by Lee Prinz

During the APAP|NYC 2012 conference, the Classical Connections committee presented a pre-conference forum hosted by bassoonist, composer, writer and satirist John Steinmetz. The forum addressed new ideas in presenting classical music and allowed presenters to share success stories about what worked in each of their communities. They also took the opportunity to discuss challenges in presenting classical music and how to meet them head on.

Participants heard many inspiring words from people out there in the trenches presenting classical music in today's ever shifting landscape.

Here are a few things we learned about along the way:

1. Using Themes to Unify Programming

Emil Kang, director of Carolina Performing Arts at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, said a successful tool for presenting and marketing performances to audiences is to present the project as an overarching idea as well as something that can be deconstructed to its component parts depending on how the audience wishes to engage with it.

CPA is presenting The Right of Spring at 100, a project marking the centennial of the 1913 Paris premiere of Russian composer Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. CPA has asked artists to re-imagine The Rite of Spring and commissioned 12 new works by 20 choreographers, composers, directors and visual artists, many in collaboration.

The project has components that can appeal to many audience members on a variety of levels. They can look at the overall idea or choose to go to individual concerts and events.

2. Converting Culturally Aware Non-Attenders

Martha Bonta, executive producer of live events and special programming at WQXR, said her organization learned about an important demographic it didn't know existed.

When forum host Steinmetz asked Bonta what obstacles and challenges she faced during her short three-month time at WQXR, Bonta said the biggest challenge was not the "tremendously fantastic art form that we all love so much," but reaching all of the Culturally Aware Non-Attenders, a term used in reports by the League of American Orchestra's Audience Motivation Research Project and in a Knight Foundation 2002 Classical Music Consumer Segmentation Study to describe adults who have gone to other arts events but have not attended a classical music concert in two years even though many believe they would enjoy the experience.

3. Mixing It Up: Integrating Artists and Audiences

Rob Gibson, executive and artistic director of the Savannah Music Festival offered forum attendees inspiration and energy. His 17-day festival features more than 100 events covering the musical gamut of jazz, blues, traditional Indian music, bluegrass, classical, cabaret, flamenco and funk, in addition to dance, film and theater.

Gibson's key idea that sparked discussion was the observation that many audience members (and the artists themselves) are enthusiastic about mingling with the audience following the concert. Gibson has gone so far as to have a contract clause that the artists appearing at the festival be available to meet the audience - though he said they all are most eager to do this anyway. The SMF festival brochure informs the audience members that artists are available to greet them following the performance.

Gibson also encourages artists to attend each other's performances and organizes an interview-only series with one artist interviewing another artist in front of a small informal audience.

But the real fun happens at multiple bars in town where audience members and artists alike interact post-concert!

4. Post-Concert Trumps Pre-Concert for Audience-Artist Interaction

Anastasia Tsioulcas, co-host of the National Public Radio blog Deceptive Cadence, also talked about audience interaction. Tsioulcas shared an observation from many pre- and post-concert activities she has hosted at the Lincoln Center Festival and Mostly Mozart Festival.

She noticed the number of people present for a related event (a talk or discussion) skyrocketed in both attendance and level of engagement by the audience when the activity occurred after the concert. After an event, the audience has heard and experienced the performance and can engage more with the artists.

Tsioulcas talked about audience engagement through social media and gave the NPR work with Le Poisson Rouge in New York City for NPR @ LPR as an example. For each live event at LPR, NPR hosts a web chat. Tsioulcas mentioned that audience members sometimes have mixed feelings about social media at a live event and that it is important to be respectful to performers, audience members and the music. But by using social media, the audience becomes local, national and international. Listeners engage with the music and each other as they are experiencing the concert virtually, and this creates a sense of engagement and even ownership. She noted that people seem to enjoy processing events together - a powerful way of encouraging and nurturing the experience.

5. Applying Business Administration Principles to a Performing Arts Organization

The second half of the forum featured Richard Dare, executive director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic. He is leading the charge to turn the 154-year-old orchestra and performing arts organization around by applying business administration principles.

Dare shared a bit of the history of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, as well as their current state and future plans. He took the audience on a tour of the challenges the organization faces and how it is plans to put the orchestra on steady footing for the future. For more on Dare's approach, see his recent article in Huffington Post.

Join the APAP Classical Connections committee for Fear, Risk & Opprotunity: Presenting Classical Music, a free webinar 3-4 p.m. (EDT), Thursday, June 21, 2012. John Steinmetz will moderate an online discussion between Ruth Felt of San Francisco Performances and Tim McHenry of the Rubin Museum of Art. Register for this webinar and send questions to info@artspresenters.org.

Photo: 2012 YPCA participant Benjamin Hochman performs at Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, by Jacob Belcher for APAP.