Theaters look for new ways to draw in subscriptions

He cited efforts to make the concert experience more appealing to a broader segment of the public, like the New York Philharmonic’s recent “Philharmonic 360” performance in the Park Avenue Armory. The orchestra surrounded the audience in the vast hall, and the unusual event attracted a different clientele than that which usually populates the orchestra’s Lincoln Center home.

Will those first-timers subscribe? Rosen said studies are showing they don’t like that hard-sell pitch right away, that a cooler pace of cultivation yields better results. Lessons are being learned, he said, about “responding to what audiences say they want instead of what the orchestra wants.”

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ACT’s subscriptions are up slightly this year, possibly drafting on the success of the ACTPass, but Lathrop noted sharp differences in the profiles of subscribers and the pass holders, which she calls “members.” The age range for subscribers starts at about 55, but that skews 20 years younger for ACTPass members.

“We’re removing that crustiness,” Conway said, “without making it too populist, because our brand is aspiration, and luxury, and elite to a degree. We have to keep a little bit of the gilt still on.”

Heaphy said he thinks some of Newman’s principles endure — namely the sense of belonging, a clubby-ness that younger audiences like without the old snob factor.

That clubby-ness is for sale. Baltimore’s Centerstage calls the product a “Flex Pass,” or, for the 18-to-34 crowd, the “Go Pass.” Centerstage does not even use the word “subscriber” anymore; as in Seattle, the preferred term is “member.” Heaphy said that suggests civic engagement, solidarity with an arts group, more than just a bought package of goods.

Said Lathrop, “Maybe in 20 years someone in our ticket office will say, ‘What’s a subscriber?’ ”

Today’s volatile sales patterns are near-impossible to divine, Fitterer said, but Conway feels that the vibe around subscribing is definitely on the move, even if the increasingly flexible packaging tactics still come down to baiting the hook for buying art in bulk.

“When I come up with the term for it, you’ll be the first to know,” Conway said. “It may still be called an Oldsmobile, but it’s very much a Lexus under the hood.”