Sustainable audience development and the art of ‘curating’ learning at orchestral concerts

Sustainable audience development and the art of ‘curating’ learning at orchestral concerts

For over a decade in a regional country town in Australia, a community orchestra of volunteer musicians has been curating free of charge concerts designed by music educators to welcome, engage and encourage children and families in their music learning. Not only does this annual project represent a sustainable example of how community music organisations can advocate for music education over a significant time, but it also represents a journey of discovering what makes for effective and impactful concerts that balance artistic, educational, and organisational tensions.

This workshop will share key strategies and principles for sustainable audience development with community music groups drawing on research projects carried out in collaboration with organisers and audience members. The research and practice shared will provide insight into how this arts organisation have re-imagined music education as part of a model that ‘curates’ learning through intentionally designed arts experiences. The workshop activities will invite participants to consider how relationships, pedagogy and audience differentiation can be used as part of outreach and engagement strategies within their own contexts with a special focus on designing concerts and events for younger audiences. Participants will be challenged to re-think the aims and intention of education within community music organisations and to view audience members as active co-creators and active musickers. The research and practices shared within this workshop will be of interest to fellow researchers investigating music education and audience development, as well as professional and community music education practitioners.

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