Arts leaders are working harder than ever to attract new audiences, but too often that effort comes at the expense of the relationships already in the room (or database). Across the field, most audiences don’t return within 18 months. And with that kind of gap, it’s nearly impossible to build the loyalty, trust, and recurring revenue your organization depends on.
As a sector, we over-prospect. We under-retain. And one of the best paths to financial resilience is simply getting people back sooner, not chasing more people who may only ever attend once.
Across the sector, we overspend on acquisition and underinvest in retention. So thousands of first- and second-time attendees drift away before they ever have a chance to come back, leaving organizations with high acquisition costs and year-to-year cycles of exhausting rebuilds.
Closing the recency gap isn’t about intensifying efforts with the few people who already come often (though, they are hugely valuable). Instead, it’s about paying attention to the much larger group who come once, maybe twice, and then disappear. Not because the art isn’t strong, but because we don’t have systems built to bring them back.
When you shift focus from acquisition to retention, and from first visits to next visits, everything changes.
Think about the impact of moving your average attendance gap from 18 months to 12 months to 9 months:
This shift isn’t about selling a specific product. It’s about shaping the behavior that makes every product perform better.
Track:
Put those numbers in team meetings, and in board conversations. When these metrics move, other revenue-specific metrics move with them.
Three out of four first-time attendees never return. Not because the art isn’t strong, but because the follow-up isn’t built for loyalty. The best way to change that is to align every team around one shared goal: get people back sooner.
From marketing to box office to development, every part of the organization influences the second visit, next step or repeat engagement:
Marketing:
Box Office:
Development:
Watch: Why 75% of First-Time Attendees Never Return (And What to Do About It)
Multi-buyers are the pipeline for everything: subscriptions, flex packages, memberships, and philanthropy.
So ask one clarifying question across your campaigns:
“Does this make it easier for someone to come back again?”
If it does, keep it. If it doesn’t, simplify or stop.
Arts leaders often feel pressure to do everything: fill the house, diversify audiences, renew subscribers, convert donors, manage discounts, acquire new lists, and more. But without recency, none of it sticks.
The most future-ready organizations aren’t the ones with the flashiest loyalty product. They’re the ones that treat recency as a shared organizational responsibility and a core revenue strategy.
Getting people back sooner isn’t glamorous. It’s not a new tactic. But it’s the single most effective way to stabilize revenue, deepen engagement, and rebuild resilience, for this season and future years.
Let’s talk, and together, we’ll uncover the patterns driving your attendance and revenue, and identify where focused action will create the biggest return.