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Holidays Are The Time To Design Experiences For Family And Friends

December 1, 2025

by:

Joe Patti

About a month ago, Colleen Dilenschneider and the folks at IMPACTS Experience made some suggestions for facilitating holiday season experiences based on trends they were seeing in survey data.

One of of the big things they noticed was that people are traveling much more than in the past, but attendance at cultural organization had been dropping during 2025.

The reasons for this is that while they were traveling more people were spending a shorter period of time away from home. Because so many people making attendance arrangements once they are in town rather than in advance, that represents a smaller window of opportunity.

Another reason is because people are traveling for the purpose of spending time with family and friends rather than spending time at a destination so the orientation is on being with others rather than seeing sites.

Given that visiting friends and family is the primary decision-making factor for travel this upcoming holiday season – rather than taking part in a specific activity – it will be critical for cultural entities to keep their eye on the ball when it comes to reminding folks of our power to create meaningful moments between loved ones.

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As readers might imagine, budgetary considerations also factor in to attendance plans at cultural organizations. Tangentially related to this, last week I noticed our bar revenue was down quite a bit over last year. Attendance at our events and those of renters has generally been within expectations over the last year, but apparently people were scaling back their spending in our bar and concessions.

There were a number of pieces of advice they offered for the holiday season and beyond. Among them were to lean into the traditional activities people engage in with family and friends around the holidays- Nutcracker performances, tree lighting, sing-a-long caroling, etc.

They also suggested looking at re-packaging and re-pricing experiences in order to position them as values. (my emphasis)

Introducing bundles of special experiences, highlighting membership loyalty tiers, and underscoring strategic, time-sensitive programs … To be clear, this is different than a discounting strategy! .. simply offering a discount ignores the fact that admission prices are rarely the primary cost-related obstacle for those interested in visiting a cultural organization. Instead, these cost and price-related strategies can help emphasize an emotional ROI – wonder per dollar, connection per hour.

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Another form of re-packing mentioned is condensing an experience for people who are short on time. It may take the form of a shortened tour that will hit the exciting highlights of a gallery or garden and end with a holiday themed snack or interaction. In some cases it may just be advertising an existing experience as specially designed for time pressed groups/families with fussy kids.

One of our annual renters does something long these lines. In early December, they do a full performance of The Nutcracker at a venue about 15 miles away. Then in the week before Christmas, they do a 45 minute version focused on the “sugar plum” elements of the show at my venue sometimes cranking out 2-3 performances a day for some pretty good sized audiences.

Related to goal of saving visitors’ time was the suggestion of digital tools to support and facilitate the visit. For example, for admission, information delivery, wayfinding, parking, etc. It isn’t just a matter of having these tools. Communicating that these tools exist and are available to ease a guest’s experience can aid in the decision to attend an event.

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

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Empathy In Hiking

November 26, 2025

by:

Joe Patti

Seth Godin made a post about empathy a few weeks ago that is somewhat apt for the upcoming holiday season.

Every hiker is intimately aware of their backpack. They picked it out, choosing from dozens of options. They know which straps are loose and which are digging into their skin. They can tell you if it’s lopsided, and what is in each pocket.

And yet…

Even after days on the trail, they probably couldn’t tell you a thing about anyone else’s backpack. Except, perhaps, that everyone else has one.

That’s the first step toward empathy: Realizing that everyone else has a backpack, and that it’s different from yours.

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I would also add that for an activity that is pretty stripped down from the accoutrement of our daily lives, there are a lot of rules to learn regarding hiking. It requires some empathy to realize new folks may not be aware of the rules.

Usually those descending yield to those ascending. Everyone yields to horse, bikes yield to hikers.

Carry out trash and waste. (You folks leaving the bags of dog poop on the side of the trail to “pick up on the return trip” aren’t fooling anyone)

If you are going any distance into the hills and mountains, put your cell phone in airplane mode so that the battery doesn’t run down as it seeks a signal. If you encounter an emergency and have to a hike to a place where there is a signal, you’ll be grateful you preserved the charge.

While people might not be able to tell you everything about someone else’s backpack, you can often spot if they struggling with the weight of the pack because the straps aren’t adjusted correctly. Being willing to give people tips about how to ease their burden is a way of welcoming people into the activity.

There was a time I pointed out a guy was wearing his ice spikes backwards that immediately led me to recall when a couple hikers gave me advice about the best spikes to buy as I was gingerly edging my way down a trail.

This can all metaphorically be applied to other parts of life because they are practical applications of decency in everyday life.

General Musings

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Apparently Construction Scaffolding Doesn’t Have To Be A Dark Maze

November 25, 2025

by:

Joe Patti

Maybe it is because I have had street construction occurring around my venue since February (reaching my block December 1!) but my interest was piqued when I saw a FastCompany article about the effort to redesign the scaffolding used on construction projects in New York City.

The goal is to make the structures, also called construction sheds, less obtrusive and overbearing for pedestrians and more attractive overall.

I have written about efforts to make construction zones more welcoming in order to maintain a welcoming environment and sense of ease of access so that people continue to patronize businesses in construction zone.

While New Yorkers seem undeterred by the never ending construction they are surrounded with on a daily basis, the design concepts would most certainly facilitate the experience of people in other cities.

I will admit I never considered that there might be alternatives to the boxy, dark passages that loom over the sidewalks of cities. There is obviously a need to protect passersby from falling debris and separate construction zones from the streets. As the article notes, the scaffolding is not only an obstacle for pedestrians to navigate, but they frequently block building entrances and limit where people can exit their cars.

Some of the designs submitted are much more open on the sides and above allowing light to better suffuse the space. One design is even stronger than current structures even with fewer cross bracing. Others accommodate the current placement of benches, street lights, public art, fire escapes and other structures maintaining safety features and avoiding the need to remove amenities and attractions.

For me this was a little more evidence of how creativity and utility can intersect to improve quality of life for communities.

Arts Facilities, Audience Relations, creativity

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Case For Gov’t Support Of House Concerts

November 24, 2025

by:

Joe Patti

FastCompany recently had a post by Matt Mandrella, the music officer for Huntsville, AL advocating for cities to support house concerts as a method for stimulating economic and creative vitality. According Mandrella, Huntsville has a handful of people who have set up their basements and garages to host concerts.

This raised a lot of questions in my mind about how the neighbors were impacted by traffic, parking, and possibly noise.

Mandrella said cities shouldn’t just be building amphitheaters (Huntsville has one), they should be supporting neighborhood level cultural infrastructure which are more fan and creator focused.

House shows fill a different and equally vital gap. They empower artists to control ticket prices and profit margins, bypassing bar-sales-driven venue models. They create peer networking opportunities and act as incubators for emerging talent, offering artists the chance to book, promote and manage shows on a small scale, thereby building skills that can scale to larger venues.

Most importantly, house shows democratize music, embedding it in communities instead of keeping it behind ticketing paywalls. In short, they rebalance the live music economy.

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He says among the things Huntsville is doing to support these small concert venues is helping people form LLCs in order to separate owners’ liability from their personal assets; advising on sound, lighting, and ticketing; having conversations about artist pay and sustainability.

And perhaps most importantly from the neighbors’ point of view – “Guiding artists through compliance with sound ordinances and neighborhood approvals.”

Mandrella also pitches vibrant house concert networks as a possible response to AI generated music in the sense that it creates local, accessible opportunities for people to connect with their neighbors and perhaps generate a sense of ownership and pride.

To some extent, this isn’t an entirely new idea. About 10 years ago I wrote about the PorchRokr Festival near Akron, OH where people hosted concerts on their porches. I subsequently became aware of other porch based concert series around the country. This is the first time I have read about a city intentionally working to create an infrastructure to support and encourage house concerts as a going concern.

Audience Relations, Building Public Will For Arts And Culture, Business Models, Government Relations, New Initiatives

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