What the audiences of performing arts find most important: An examination of the attitudinal and relational marketing strategies

Abstract

The audiences of performing arts events are changing, together with wider economic and cultural changes. A questionnaire survey of three folklore performances was conducted in 2008, and yielded a response of 1,470 theater audience members in Taiwan. Traditional folklore performances are usually seen as appealing by old male viewers. However, the findings showed that the audiences of the performances comprised fewer men and a considerable number of women. With the successful transformation of the art organization in relationship marketing, young and collegiate respondents were shown to be frequent and loyal viewers of this folklore performance. The school channel in this study was found to be an effective way to disseminate performance-related information to the young audiences. In addition, age was found to be the predictor for building relations of the emotional bond. This paper contended that building relationships required emotional bonds with the art organization. For long-term true relationships, it was suggested to be driven by the goal of directed emotional quality perceived by the audiences. The discussion on the future studies and limitations were concluded.