With support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the James Irvine Foundation, Dance/USA launched Engaging Dance Audiences (EDA), a $2.1 million pilot program that enables Dance/USA to analyze current dance-going activities, and its members to explore and research methods of engaging audiences for dance, learn from peers, and share the learning nationally. 

The Four Components

EDA consists of four components, all of which are designed to result in learning that is shared with the full Dance/USA membership. The Reports below are the first in a series of resources that will be disseminated over a two year period. In conjunction with Dance/USA staff, Suzanne Callahan of Callahan Consulting for the Arts will manage the granting program and learning community (components 1 and 3); Alan Brown and Jennifer Novak of WolfBrown will manage the research aspects (components 2 and 4).

1) Project Support. Out of a highly competitive process, nine Dance/USA members were funded to develop new or refine existing engagement practices and share their discoveries with the dance field. A total of $1,300,750 will be distributed to the grantees to support their projects and operations, in addition to technical assistance. Project activities begin in January 2010 and will wrap up by June 30, 2011.

Download the Press Release
Read about the grantees, projects, and review process.

Report on the Call for Ideas, Callahan Consulting for the Arts
Download the Summary  |  Download the Full Report  |  Download the PowerPoint
A review of the 179 Submissions to the Call for Project Ideas, the first phase of the application for project support, revealed the dance field’s current practices, new thinking and future plans in audience engagement. It examines the geographic distribution, of organizations that applied; projects applied for; and themes or trends of interest.  It shows much consistency and some divergence among the Submissions in current activities, challenges, and future aspirations. 

2) Audience Engagement Research. Grantees will cooperate with WolfBrown to conduct research on their own audience engagement. WolfBrown will provide technical assistance to the grantees in designing and executing audience surveys. 

The Survey of Current Audience Engagement Practices, WolfBrown
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The core goals of this survey were to provide a snapshot of current audience engagement practices occurring in the dance field, and to gather insights about the field’s philosophy towards audience engagement and thoughts on its future role to serve dance.  The survey was open to Dance/USA members and non-members. The report covers: types of engagement activities undertaken; barriers faced; planning and responsibility for, and evaluation of, engagement programs; and perspectives on “audience engage/uploads/EDA/EDAPressReleaseFINAL.pdfment” and “audience development.” 

3) Learning Community. At its core, EDA is a learning initiative for Dance/USA members and the field. A national learning community will begin by joining the grantees, through meetings, conference calls, and use of social media. The full membership will be invited to share in the learning that emerges from projects through the use of social media, webinars, at meetings, through reports such as the ones referenced on this page, and in other ways. Learning is designed around themes that have relevance and importance to the field at large.

4) Additional Audience Research. Dance/USA will commission additional field-wide research on audiences to be conducted by WolfBrown, the scope of which is to be determined.

Audience Engagement

The term “audience engagement” is defined in the guidelines. That definition is still evolving, and Dance/USA hopes that EDA will encourage and empower participants to contribute their own wisdom and experience.

Audience Engagement: Working Toward a Definition
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In order to provide context for the design of EDA, in the fall of 2008, Dance/USA interviewed 25 of its members to develop an understanding of the field’s perception of the phrase “audience engagement.”  Dance/USA sought to illuminate both the ways in which the dance field is currently using engagement activities and themes that would contribute to a definition of “audience engagement.” Responses varied greatly among organizations and could even differ inside an organization when individuals from the artistic and management sides were interviewed.