[NEohioPAL] What were they thinking: The aging performance arts audience

[Bob Abelman via NEohioPAL]

What were they thinking:  The aging performing arts audience 

Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics



Most of us have read about, many of us have witnessed, and some of us are living proof of the aging of the performing arts audience.



According to the National Endowment for the Arts, the average age of those attending classical music performances, the ballet, jazz concerts and plays is increasing. This is not just because the median age of the general population is creeping up as well; it is the result of one generation of audience members not being adequately replaced by the next.

Big Data reports that the vast majority of subscribers to the Cleveland Play House and Great Lakes Theater were born between the mid-1920s and the mid-1940s, followed by members of the early “Baby Boomer Generation” who were born between the mid-1940s and the mid-1950s.  And the average age of attendees for the touring Broadway shows coming through Playhouse Square is 53 years old.  



It can certainly be argued that audiences for theater have always skewed older, dating back to the ancient patrons attending ancient Greek performances.  When young, no matter the millennium, we tend to gravitate toward new artists and new art forms until our interests, income and evenings become more amenable to traditional pursuits.  



But in recent years, fewer young people have been returning to the fold.  

  

For more of this review, go to www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/. 
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