Arts Access

We overcame our targeted audience's barriers to participation, including geographic, economic, and perceptive barriers. We also created an opportunity for more Minnesotans to participate in the arts, especially those who would not normally participate in a performing arts experience such as ours. For example, a Hmong family with thirteen children attended the performance at no cost whatsoever. We evaluated the extent to which we achieved our outcomes through: one-on-one interactions between cast and the audience after the shows in the intimate and informal setting of the post-performance gatherings; building personal relationships with the garage hosts and their co-Hosts; evaluating the detailed audience surveys; and reviewing box office statistics. We also receive a number of unsolicited social media posts, emails, letters, and coverage from the media. The hosts also attended the post-tour dinner at our home, and their feedback was invaluable. 2: Of the survey respondents, nearly 50% of total respondents cited time and/or cost as the principal barrier to their participation. The average donation made was down $1.30 than projected based on the past 3 years of the Garage Tour, reaffirming a persistent economic barrier to participation. Also, in the one-on-one interactions with audiences and hosts during the post-performance gatherings we can generally ascertain if a host was able to attract an audience broader than their known friends. About three fifths of survey respondents learned about the performances through word-of-mouth, and the rest learned about them directly through the Hosts. This tells us we are both reaching the immediate neighborhood/community, and more broadly every year outside the Hosts' personal circle.