Operating Support
ACHF Arts Access
Ensure that high quality arts programs that educate, entertain, and inspire are available to a broad audience in the western metro area. Outcomes include increased educational content for audiences of the Center's programs; increased average attendance at concerts and events; new audience members served; and increased participation at Center events beyond its walls (Festival, Social Club, etc.) Success for Musical Notes was measured by increased attendance as this new initiative became established. We achieved standing room only at two events. We tried to use evaluation forms but did not collect enough to be helpful. Box office reports are used to track attendance at concerts. Our biggest disappointment this year was the Arts Festival; artists and attendees were surveyed to try to determine the future of this event. 2: Reach diverse audiences through targeted program development and effective promotion and communication so that people of varied ages, ethnicities, interests, and abilities are served by the center. Outcomes include broadened ages and ethnicities of participants (artists, audiences, others); increased number of strategic partnerships created to reach new audiences; increased number of people engaged through outreach efforts. We track how many tickets are used by the local food shelves. It is gratifying that the people who take these tickets do attend the events -- rarely are seats left empty. We do the same for Project Success. We follow up with the coordinators/case workers to get their perspective on the value of this effort. We are at the beginning of using social media but are able to see increased activity on our Web site.
Increased educational component of arts programs by holding four Musical Notes events (preconcert talks by concert musicians or experts in the field); added didactics to group exhibitions explaining the jurying process and including comments from jurors next to individual pieces that won awards. Increased average attendance at concerts and events, with the exception of the Arts Festival which experienced a decrease in attendance. Our Saturday concert series audience continued strong with 537 average attendance. Average attendance at our Tuesday series increased from 450/event the previous season to 543/event. 2: We reached new, diverse audiences most successfully through community partnerships with other organizations. Our Feed the Soul program (distributes tickets to people using food shelves) was expanded from our existing partnership with the Intercongregation Communities Association (ICA) Food Shelf of Minnetonka to include People Responding In Social Ministry (PRISM) in Golden Valley and Secondary Technical Education Program (STEP) in St Louis Park. We continued our relationship with Project Success to bring youth to our events. We now have a person dedicated to using social media daily to help us reach the young adult audience. We have just begun a relationship with Artists with Disabilities, providing a free booth for our Festival.
Other
local or private