Audience Development + Growth

I build the infrastructure that connects programs with the people most likely to value them.

I have developed segmented outreach systems that combine institutional and grassroots channels: regional media, including editors and reporters; partner institutions; cultural and community organizations; artists; schools and teachers; community calendars; and neighborhood groups. Rather than treating these contacts as a single promotional list, I organize them by geography, community, subject interest, relationship to the organization, and relevance to specific programs.

This structure makes outreach more targeted, personal, and measurable. Each exhibition or event can be matched with relevant audiences—from school and university groups to families, neighborhood networks, cultural communities, and members of the press. Tracking who was invited, who showed up, and—whenever possible—how participants heard about the program reveals which relationships and channels are producing meaningful participation. Registration data, attendance patterns, and participant feedback then refine both future programming and where outreach effort is best placed.

InLiquid: Shared Interest as an Entry Point

InLiquid is a contemporary visual arts nonprofit that supports artists through exhibition opportunities, professional development, career resources, and targeted promotion while connecting their work with collectors, curators, and broader audiences. Its potential audience, however, was not defined primarily by geography. It included people who were open to encountering contemporary art, but who might enter through subjects they already cared about rather than through the art world itself.

Because our public calendar revolved around major exhibitions, I researched each exhibition’s themes and mapped the communities already engaged with them. For an exhibition addressing ecological concerns, for example, I identified environmental groups at local universities, nonprofit organizations, educators, and community networks. I then developed direct outreach, invitations, tours, and other points of entry that connected their existing interests with the exhibition.

I used a segmented outreach database to track those thematic relationships, record which groups were invited to which programs, and build institutional knowledge from one exhibition to the next. As we strengthened our ticketing systems, we also began asking registrants how they had heard about each event. Attendance, registration-source, and outreach data could then be reviewed annually to identify which channels and partnerships were producing participation and where our limited marketing time delivered the strongest return.

This approach treated every program as an opportunity to build a different constellation of relationships. It expanded participation by making the relevance of contemporary art specific rather than assumed. Feedback at InLiquid was also connected to member services: listening to artists and members helped shape the kinds of professional support, programming, and access the organization offered.

2023 Results

Looking specifically at 2023, the number of events increased 80%—from 36 to 65—as the calendar more fully returned after COVID disruptions. Total attendance grew even faster, rising 133% from 2,228 to 5,199. That difference matters: the increase was not simply the result of offering more programs. Average attendance per event also rose 29%, from 62 to 80, meaning each event was reaching more people.

Average Attendance by Event Type

• Tours: increased 144%.
• Receptions: increased 70%.
• Workshops: increased 62%.
• Talks and panels: declined 41%, identifying a need for more targeted academic outreach and hybrid formats.

Viewed on its own, 2023 was a dramatic year—but it was not an isolated post-pandemic rebound. Attendance increased every year across my tenure, including during the most severe COVID restrictions, growing from 653 in 2019 to 5,199 in 2023. By that point, years of targeted outreach, partnerships, repeat programming, and audience cultivation had created momentum. The organization was reaching a scale at which returning participants, stronger visibility, partner networks, and word of mouth began to reinforce the deliberate outreach behind the growth.

LEDC: Place, Reach, and a Continuous Feedback Loop

The Lansdowne Economic Development Corporation (LEDC) is a place-based community and economic development nonprofit serving the Borough of Lansdowne. Its audience was fundamentally geographic, but not limited to the borough line: I treated the core reach as Lansdowne and the surrounding communities within roughly a three-mile radius.

Audience development therefore had two linked goals: nurture and serve the home audience, while attracting outside visitors whose participation and spending could support local businesses, cultural programs, and the broader downtown economy.

For the local audience, I built connections with houses of worship, apartment buildings, neighborhood groups, businesses, community institutions, and other trusted networks embedded in daily life. The work began with proximity: who lived nearby, how they received information, and which relationships could help the organization reach them.

For audiences beyond Lansdowne, I used the same thematic targeting applied to individual programs—identifying groups whose interests aligned with an event—alongside broader place marketing designed to present Lansdowne as a destination. These efforts combined social media and in-person promotion with seasonal materials encouraging regional visitors to shop, attend events, and spend time downtown.

Audience development also became a continuous feedback loop. Surveys, direct conversations, event response, partner input, and community relationships identified interests and unmet needs. That information moved back into program planning, often producing a visible response within approximately six months. The point was not only to ask what people wanted, but to show that participation could influence what the organization did next.

From Audience Insight to Campaign Planning

Once the audience logic was clear, communications could be planned around it: which people needed a direct invitation, which partners could extend trust, which channels suited the desired action, and what evidence would show whether the approach worked. Explore Communications Strategy + Campaign Planning →

For a specific example of this system applied to fundraising, see Individual Giving + Annual Appeal →

What This Demonstrates

I help organizations identify the logic that should guide audience development—interest, place, identity, need, relationship, or another meaningful point of connection—and then build the research, feedback systems, partnerships, programming, and communication streams around it.

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