Operating Support Grant

TWPO distributes surveys to our audiences asking them to rate our programming, our advertising strategies, quality of our performance venues as well as list ideas of what they would like TPWO to provide in the future to the community. Besides surveys, TPWO also does post-concert discussions with the audience at the reception following the concerts for their immediate feedback and impressions of the concert. Their survey responses and feedback are discussed and evaluated at the Board meetings following the performances. Based on these surveys, TWPO implemented ?Meet The Conductor? series, a pre-concert talk about the music to be performed and introduces our guest artists to the audience. Additionally, TPWO has adjusted the ways we promote concerts and communicate with our audience base based upon their input. The surveys include questions on music our audience wants to hear and TPWO does include selections catering to their suggestions in future programs. TPWO has two groups of constituents; the musicians who participate in the orchestra and the community members who attend the concerts. To better understand the needs of our audience, we hand out surveys and the survey results are discussed at board meetings. Decisions are made through the board to make the needed changes and adjustments to better serve the audience. TPWO board members who are in the ensemble regularly seek the input of the membership to ensure they feel engaged and excited about the programming, rehearsal/concert schedule and the administrative decisions made by the board. Ultimately, the most accurate sign of TPWO?s success is its ability to retain and grow both our audience and orchestra membership. Board members and staff regularly discuss these numbers. Audience numbers have been slowly increasing indicating that we are doing some of the right things for our constituents. The findings from our surveys have indicated that we are doing quite well on meeting our goals for quality programming that is both challenging and is appealing to the public and the musicians. In recent years we have programed music that is of the highest artistic level challenging the listeners expectations for what they will hear at a live performance. Many times we will perform some music that is contemporary in nature and not as readily accessible to the average audience member. We have been pleasantly surprised at the positive and accepting response from our audience. Having said that we also know that there is music that many concert goers want and like and we always work to program music that meets that desire. We also have polled the audience to find out their favorite selections. We have begun to program them more often on a rotational basis. Other comments were that concert lengths were at time a bit long and we have adjusted the time so that concerts run under 2 hours with intermission or less that 1 hr 30 min without an intermission. All of these programming considerations have made our performances more approachable to the public. One concern from the surveys was the location and ease for audience attending concerts. From the comments we found that the facilities for concerts must have adequate parking lots that provide easy access to and from the concert venue. Easy access into the performance hall have been considered. The results of this is that we have sought out venues that meet these needs.