'Starting to Remove the Barriers' by Susan Yaeger

Throughout the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons the Marketing Committee ran several programs that we thought were clever and unique, with the intent of getting more people in seats.  These included the Play It Forward, Gift of Music, and Flatter Yourself campaigns. Each of these shoestring budget programs had limited success. Follow-up phone calls to people who had not renewed their season tickets during the past two years overwhelmingly indicated that the cost of the tickets had become a barrier for them. Another common issue expressed by some of our “snowbird” patrons, who headed south for the winter, did not like to buy a subscription and then always miss the February concert. We were listening!

A number of things began to happen for the RSO, starting in April of 2010 when Paul and Pat Lingle issued their challenge to match $500,000 in planned gifts for an equal amount raised from the community in donations and planned giving. This was a phenomenal opportunity to secure the RSO’s long-term future. Then in the fall of 2010 we received word that the RSO had been the recipient of a very large bequest from the late Marlowe and Patricia Kluter. Again, the RSO board was in awe of the generosity of our patrons. Seeds of thought on what we could do to really honor these individuals and all of those in the community who have supported the symphony over the years started to grow into action.

January of 2011 saw a flury of activity for the RSO board. As Guy Bordo and the Artistic Committee were polishing off the programming for the 2011-12 season, the Marketing Committee’s annual brainstorming session to determine the theme and design for the upcoming season took on a whole new component. An article published in the December 2010 issue of Symphony: The Magazine of the League of American Orchestras caught our attention. The article discussed how several forward-thinking symphony organizations had redesigned their ticket pricing structure and were seeing great success. Interviews with directors of symphonies in Evansville and Baltimore, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and New World Symphony in Miami were seeing not only increased audience numbers but also support in donations by patrons excited about younger audiences being developed.

We talked about special promotions the RSO had run in the past, which were always aimed at offering a discount to new subscribers. The committee felt strongly that we needed to offer an equal value to our long-time patrons, especially in honor of the Kluters and Lingles. We crunched numbers to compare subscription and single ticket sales for the past several years. We discussed different scenarios and prices. Several things we did know:

• The ticket pricing structure needed to be simple
• Prices needed to benefit current and new subscribers
• Students needed to be allowed to attend any concert at no charge                 

This was going to be a bold move, no doubt about it! But the committee put together a proposal and brought it to the board in February of 2011.