Theaters look for new ways to draw in subscriptions

“Subscribe Now!” was the title of a 1977 book by Danny Newman that became the marketing bible for performing-arts institutions in the United States.

“No!” comes the answer from audiences a generation later.

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“That’s a chestnut,” 26-year-old Tony Heaphy, the new marketing director at Baltimore’s Centerstage, said of Newman’s book.

Yet that chestnut helped solidify the way many groups across the country still do much of their selling — even though evidence suggests that the subscription model is chugging into a ditch.

Last year, Theatre Communications Group’s annual Theatre Facts study revealed that subscriptions were down 15 percent nationally since 2006. Most disturbing was the shrinkage of subscriptions — desirable as a paid-up-front and company-stabilizing source of cash — as a percentage of overall income, from 20 percent to less than 17 percent.

That doesn’t sound like much, especially with single-ticket income rising from 22 percent to 25 percent of total income. But the psychological shift is profound, inevitably nudging not-for-profit arts groups toward the old commercial “Give me a hit show now!” box-office anxiety.

The situation is no better in classical music and dance. Amy Fitterer, executive director of Washington-based Dance/USA, reports that subscriptions are decreasing particularly rapidly among troupes with budgets of $15 million or more. Jesse Rosen, president of the League of American Orchestras, gave a speech last year noting that classical-music participation is down nationally 29 percent over the past 20 years. Classical-music season subscription revenue has dropped more than 5 percent since 2006, according to the league.

The idea of subscribing to a full season of theater, classical music or dance — choosing your seats and committing to six or a dozen or more dates through the coming year at the local culture palace — has been under siege for some time. Home video, the Internet and WiFi have altered the biorhythms and buying patterns of audiences. Arts groups have been retrenching for so long that Jeffrey Herrmann, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s managing director, said the subscription problem is rarely discussed at industry conferences.

“We’re kind of tired of talking about it,” Herrmann said.

Still, Fitterer said, “subscriptions are not dead yet, because everyone keeps doing them.”

Herrmann agreed. “No one has come up with what the next big thing is,” he said.

Social media is not yet riding to the rescue. Facebook and Twitter may be claiming a lot of chatter, expense and energy, but Deeksha Gaur, Woolly’s director of marketing and public relations, echoed the sentiments of Heaphy and others. “For the most part,” Gaur said in an e-mail, “social media has been more of a communications channel rather than a direct sales channel for us.”

Still, subscriptions aren’t dead yet, and there have been wrinkles lately in the way they’re pitched and packaged. One comes from dynamic pricing, which arts groups have begun to use like airline fares — prices go up as dates near and demand tightens. This can be fueled by special events or stars — Helen Mirren at the Shakespeare Theatre Company for one week a few seasons back, or Arena Stage’s current “Red Hot Patriot,” headlined by Kathleen Turner.