Venues join together for audience survey
Venues designed to bring together large gatherings of people to experience a live performance are being hit especially hard by the pandemic.
Sixteen performing arts centers and venues from around the state of Ohio including the Performing Arts Center at Kent State at Tuscarawas in New Philadelphia are joining forces to survey the consumer confidence of their audiences amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Venues designed to bring together large gatherings of people to experience a live performance are being hit especially hard by the pandemic. Their doors were among the first to close and will most likely be the last to reopen as bans on large gatherings are still in place throughout the state.
“We know now is not the right time to reopen our doors and get back to business as usual,” said David Mitchell, general manager of the Performing Arts Center at Kent State University at Tuscarawas, who initiated the state-wide survey. “Our industry is making decisions in the interest of public health and safety to remain closed for now, and we’re working our way through strategies for how and when we move forward. Surveying our audiences will assist us in formulating those strategies.”
The survey is designed to gauge when audiences will be comfortable coming back to theaters and venues to enjoy live entertainment again, whether it be a concert, Broadway show or family entertainment.
According to Chris Parthemore, executive director of the Sandusky State Theatre in Sandusky, “While several studies have been done on a national level, we know that every state and community is reacting differently to the pandemic, and it’s important that we understand how Ohioans and our local audience are reacting.”
“While nothing beats the visceral feeling of attending a live performance surrounded by hundreds of people for a shared experience, we know those experiences as we knew them will be on hold for a bit longer,” said Adele Adkins, executive director of the Clark State Performing Arts Center in Springfield. “This survey will go a long way in telling us how long it might be before our audience will be comfortable returning, even after bans on large gatherings are lifted.”
Mitchell summed it up by saying, “Live entertainment and the arts will never go away. It’s what makes us human to create and experience the joys that it brings. When times are tough, people seek out the arts and crave the feeling of unity. We need the healing power of the arts more than ever now, and we’ll be ready to provide those in-person experiences once again when the time is right.”
Participating venues whose seating capacities range from 901-2,592 include Akron Civic Theater (Akron), Canton Palace Theatre (Canton), Clark State Performing Arts Center (Springfield), Marathon Center for the Performing Arts (Findlay), Marion Palace Theatre (Marion), The Midland Theater (Newark), Oberlin College and Conservatory (Oberlin), Peoples Bank Theatre (Marietta), Performing Arts Center at Kent State Tuscarawas (New Philadelphia), The Ritz Theatre (Tiffin), Sandusky State Theatre (Sandusky), Stocker Arts Center (Elyria), Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium (Athens), Valentine Theatre (Toledo), Van Wert Live at the Niswonger (Van Wert), and The Veterans Memorial Civic and Convention Center (Lima).
Surveys are being distributed via email and social media to existing customers of each venue.
More information on the Performing Arts Center can be found at www.kent.edu/tusc/pac.
Kent State Tuscarawas is located at 330 University Drive NE in New Philadelphia.