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.
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.
Demand has generally rebounded across the US, Canada, and the UK, with many genres now exceeding 2019 revenues. On the surface: more audiences, more sales, more income.
But the numbers tell a more complicated story. For years, ticket prices lagged inflation. Only in the most recent season have many organizations finally caught up, which in real terms feels like six years of “no net price growth” while expenses rose immediately.
Even now, catching up on price hasn’t fully closed the gap. Single-ticket units remain about 4% below 2019 levels, and overall revenues are still down by roughly 6% once adjusted for inflation. Frequency has been flat, and many audiences are attending less often. Organizations are increasingly reliant on new or reactivated customers to fill seats; a more expensive and less reliable path to growth.
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.
Organizations are selling more and doing more, yet still finding that each pound or dollar stretches less.
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.
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.
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.
The real discipline is in closing the gap before it widens:
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.
This is exactly what we unpack in the latest episode of our Leading the Way series. Here are the key takeaways: