follow” or “subscribe” right now.

Yesterday was publication day for my new book, Run It Like A Business: Strategies for Arts Organizations to Increase Audiences, Remain Relevant, and Multiply Money—Without Losing the Art.To celebrate, we put together something special for you: a live show we recorded just last night at the book launch party here in San Francisco. It’s a conversation with myself and Kelly Harris, Executive Director of Haight Street Art Center.The book and our conversation is for people and arts organizations who want to:Grow audiences and keep them coming back againMake our organizations more inclusiveGet younger attendees in the seats and on the donor rollsAnd generate millions more dollars in revenue, in order toContinue to create the art we love—without the stress of figuring out how to afford itBook details and how to get your copy: https://www.aubreybergauer.com/book

What works and what doesn’t at the bargaining table with unions in arts and culture. Cellist Ted Nelson served as chair of the players committee at the Cincinnati Symphony, and clarinetist Jessica Phillips served as players committee chair at the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Both worked toward collaborative and creative agreements, and in this final episode of the season, they share first-hand about their experience.What needs to happen before negotiations ever begin, how training musicians serving in these important roles is critical, and their thoughts on streaming contracts going forward so together we can make the pie bigger for all of us.

Talent acquisition and the state of the workforce in arts and culture is shifting. More Baby Boomers are nearing retirement, more Gen-Z workers are entering the labor force, the Millennials and Gen-Xers are changing their relationship with work and their thoughts around remote or flexible work options.National research from Advisory Board for the Arts shows the top driver of employee satisfaction and talent retention in the arts is no longer reputation for artistic excellence, but a strong and healthy company culture. Karen Freeman, who has a background as a player, as well as degrees from Harvard and MIT, and later at McKinsey as global head of digital & analytics learning for generalist consultants, joins Aubrey to share the findings of this research.And as mentioned at the top of the episode, if you want some ideas for your summer reading list, here are Aubrey’s book reviews: business books as seen through the lens of an arts manager. This is the penultimate episode in season two—enjoy!

You no longer need a label to release digital recordings for streaming. Today, any ensemble of any size can take advantage of the way recording and distribution has changed and release directly to streaming platforms.In this episode, Aubrey is joined by two experts — Mike Warner, Head of Editorial Marketing Partnerships - North America at Believe, and Jamie Freedman, Head of Classical Programming at Pandora — to talk through the play by play (stream by stream?!)They cover topics including how an ensemble can self-release, how an organization can be empowered to do yourself things a label historically or traditionally would have done and have more control because of it, how the artistic, production, and marketing teams will need to work together, and the nuts and bolts of releasing digital music directly vs going with a distributor.And if you don't know what all that means or looks like, that's ok too — the whole point of this episode is to learn so you walk away educated and informed. And therefore confident and ready to tackle your next recording project knowing exactly how you'll get maximum ears to listen to it.

Tell the stories of your arts organization and artists with tips and techniques from former Pixar Hollywood producer. Marcia Gwendolyn Jones, the producing force behind blockbuster animated films Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, and PAW Patrol: The Movie.Aubrey and Marcia cover what bringing a script to the screen has in common with bringing performances to the stage, expert storytelling tips to apply to your own stories at arts organizations, and the highs and lows of storytelling: what are the best things about storytelling? What’s the biggest challenge?Pretty much any brand that’s thriving and growing its customer base is good at storytelling, and this episode shares from one of the best storytellers around, so that we can feel empowered to bring our organization’s own stories to life.

The influencer industry is worth billions of dollars and growing because consumers trust people more than brands these days. Arts organizations have a built-in influencer army—our artists—and we can train them on digital content and social media.In this episode, Aubrey brings in David Taylor, who worked with the Philharmonia in London to do just this. We'll hear the case study of what they did, what worked and what didn't, and some unexpected results they saw.Get David’s book, The Future of Classical Music - Part 1: A collection of articles, talks, and ideasSlover Linett research on classical music radio listenership discussed in the opening remarks here.

How to update the organization structure of your arts organizations to be more productive, break down silos, and better do the work. Hear from Julian Chender, an expert in organization design through his work at Accenture as well as his own company he founded. Together, Aubrey and Julian look at the challenges with the existing structure that's been in place at most arts organizations for the last 40+ years, and how to design the organization for goals that affect everyone going forward.Links·     Organization design article Julian and Aubrey co-authored.·     See Julian’s slides on YouTube.

How to monetize streaming performances for new and alternate revenue streams for your arts organization well beyond the pandemic. In a world where many arts organization have struggled to make money with streaming and digital content, or stopped streaming altogether, here’s one organization still streaming and making lots of money from it—and growing their audience, too.Learn more about Dallas Black Dance Theatre.Drew's article for the Wallace Foundation: Can Pandemic Be Catalyst for New Global Arts Ecology?

For development folks in the arts who want to increase fundraising revenue and reverse the trends of declining donor households. As more organizations are facing the national trend of donor households down, dollar goals up, Louis Diez is a thought leader with results to back it up across both higher education and classical music. Learn more about the Donor Participation Project Louis founded: JoinDPP.orgFollow Louis on LinkedIn for great fundraising thought leadership and ideas.

Why is the subscription model thriving in just about every consumer-facing sector yet in the arts is on the decline? Aubrey takes this question to Robbie Kellman Baxter, the world’s leading expert on subscription models. Aubrey and Robbie explore four areas where the arts are doing it differently, and what we can do to update our own practices to maximize the important revenue streams we need: subscriptions, memberships, and donations.Resources:The Forever TransactionThe Membership Economy

Marketing that focuses on the art or artists is no longer effective for sales. Instead, marketing that focuses on the customer grows sales revenue.That's because today, audiences “hire” organizations to solve a problem, meet a need, or do a job they need done in their life. This is the premise of Jobs to Be Done Theory, developed by Harvard Business Professor Clayton Christensen.In this episode, Clayton Christensen Institute Chief of Staff Ruth Hartt joins Aubrey to talk about the Jobs to Be Done framework through an arts marketing lens.Ruth also shares examples from the wild — real classical music ads done right and wrong — as she unpacks Jobs to Be Done Theory. If you want to see the visuals Ruth talks about, you can watch that part of the conversation here.See Ruth’s website and subscribe to her arts marketing hall of fame.

Learn the top findings from one of the largest studies ever conducted on company culture and how it applies to the arts.Best-selling author Kevin Oakes is the CEO and founder of the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), the leading human capital research company in the world, and he shares how high-performance organizations we’ve all heard of have successfully changed organizational culture. We don’t have to be giant behemoth orgs or flush with cash to make inroads on culture. A point Kevin emphasizes with actionable advice on how we can keep pushing forward to make our workplace culture better for all of us.His book: Culture Renovation

Season two is here! You all were so fantastic during the pilot season, so now we’re back for season two — this time with a team of awesome women audio engineers and musicians working behind the scenes to make this come together for you. And that’s extra fitting because this whole season is about how the narrative is changing in the arts. We are at an inflection point for arts organizations: audiences are down from pre-pandemic levels, subscriptions on the decline, still confronting systemic discrimination and working to diversify, trying to attract and retain talent, and ultimately reclaim relevance in a complex world. The good news is all of these topics are advancing, even if slowly.Season two includes 11 new episodes, released every other week, as we bring you interviews from some of my favorite experts on these subjects and others to help us build the vibrant future we know is possible.The arts can be a tough business, but the narrative is changing, and I’m so glad you’re here to be a part of it.

The job of the board at a non-profit organization is to govern, and governing an institution of which you’re an employee can be a conflict of interest. Instead, when thinking if a musician should be on the board, ask what the goals are we’re trying to achieve. Engagement? Information sharing? Both those things can and should happen without a board seat — and both those things should not be relegated to only one or two musicians.

Pro tips on how to address employee turnover, toxic workplace culture, and microagressions like when a man interrupts you while speaking. This episode looks at how to show up as your authentic self back in the office when there is such a narrow view of what “professionalism” looks like.These questions are all addressed in this final episode of season one. It’s raw, it’s vulnerable, and all of that feels like a good note to close out this pilot project season.Thanks to everyone who's listened. We’d love to hear from you if you enjoyed it or learned something. And wishing you all the best of luck as you prep for your own seasons starting this fall, from wherever you’re listening.Resources mentioned:Adam Grant’s Four Deadly Sins of Toxic CultureHarvard Professor Amy Cuddy’s TED Talk on Power Poses Sponsors who made this possible:DescriptLume Cube