The Offstage Mic

This episode is all about change management in arts organizations. Aubrey Bergauer breaks down the research behind building a change-ready culture and how to actually shift someone's mind when facts alone aren't enough. In the season six finale of The Offstage Mic, Aubrey closes out the "Changing the Narrative, Ten Years Later" season by going deep on two bodies of research: the i4cp study "Buildi...

Auto-renewing subscriptions in the arts: how one organization hit 87% adoption and tripled its season ticket base in two seasons. Justin Morgan, Director of Audience Development at Chamber Music Society of Salt Lake City, joins Aubrey Bergauer to break down how a small presenter of world class chamber music went from selling 90 paper tickets per concert to filling 450 seats — and how their move to...

Artificial Intelligence is no longer a futuristic concept, it’s an operational necessity for lean arts organizations. In this episode of The Offstage Mic, Aubrey Bergauer sits down with Ashley Gross, CEO of the AI Workforce Alliance, to demystify how AI can save cultural institutions tens of thousands of dollars and hundreds of staff hours. Whether you’re an AI skeptic or an early adopter, this ep...

Running an arts organization is hard, but tackling a $1 million deficit is a different level of challenge. In this episode, Aubrey Bergauer sits down with Vanessa Morosco, Executive Artistic Director of the American Shakespeare Center (ASC), to discuss how they orchestrated a massive financial turnaround. Learn the tactical steps taken to integrate marketing and development departments, the nuance...

Are your traditional funding sources drying up while your audience development plateaus? In this mid-season reflection, Aubrey Bergauer revisits her seven bold performing arts predictions for 2025 and 2026 to see what’s working and what’s failing in the current landscape. From the global boom of the subscription economy to the bipartisan surprise in government funding, this episode breaks down the...

Is opera actually dying, or is the business model simply stuck in the digital dark ages? In this episode of The Offstage Mic, Aubrey Bergauer sits down with Dr. Caitlin Vincent, author of 'Opera Wars', to dismantle the narrative that the art form is fading. Instead, they look at the hard data: while public demand for live culture remains high, the structural systems—from hiring practices to financ...

Customer experience is more than a buzzword. It is a critical driver of the bottom line, affecting everything from word-of-mouth marketing to donor retention. In this episode, Aubrey Bergauer dives into the 'Three Fs' of customer experience with a focus on making the venue friendly for newcomers. As traditional subscriber bases shrink, organizations must pivot to engage the 'non-aficionado' majori...

Welcome to Season 6 of The Offstage Mic! We are kicking things off with a massive milestone: our 50th episode. In this season premiere, host Aubrey Bergauer dives deep into the latest national data from SMU DataArts, JCA, and Advisory Board for the Arts to reveal the truth about the 'cutting death spiral' currently facing cultural institutions. This episode is for arts administrators, executive di...

What does Changing the Narrative mean ten years later? That is what this season of The Offstage Mic with Aubrey Bergauer is all about. How can we continue to change the narrative for our cultural institutions today? How can we reverse the negative trends so pervasive these days? This podcast is about running our business: how to grow audiences, develop high performing teams and leaders, get younge...

If your days as an arts leader are consumed by never-ending to-do lists, last-minute fires, and reactive work—this episode is your call to break the cycle. In this Season 5 finale, we dig into a leadership struggle that nearly every arts executive, administrator, and manager faces: the battle between the urgent and the important.  Through honest reflection, personal experience, and practical...

One of the biggest mistakes arts organizations make is over relying on major donors. In this penultimate episode of the season, Aubrey Bergauer talks with Dana Snyder—author of The Monthly Giving Mastermind —about why major gifts alone won’t save your organization’s financial future. Together, they explore how a strong monthly giving program isn’t just smart strategy; it’s sustainable, reliable, a...

Does managing operations at your arts organization feel tedious or unwieldy? Maybe you know your internal processes need a boost, but don’t you know where to begin. Good news: It’s actually more simple than you think. This episode, Aubrey talks about the Kaizen Method of sustained, incremental change. If it feels like you’re trying to turn a big ship, instead of letting perfect be the enemy of goo...

For arts organizations, the vast majority of your audience is not subscribers and donors; over 90% of your patrons are the ones who come and go, never to engage with another performance again. How can arts administrators capture that large segment of their audience base and stop the churn? Redesign the user experience. This episode, Aubrey talks with UX and product designer, Linda Hsieh Logston. S...

Women in arts administration make up over half of the workforce. Yet arts leadership roles — on stage and off — are still male dominated. This episode, Aubrey shares some shocking statistics from the field and explains why this paradox is so common in arts organizations (Hint: it's not just about getting more women in the C-suite; the problem starts earlier than you might think). And most imp...

Marketing has changed so much for arts administrators in recent years that you might not know how to maximize your marketing budget these days. What percentage should you allocate? What marketing channels are the most effective this year? How much should you spend? This episode, Aubrey explains how to think strategically about reaching the audience you want—and how to budget for it.  The Offs...

Understanding patron data can be daunting, confusing, or even cringeworthy for arts administrators. But your data is an asset, and arts organizations are leaving thousands of dollars on the table when you don’t fully harness it. The good news is understanding and utilizing your data is not hard when done right. It’s all about creating systems to make your data work for you. This episode, Aubrey ta...

For arts administrators, donor development often means soliciting as many patrons as possible, as soon as possible, without accounting for their unique needs. This may glean some revenue in the short term, but what about next season? Someone coming to a show once to check it off their bucket list is not the same as the season subscriber or donor who’s bought-in because they have a tried and true r...

Advancing in arts leadership can be tricky, because what got you to where you are now likely won’t get you to where you want to be. In the final part of this bonus series, Aubrey gives you real-world examples of the seven researched-backed steps to advancing your career in arts management. Then, she guides you through a visioning exercise to identify the conditions and behaviors needed to become t...

Imagine negotiating the salary and benefits you know you deserve as an arts leader. Or going to the bargaining table for union negotiations, and all parties come out satisfied. In Part 2 of this bonus series, Aubrey dives deep into an important skill necessary to growing your leadership: the art of negotiation. Spoiler alert: it’s not all about the money. Then she builds upon the visioning in Part...

There’s a lot about arts leadership most of us were never taught. And you can’t win a game if you don’t know the rules. So we’re bringing you three bonus episodes from our recent training series, “They Never Taught You That: How to Grow Your Career in Arts Management.” This is Part 1, where Aubrey shares the seven research-backed steps to growing your leadership in arts management. She also offers...

Working your way up in arts admin can feel like an uphill battle, but it doesn’t have to be a fight! In the final episode of the season, arts administrator Chelsea Chambers at the Peninsula Symphony talks about working her way up to executive director. Hear how realizing that “I don’t have all the answers” helped her climb the ladder to ED and create a kickass company culture along the way. ...

Ever heard the saying, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take?” What if we told you that when it comes to jobs they’re not 100 percent qualified for, white men are more likely than women and people of color to apply anyway? This was the statistic that made today’s guest decide to take her shot. Hear how an early version of the Uplevel professional development program – and the community...

Ever feel like you’re not quite giving off the confidence you know you should be as a leader in the arts? Social psychologist Amy Cuddy says it may have something to do with your “presence” – a sort of “self-assured enthusiasm.” Today, we get into her research on presence as an incredible indicator of leadership success, from how you come off to your colleagues to whether people you meet trust you...

What is your unique purpose as an arts administrator? How do you find the courage to lead with purpose once you know? Carlos Cordero is a conductor, new choral music advocate, singer and self-proclaimed “great hug-giver.” But he started off with a broad, more generic vision that wasn’t connecting with audiences the way he wanted to. As a gay Latinx immigrant artist, Carlos did some soul searching...

“Closed mouths don’t get fed.” This is the mantra that Paula Wilson has led with, basically since day one of her arts administration journey. Like many of us in this field, she started off as a musician and realized that wasn’t for her. But when she transitioned into administration, she couldn’t seem to land the right internship. This episode, Paula shares how resourcefulness, mentorship, and find...