Just Wondering Wednesday: What would help the turnout at concerts and other productions?
Published by Kristy April 18th, 2007 in Site.On Sunday afternoon, the Seark Concert Association held another event with the Pine Bluff Symphony entitled “The Splendor of Broadway”. Once again the turn out was minimal, and it was the same people as always. My question is this: What type of entertainment would get a good turnout? What has happened in our town that people do not show support for entertainment or productions put on by varied groups? What can be done to make it more worth while? Today’s production was awesome!
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I remember awhile back the group “Train” performed at UAM to a packed in audience………I beleive this was right before their song “Drops of Jupiter” was released.Maybe bringing in just such artists may boost attendance.
Well, it’s unfortunate, but true. College students are not interested in Broadway, Pops, Symphonies, Jazz, etc. Though some of them, primarily those in the music department, genuinely enjoy them (as do I); the majority do not. Further, the target audience would appear to be more mature and is not well informed about such performances. It seems that the community of Monticello would attend if the proper publicity were utilized so that they could plan for attendence. The University community would prefer more contemporary entertainment as K.T. mentioned (I remember the Coolio concert as well). Unfortunately, UAM rarely seems to cater to that and it’s unlikely that attendence will improve until they do.
The “Train” performance put on my UAM’s Student Activity Board many years ago was a big hit that took a lot of work to put together. Of course we advertised like crazy but we also walked thru the residence halls to knock on each door to sell the tickets. We really had to push the sales to get everyone involved.
Maybe a better approach would be approaching people!! I’ve never been personally asked to attend one of these events mentioned. Like most people, I see the announcement and go about my day!
I also agree with KT about bringing in artists that appeal more to the younger crowd as well.
Thanks for the great comments so far. I agree that it’s in the advertising in some ways. I would enjoy many different types of performances but I really don’t know about them until it’s too late to plan going. I’m not sure what the answer is, but I do hope this improves and helps generate ideas among our community members and leaders.
As a musician, it is very discouraging to see the lack of support shown to the vast musical talent in this region. I am the drummer for Gary Meggs and the Ezekiel 3:18 Band. Gary is the director of bands at UAM. We have traveled all over the country playing at churches and venues which include multiple TV appearances on Total Christian Television (broadcast in over 100 countries) and KATV Good Morning Arkansas. Each time we get our radio reports back, they show we get airplay nation-wide commonly making the top charts. But we find that most of the radio stations in this region will not play us. We find it difficult to even get venues in this area.
I am also a music major at UAM. They require us to go to perfomances such as those sponsored by SEARK, basically just to ensure an audience. And I have to say, even as a music major, I’m usually dissappointed with the selection of events. And if it’s hard for a music major to enjoy, I can assure you those not involved in the music program will not be entertained.
For more info on the music I play, visit http://www.kaseyearl.com or http://www.garymeggs.com.