The Inflation Gap: Why Holding Back on Price Is Costing the Arts Sector

For years, many arts leaders have treated price as fragile. Raise it, and demand might collapse. Hold it steady, and at least audiences will keep coming. But the truth is the opposite: holding back on price is costing the sector far more than incremental increases ever would.

Inflation Didn’t Create the Gap, It Exposed It 

We didn’t suddenly become bad at pricing during the pandemic or the cost-of-living crisis. As Senior Consultant Brad Carlin reminds us in the clip below, our sector struggled to adapt prices even before extraordinary conditions hit.  

After years of lagging inflation, most organizations have only just caught up on single ticket prices in the 2024-25 season. In real-terms, it's as if there's been no net price growth for six years; while costs continue to rise.

Inflation has only magnified the gap between what it costs to produce art and what audiences are paying to see it. Delaying price increases out of fear doesn’t protect audiences; it just ensures sharper, more painful adjustments later. 

The Inflation Gap in Numbers 

Demand has been steadily recovering across the US, Canada, and the UK. Some organizations have surpassed 2019 levels, but most remain about 5% behind in both tickets sold and inflation-adjusted revenue. Encouragingly, more people are buying tickets than before the pandemic. But they are purchasing fewer tickets per person, and overall attendance frequency has been flat.

The average price paid for tickets has gone up, but it’s important to be precise: we can’t say for certain this is only because organizations have raised prices. In many cases, the increase may reflect audiences choosing more expensive seats, or price adjustments on selected inventory rather than across the board.

What we do know is that average ticket yield is moving upward, though still lagging behind inflation.

This creates a complicated picture for leaders. Holding back on price has not translated into significantly higher volume, but nor can we attribute changing audience behaviors solely to pricing. The reality is that organizations are still playing catch-up in a more expensive environment, with growth increasingly dependent on new or reactivated customers; a more costly and less predictable path than repeat attendance.

This is why leaders feel the squeeze from both sides: costs are higher, prices are only just catching up, and fewer tickets are being sold.

The takeaway is clear: holding back on price hasn’t shielded audiences, it has left organizations playing catch-up in a tougher, more expensive world. 

What We’ve Seen at TRG 

Working with clients across the UK, US, and Canada, TRG has seen firsthand that the organizations who have weathered this period best are the ones who embraced pricing discipline; small, intentional increases applied year after year. 

• In the UK, TRG clients grew average ticket prices more consistently than the wider field. Crucially, without losing audience volume. 
• In North America, we’ve seen steady growth in per-capita revenue among TRG clients, often ahead of their peers who may have hesitated. 
• And in every market, the same truth holds: price changes don’t drive demand on their own. Audiences respond to value, access, and engagement, not just the cost of the ticket. 

This isn’t about raising prices recklessly. It’s about managing price as a demand signal and aligning it with the true cost of doing business. The organizations who do this build resilience. Those who delay only face steeper, riskier jumps later. 

What Leaders Need to Do Now 

The real discipline is in closing the gap before it widens: 

• Small, steady moves beat painful leaps. Incremental growth keeps pricing aligned with costs and reduces shocks for audiences. 
• Break the false link between price and demand. Scarcity, access, and perceived value drive demand more than the cost of a ticket. 
• Stop playing catch-up. Every year of hesitation makes the eventual adjustment bigger, harder, and more disruptive. 

Price is not a punishment for your audience. It’s a demand signal, and when managed with intention, it’s one of your most powerful tools for financial resilience. 

Ready to Reframe Your Pricing? 

This is exactly what we unpack in the latest episode of our Leading the Way series. Here are the key takeaways: 

• Pricing is leadership work: the most important financial lever can’t be siloed. 
• Fear is costing you revenue: small, steady adjustments prevent painful “catch-up” jumps. 
• Demand drives price, not the other way around: lowering price is unlikely to stimulate demand, in the same way raising prices doesn't mean that demand is going to drop. 
• Accessibility and revenue can coexist: scaling strategically makes both possible.