Pricing is one of the most consequential leadership decisions in the arts, but too often it is guided by instinct, emotion, fear, or habit. These responses feel protective, even empathetic. Yet in practice, they hold organizations back from building resilience, deepening loyalty, and delivering the impact arts organizations have in their communities.
Here are four of the most common myths we hear, and why they don’t really stand up to scrutiny.
The reality: Projection bias is not a pricing strategy. What you personally would or would not pay does not reflect the range of behaviors in your audience. In fact, TRG’s data consistently shows that different audience segments assign different value to the same performance. Some will pay more for convenience, access, or exclusivity, while others are motivated by affordability. Strategic pricing captures both.
The impact: When arts leaders rely on their own willingness to pay as a benchmark, they undervalue the work and miss opportunities to capture the real value of demand. Over time, this habit reduces earned revenue, creates unnecessary reliance on philanthropy, and starves organizations of resources that could have been reinvested in programs, artists, and access initiatives.
The reality: Arbitrary price caps ignore demand. If your top price point is selling out quickly, the ceiling is not serving your audience; it is suppressing revenue and undervaluing your work. Setting an artificial maximum may feel safe, but it often leaves money on the table and limits your ability to create affordability at the other end of the scale.
The impact: By keeping a lid on top prices, leaders unintentionally push the burden of sustainability onto the bottom of the scale. In other words, the very seats meant to be affordable end up carrying more of the financial load, which reduces access and equity. An inflexible cap prevents leaders from responding to demand, and ultimately weakens both mission and margin.
The reality: Price alone does not drive attendance. Demand does. TRG’s work with clients shows that organizations who raised prices in line with demand and inflation, maintained audience volume while increasing revenue. Conversely, other organizations who froze prices or delayed increases often fell behind inflation and had to rely on painful “catch-up” corrections. The risk is not raising prices; the risk is waiting too long to do it.
The impact: Avoiding necessary price increases creates long-term instability. Organizations end up with widening gaps between income and expenses, forcing “emergency” increases that feel sudden and risky to audiences. This cycle erodes trust and makes it harder to build loyalty. Instead of smoothing growth steadily over time, leaders lock themselves into volatility.
The reality: Price is rarely the barrier we sometimes assume it is. TRG’s research shows that new audiences often enter at higher average ticket prices than loyal returners. What matters most is relevance, awareness, and perceived value; not simply cost. If low-priced seats are unsold, the issue is likely a demand or marketing problem, not an affordability one. True accessibility comes from a healthy pricing spread and intentional communication, not from across-the-board discounting.
The impact: Overemphasizing low prices undermines sustainability and can actually distort access. When too many resources are tied to discounting, organizations weaken their ability to invest in programs that drive genuine engagement. Worse, audiences begin to expect discounts as the norm, which devalues the work and erodes long-term loyalty.
Pricing myths are powerful because they are rooted in care for audiences. But care without strategy is not sustainable. Leaders can take action by:
When leaders move past myths and into strategy, pricing becomes more than a number. It becomes a lever for sustainability, accessibility, and long-term resilience.
Join us for a TRG Pricing Surgeries, a focused, practical 30-minute session where we will work with you to test long-held assumptions, diagnose risks, and uncover opportunities in your current pricing strategy.
Together, we will help you move from reactive decisions to a proactive approach that builds both resilience and access.