Community Database: Understanding “Genre”

The Swedish have a saying that “Shared joy is double joy” – and that’s a great attitude to bring to the analysis of the Arizona Arts & Cultural Census/Community Database as you discover what your audiences do (and don’t) have in common with those of other organizations.  
 
So far, 49 arts & cultural organizations have uploaded their audience & supporter databases into the highly secure and totally confidential repository.  Yet their combined reach already accounts for nearly 700,000 Arizona households – which is close to 25% of ALL Arizona households.
 
It is important to understand the BREADTH of organizations represented in the Community Database – and understand that each organization’s entire database is classified into a Genre.

As you can see, various types of arts & culture organizations represented. Here is how they are grouped:  

Genre • Participating Organization(s)

• Choral/Vocal • Phoenix Boys Choir
• Orchestra/Instrumental • DuoWest • ProMusica Arizona Chorale & Orchestra • West Valley Symphony Association Inc.
• Dance • A Ludwig Dance Theatre • Arizona Dance Coalition • AZ Dance Group • Conder/Dance • Desert Dance Theatre • Scorpius Dance Theatre • Southwest Youth Ballet Theatre
• Theatre • Actors Theatre • Arizona Broadway Theatre • Arizona Theatre Company • Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre- Arizona • Carnival of Illusion • Childsplay, Inc. • Nearly Naked Theatre • New Carpa Theatre • Phoenix Theatre • Prescott Center for the Arts • Southwest Shakespeare Co. • Theatre Artists Studio
• Performing Arts Center • ASU Gammage • ASU Kerr Cultural Center • Chandler Center for the Arts • City of Prescott/Elks Opera House • Del E. Webb Center for the Performing Arts • Herberger Theater Center • Mesa Arts Center • Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts
• Museum • Arizona Museum of Natural History • ASU Art Museum • Children’s Museum of Phoenix • Heard Museum • Phoenix Art Museum • Smoki Museum, Inc. • The Children’s Museum Alliance, Inc.
• Service/Advocacy • Alliance for Audience • Arizona Citizens/Action for the Arts
• Film • Phoenix Film Foundation
• TV/Radio • Friends of Public Radio Arizona – KJZZ & KBAQ • KAET Arizona PBS
• Education • Phoenix Conservatory of Music
• Nature • Desert Botanical Garden
• Other • Jazz in Arizona (Jazz in AZ) • Metropolitan Tucson Convention & Visitors Bureau • Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau • West Valley Arts Council

Such a wide variety of groups are collaborating to build arts and cultural capacity in Arizona! Understanding how “genre” is represented is a basic step to get acquainted with Community Database.

In the coming weeks, we’ll examine the total database from a variety of perspectives. We’ll talk about distribution of organizations by budget size and examine audiences from the perspective of their demographics and also discover fascinating patterns in what they attend – and where – and when.

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Have a question about the Community Database that you’d like to ask Erika to explore?  Please submit it to Census@allianceforaudience.org.