Matt Chapuran

In June 2023, Deloitte released a study in which they interviewed 3,000 arts fans in the hopes of keeping ahead of demographic shifts and trends towards digital content.

The somewhat breathless report discovered that over the last three years 90% of respondents felt their loyalty to the arts had grown or at least stayed the same. “The current state…is strong,” Deloitte concludes, but you can feel the pearls clutched as they add, “…for now.”

Now, I’m actually lying to you and more than a little.

The results above are from Deloitte but they’re a report of sports fans, and not the arts. “Fans have access to a mind-boggling amount of sports content across multiple platforms, but this increasingly complex media environment could impact the engagement and passion of the next generation of fans,” the report says. “These shifts could also present monumental opportunities to connect with fans and forge deeper connections.”

This is all very applicable to the start of Performing and Visual Arts. When I first heard about this study in an October 16, 2024 Boston Magazine article, Makena Gera quoted Kim Zayotti, the founder and CEO of Blue Sky Sports & Entertainment, a Boston-based sports marketing and talent management firm, as concluding “The trend across all sports is that the fan base is aging.”

The American Psychological Association would agree. One of their on-line brochures states, “The United States — and the world — are aging. The number of Americans aged 65 and older is projected to double from 46 million to more than 98 million by 2060…One out of every four 65-year-olds today will live past age 90.”

Aging audiences has been a worry I’ve heard about since my first full-time job in the arts in 2002.

But should this be peril or opportunity?

After all, the APA goes on say, “This demographic shift has moved the focus of researchers, health care providers and policymakers from how to extend the lifespan to ways to improve the quality of our later years. Staying healthy, active and productive are admirable goals for our nation’s older adults.”

Why then, do the arts focus heavily on trying to remake their art forms to conform to the perceived tastes of younger consumers? Gera’s article in Boston Magazine, “How Boston Sports Teams Are Using Social Media to Lure Younger Fans,” points to this drive to attract younger fans with marketing campaigns “where, in some cases, nary a glimpse of a puck or a ball is necessary.”

Deloitte goes farther, with commentary on how the very nature of a sporting event might evolve to meet this perceived market. “To further improve the home experience, some sports providers are experimenting with ways to give fans a more interactive and personalized home viewing experience. Some streaming video providers are offering advanced statistics and analytics in real time, interactive replay, and alternate streams with different broadcasting talent. Other sports broadcasters, through their apps, are giving fans the option of integrating prediction games into their viewing experience or adding a layer of social interaction by offering cowatching capabilities.”

But does a TikTok about stolen donuts, as cited in Gera’s article, or does answering Deloitte’s questions of how “sports providers {can} continue to evolve their technical capabilities to enable more seamless multitasking and give fans more options for personalization while watching sports,” actually result in more fans showing up to take a seat, or does it dilute a product that needs to stand alone on its own merits?

After all, one of Deloitte’s own conclusions is that fans show up for sports for entertainment. Is the answer enough to make sure that the arts is providing entertainment? (Intelligent entertainment? Yes! But entertainment nonetheless.) Even by their own admission, “The passion of Gen Z fans is growing as well—60% said that they were more of a fan today than they were three years ago. This suggests that they are still growing into, and establishing, their sports fanhood.”

Returning to the question of why we’re not trying harder to court and keep aging audiences given that the cohort is growing, the APA suggests that “society’s view of “old age” has not always kept up with the reality of being old in America. Many current beliefs about aging were based on information that is no longer valid given recent scientific advances.” Their brochure goes on to tackle myths about cognitive decline and a capacity amongst older people to learn new skills.

There may be prescriptions for remedies in Deloitte’s study. They do also note that a desire for a shared experience draws fans both young and old to sports, and that “…around a third of fans attribute {the genesis of their fanhood} to their participation in youth sports—the top overall reason.”

I humbly argue that among the keys for rebuilding arts audiences, we need to remember having a shared experience, and not an on-demand experience, is key. So is demystifying the process of making art. Rather than investing in TikTok videos, it might be more productive for arts organizations to expand adult education, including scene study, play reading, even putting the occasional paint brush in somebody’s hand, all making the experience more real.

That might be the lay-up, the touchdown, and the home run.