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Tie A Yellow Ribbon Around The Old Construction Fence

August 11, 2025

by:

Joe Patti

Over the last dozen years I have frequently written about Springboard for the Arts’ Irrigate initiative where they organized 600 artists to provide activity along the construction route for the Green Line light rail in St. Paul, MN. Businesses along the route were concerned that the 2-3 year span of construction would drive them out of business.

The goal of the Irrigate program was to get people into the shops and walking the streets along the construction route. The artists created performances, events, art installations, etc along the route and sometimes in the businesses.

So when the downtown district authority and city started talking a few years ago about their plans to dig up the streets along a five block stretch over the course of 18 months, I started to make the downtown authority and the creative district board aware of what had been done in St. Paul. I had a bit of a vested interest in keeping foot traffic up since the construction will be passing in front of my venue in October.

Construction started in February but starting this summer the folks from the creative district started painting messages on the sidewalk in front of different businesses. In one area they have a hopscotch pattern with a message about reliving memories of youth. Since this is right across the street from my office, I have seen a lot of people, both kids and adults handing off bags and water bottles and skipping through that section. Another place has a zone painted encouraging people to dance their hearts out. Other places have funny messages directing people to different businesses.

This Friday, they kicked things up a bit more and put silhouettes of dump trucks on some of the construction fencing and then painted rainbows coming out of the trucks, across the fencing and then spilling out across the sidewalk. They distributed ribbons to various participating businesses in the construction zone and are encouraging people to patronize the businesses. In return, people will get ribbons to attach to the fencing.

Theoretically, people will attach the ribbons to the corresponding colors on the fence. We will see how that works out. It may be hard to see in the bottom picture, but I helped to prime the pump by attaching ribbons right after things were installed on Friday.

I haven’t written specifically about creative placemaking in a little while, but as this project shows it hasn’t fallen by the wayside. This is another example of how artists can help mitigate/solve issues facing communities.

The creative district folks are installing another project tomorrow night. I don’t remember the details but hopefully I will get some good pictures for a future post.

Building Public Will For Arts And Culture, creativity, New Initiatives

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American Indians Find New Supplier Of Traditional Shells–India

August 5, 2025

by:

Joe Patti

Last week I wrote about a series of case studies on small arts and cultural organizations creating community advisory groups referenced in an Arts Midwest newsletter.

Another set of stories referenced in the Arts Midwest newsletter was about a 2024 pilot grant program they had started to support 10 Midwest media groups’ capacity to tell stories of arts and culture.

One of the groups expanded arts coverage to rural Ohio counties they hadn’t reported from before. Another explored Lucha Libre’s role in helping collect the stories of Mexican immigrants in Iowa. Another series covered non-traditional and living maps in the Midwest. There were some quirky, but interesting and inventive topics covered. If you are intrigued, visit the project page.

The story project that really drew me in was Buffalo’s Fire reporting on dentalium shells. The shells are tusk shaped and were highly prized by a broad range of American Indian tribes in the Midwest. Since the shells were found on the shores of the Pacific Northwest, there was a robust trade that occurred. However, pandemics, armed conflict, and displacement broke up the trade routes.

The interesting twist on the story is that currently the trade is Indian to Indian–as in the sub-continent of India to American Indians. Fisherman in India are supplying the shell to American Indians. Buffalo’s Fire went to India and made a video interviewing some of these fisherman.

There are a half dozen stories and a few audio interviews discussing the traditional and current use of the shells, where to buy them, the history of the trade, the biology of the shells, etc.

One of the stories mentioned that the supply from the Pacific Northwest is limited today. I was wondering why the supply couldn’t be re-established domestically. I wasn’t clear if that was due to it not being economically worthwhile to harvest or perhaps something related to change of climate and habitat.

Clearly, that interesting connection between Indians and the misnamed indigenous people of North America piqued my interest in exploring deeper and Buffalo’s Fire provided a good range of content.

Arts in an Age of Technology, creativity, General Musings

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The Story Behind The Storytelling Increases Perception Of Value

August 4, 2025

by:

Joe Patti

Came across a press release about a study conducted on Gen Z and Millennial perceptions of Broadway. The provocative title suggested that Broadway wasn’t overpriced, but rather undervalued. According to the study’s sponsors, No Guarantees Productions, once people learn everything that goes into a Broadway production, the amount they are willing to pay increases.

While many of the study participants indicated they were cutting back on their spending due to economic uncertainty, they were open to spending on experiences shared with friends vs. things. This has been a trending sentiment across many studies, especially since the scaling down of pandemic restrictions. These experiences are perceived to provide a greater emotional return on investment than purchasing things affords.

The study includes direct responses from participants and really illustrated the amount of thought people were putting into curating these experiences for others. Some people were thinking about the music a friend/family member liked, others wanted to take friends to their first Broadway show and were thrilled to provide friends with their first theater attendance experience ever.

As seen in the chart below, the study used a number of prompts to determine how much people were willing to pay to see a Broadway show, then provided the context of the expense for a typical vacation trip, then provided the context of how much it cost to run a Broadway show each week. With the addition of each bit of context, the amount people were willing to pay increased from $141 to $286 to $512.

This does align with previous findings that people are more interested in purchasing goods or experiences if there is an engaging story associated with it.

While respondents said they would attend more frequently if the tickets cost less, about 63% said that discounted tickets made them suspect the show’s quality was low or the seats were bad for some reason. No Guarantees suggested that discounting didn’t necessarily make a show more attractive.

In fact, some people responded they would rather pay a little extra to ensure they would have an enjoyable experience:

For Nikki, trading up for a more memorable experience trumps ticket price overall. She explains “If we’re going to spend money to go see a concert or game or a show, we’d rather spend the extra $100 and get the better seats and have the better experience than sit in a nosebleed section,”—a sentiment in line with the artisan economy and the intentionality people are prioritizing in experiences today.

Source

One response type that was interesting to me was that the perception that Broadway shows run forever was resulting in a lack of urgency. I am sure it would dismay a lot of Broadway marketing teams to learn that it regardless of how much buzz they generate about the opening of a show, there are a lot of people who think they can always see it later.

Nikki is a great example of having high interest in Broadway, but low urgency to go to a show. “I would love to see Hamilton, it’s been on my list for a while. I hear it’s the most amazing show, but they’re not taking it off anytime soon. So, I just haven’t gotten around to getting tickets to go see it.”

It’s true that, relative to many other entertainment experiences, Broadway feels static. The
perception that the same show that’s been playing for twenty years will go on for another
twenty hinders the opportunity for attracting new audiences. This is particularly true at
a time when a constant stream of new content has become an expectation for younger
generations

Source

No Guarantees suggests one solution for Broadway would be the creation of social clubs and locals-only events. One of the respondents said social clubs targeting her and her friends is what has gotten her to attend a number of events at Lincoln Center.

One thing to note is that most of the respondents were from the NYC area or tri-state region (NY, NJ, CT) with fewer from the national sphere. So many of them may have been plugged-in or at least highly aware of opportunities even if they indicated they didn’t attend frequently. While I imagine that people living in other parts of the US may have a similar perception of the value proposition and would be willing to pay more if they had similar context, the differing range of opportunities available and expectations about participation will likely impact the amount they would be willing to pay and degree to which they would engage.

Audience Relations, Building Public Will For Arts And Culture, Marketing/PR

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How Will My Advice Help?

July 30, 2025

by:

Joe Patti

Arts Midwest sent out their monthly newsletter this week which included stories they had published on their website during July. One of the pieces was a quick set of case studies of small arts organizations making efforts to prevent burn out among their staff and volunteers.

Another piece included three examples of arts organizations’ efforts to create community advisory committees. The experience of one organization in particular, 825 Arts, caught my attention because it emphasizes the importance of being specific when recruiting for committees. It is something that seems obvious, but is seldom recognized and put into practice.

Essentially, they tried to recruit a group to advise them about how best to serve the Frogtown and Rondo neighborhoods in St. Paul, Minnesota. They had a hard time recruiting and retaining people to the committee because people didn’t quite understand the purpose of the group.

Once they shifted their messaging and communication about the group, they saw more involvement.

…they changed the name of the group from “Community Engagement Committee” to “Neighborhood Dream Team.” The new name captured the spirit of the group’s new goals: dreaming and visioning on programs and their potential for their neighborhood.

They also decided to shift formats, engaging members through an ongoing text thread in addition to in-person meetings. The text thread allowed members to respond and contribute on their own time, while the bi-monthly meetings focused on larger proposals and the bigger picture.

825 Arts found success with their community advisory group by honoring members’ time, adapting to their preferred communication styles, and establishing a clear, shared goal.

Source

Among the advice 825 had for others was to make sure people not only understand how they are contributing to the organization, but how those contributions have shaped the final result of things that have been implemented.

Audience Relations, Boards, Building Public Will For Arts And Culture, Leadership

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