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PROGRAM


NATIONAL ARTS MARKETING, DEVELOPMENT & TICKETING CONFERENCE, SEATTLE

08.11.26 - 08.12.26

PLENARIES & KEYNOTES

The Structural Break of 2026

The 20th-Century Models Are Long Gone - What Is Replacing Them?

 
For over 25 years, ArtsJournal has been a daily seismograph for the culture industry—tracking thousands of stories to separate the signal from the noise. But lately, the needle isn't just jumping; the machine is breaking.

We’ve moved past the era of simple "trends." We are witnessing a full-scale structural renegotiation of how art is made, shared, sold, and valued. From the "barbell economy" hollowing out our mid-sized institutions to the rise of "synthetic creativity" and the collapse of the 20th-century subscription model, the old math simply doesn't math anymore.

In this talk, ArtsJournal editor Douglas McLennan dives into the "ArtsJournal Index"—a high-level look at five critical threads currently pulling the sector apart (and weaving something new). This isn't a lecture on marketing "best practices" or a "how-to" on social media. It’s a shoot-from-the-hip analysis of the macro environment we’re actually living in. We’ll look at why the "middle" is under extreme stress, how the culture wars became concrete policy, and what happens when the value of human interaction is amplified in an age of algorithmic comfort food. Art-as-process as opposed to art-as-product -- it's how we transcend the machines.

The 20th-century models are gone. Let's talk about what's actually replacing them.
Douglas McLennan
Editor ArtsJournal

 

BREAKOUTS AND PANELS

Latest Trends in Social Media: Lessons & Practices for Best Results

Ryan Ann Davis
Co-Founder & Principal Smarthouse Creative

Amie Simon
Director of Marketing Smarthouse Creative

 

Getting Started with AI: Practical Solutions for Arts Executives

Many arts executives say they’re curious about AI — but hesitate because they don’t know where to start. This 50-minute session opens the door with no tech jargon, just real examples, tools, and ways you can begin using AI immediately. 

This session is designed especially for executive, marketing, and development leaders in arts organizations. You’ll see how viewing AI not as a search engine, but as a conversation partner, changes what AI can do for you. 

What You’ll Take Away: 

  • Understanding AI Technology: A clear, jargon-free explanation of how tools like ChatGPT work — and why they matter for cultural organizations. 
  • How to Talk to AI: Learn how to ask the right questions, structure prompts for better results, and use AI as a partner — not just a tool. 
  • Leadership Uses of AI: See how AI can support leadership-level thinking with real-world examples for planning, decision-making, and exploring scenarios. 
  • Introducing AI to Your Team: Learn an approach for identifying internal champions, training them effectively, and building momentum. 
  • Ethics & the Law: Get basic information on AI’s risks, limitations, and evolving regulations. 
  • Everyday AI — From Tasks to Insights: Discover how AI can help with practical, surprisingly useful real-life tasks — from generating social media content to drafting donor letters and summarizing board materials. 

We’ll also touch on leadership and ethical considerations to help you use AI responsibly and build trust with staff and stakeholders. 

By the end of the session, you will have: 

  • Clarity on where to begin using AI in your role 
  • Sample prompts and exercises you can implement immediately 
  • Examples of how you can use AI both in daily life and across your organization 
Eugene Carr
Founder of Patron Manager and Arts-Technology.com

 

AI in Action: Helpful Tools and Creative Applications

If you were in the first AI session or if you’re looking to go beyond the basics, this session is designed for arts leaders who have some understanding of how to prompt AI and want to learn more about its creative and next-level applications. In this 50‐minute session, you’ll see how AI can enhance storytelling, customer engagement, problem‐solving, and content creation across your organization. 

Topics will include: 

  • Creating images, short videos, and lifelike avatars — including voice cloning — for marketing campaigns, donor engagement, and board presentations. 
  • Using AI for customer service: building instant FAQs, chatbots, and using screenshots for troubleshooting. 
  • Evaluating cost, implementation, and quality control to ensure tools fit your organization’s capacity. 

You’ll leave with fresh inspiration, curated resources, and practical ideas you can start experimenting with immediately. 

Eugene Carr
Founder of Patron Manager and Arts-Technology.com

 

The 1% You Should Love: The Nonprofit Superpower of Marginal Gains.

In "The 1% You Should Love: The Nonprofit Superpower of Marginal Gains," Todd Vigil, a leading nonprofit marketing strategist, adapts James Clear's revolutionary concept of marginal gains to the nonprofit world. This engaging talk is a compelling exploration of how small, sustained improvements can lead to substantial organizational growth and impact. Explicitly designed for leaders of resource-strapped nonprofits, Todd illustrates the profound effect of 1% improvements across various facets of nonprofit operations. Through engaging case studies and actionable strategies, attendees will discover the extraordinary power of incremental changes in driving their missions forward. Todd's dynamic presentation pays homage to Clear’s foundational principles and adapts them to the unique challenges and opportunities within the nonprofit sector. Attendees will leave empowered, with a clear roadmap for applying marginal gains to achieve their organizational goals.
Todd Vigil
Founder & CEO EleeHub | Pathfinder Search Ads

 

Stand Out From The Crowd in The New Search Landscape

The majority of Google searches are now zero click searches. A 2025 survey indicates that 83% of users are utilizing (and prefer) AI search over traditional, and people are increasingly using ChatGPT and other large language models as their primary search. So how can you keep traffic heading to your event pages (and people buying tickets) in this new era of the internet? How can you make sure that the AI agent they’re using has the right information? Don’t get lost in the shuffle. Join BroadwayWorld’s Alex Freeman for this interactive workshop to build a media strategy that keeps your organization top of mind for both audience members and the AI they are using.
Alex Freeman
Regional Sales Director BroadwayWorld

 

Across the Aisle: Navigating a New Era of Arts Leadership

Overcoming the reduction of funding, balancing policy and programming, coaching an effective team, the demands of leadership in the arts are overwhelming. However, there is always hope. This session reflects on the trends in arts leadership affected by funding cuts, social issue impacts, and leadership transitions, evolving a new type of arts leadership for our cultural futures. Participants will gain new strategies for leading their teams, replacing lost revenue, connecting with lawmakers, forecasting funding, and addressing adaptability in their leadership practice. Nonprofit fundraising expert Jackson Cooper walks participants through case studies and tactics needed to become a sustainable leader--both for one's organization and for one's self.
Jackson Cooper


 

TBA

Charlie Wade
Principal CW Cultural Arts Consulting

 


Stay Tuned For Many More Sessions To Be Added, Including:

Increasing Revenue While Lowering Costs
Attracting Younger Audiences
Google Analytics
Strategies To Boost Advance Sales
Optimal Pricing
Digital And Traditional Marketing Mix
Social Media As Audience-Building Tool
And More!

(program and speakers subject to change)
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This year’s Arts Reach Conference offered a dynamic space to challenge assumptions, learn from innovators, and reimagine what’s possible for our organizations. The mix of keynotes, case studies, and peer conversations sparked actionable ideas I’m already bringing back to my team. I left feeling energized and ready to build a more resilient, relevant, and connected future for the arts.

Justin Cantu
Development Manager
National Alliance for Musical Theatre

Our Sponsors

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    Arenametrix is a comprehensive data, marketing, and CRM solution designed for cultural and sports organizations. Built to automatically centralize data from all key sources (ticketing, fundraising, cashless, online stores, and more), Arenametrix empowers organizations with powerful sales analytics and audience insights by connecting and cross-analyzing spectator, donor, and engagement data across all touchpoints. This unified view enables organizations to automate marketing and fundraising actions based on audience profiles and spectator behaviors, delivering more relevant, personalized, and high-impact campaigns. 

    Our platform also includes dedicated modules for fundraising, B2B project management, and secure SSO (Single Sign-On), providing a seamless and scalable ecosystem. With cutting-edge technology, intuitive dashboards, and continuous product enhancements, Arenametrix delivers actionable insights at a glance. Our clients benefit from ongoing support, training, and strategic guidance from a team of dedicated experts, ensuring long-term performance and impact.

    Today, Arenametrix supports over 300 organizations across Europe and North America and is recognized as a European leader in data and marketing solutions for cultural and sports institutions, helping them grow revenue, strengthen audience and donor relationships, and build sustainable engagement. 

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    Dream Warrior Group provides graceful yet technologically savvy solutions for Arts organizations. The goal-driven services focus on audience and action. As your technology advocate, we will be your ally and can manage and fully implement your online presence. Our services (à la carte or contracted) include: Web site design and development, e-marketing, e-promotion, social media management and optimization. We implement your message in a digital environment.

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    Substrakt is a leading digital agency specialising in the arts and culture sector. We partner with over 70 cultural organisations around the world to create digital experiences that connect people to art, ideas and each other. We’re here to make cultural experiences more accessible, engaging and impactful through thoughtful design, smart technology and strategic thinking.

    We offer a full suite of digital services, including the design and development of websites and digital products, alongside strategic consultancy, training and ongoing support. Our consultancy work spans areas such as digital strategy, content strategy, SEO, user research, accessibility and analytics.

    We’re proud to work with some of the world’s most inspiring cultural organisations, including the National Theatre, PAC NYC, Malmö Opera, Henry Moore Foundation, Shakespeare's Globe, Scottish Ballet, Kettle’s Yard, Leeds Heritage Theatres, Southbank Centre, and the Folger Shakespeare Library.

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    InstantEncore connects Arts & Culture Organizations with their communities through beautifully designed, affordable and easy to navigate digital engagement tools. IE partners with Arts Organizations to bring their mobile apps and digital programs to life, ensuring a positive experience for audiences of all ages.

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    BroadwayWorld is the largest theatre site on the internet, covering Broadway, the West End and beyond to 100 US cities, 45 countries and in 12 languages worldwide. With over six million monthly visitors, BroadwayWorld delivers complete up-to-the-minute Broadway, off-Broadway, and regional theatre news, in-depth interviews, extraordinary photo coverage, entertaining video features, lively message boards, ticket discounts, reviews, and more.

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    F+H Partners offers tailored development and planning services for arts and culture organizations of all sizes. With our extensive experience as advancement professionals and consultants, we collaborate directly with you to strengthen your fundraising and deepen your impact. Our personalized approach, informed by best practices and pragmatic solutions, has contributed to millions of dollars raised for our partners. We focus on building organizational capacity, ensuring you internalize the tools and processes for long-term success by actively working with you to translate robust plans into ongoing achievements.

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    Spektrix is a complete solution for ticketing, marketing, fundraising, and CRM, designed specifically for the performing arts. With world-class technology and support, Spektrix helps 650+ organizations across the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. grow their revenue and deepen patron relationships. Powerful, intuitive software, at-a-glance insights, frequent and seamless upgrades, training, support, and strategic consultation with experienced professionals come at no additional cost - making Spektrix the fastest-growing solution for arts organizations today.

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    CourseStorm is an easy-to-use class registration and marketing platform perfect for arts & culture education programs and kids camps. Our cloud-based system offers a single platform to manage individual and group course registration, payment processing, rosters, waitlists, attendance tracking, customizable registration forms, class communication, and more. Learn more at https://www.coursestorm.com

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    NEW Marketing Solutions is a full-service marketing and audience development firm built around the audience development trifecta: marketing, ticketing, and experience.

    The focus is always your audience — creating seamless, data-informed strategies that connect from first impression to lasting relationship. With deep experience in ticketing, subscriptions, group sales, and audience development (plus fluency in Tessitura, social media, email, and more), the goal is to turn your ambitious ideas into real-life systems that actually work.

    Because when marketing listens, audiences respond. And when data is used thoughtfully, it delights. Join us at one of our free Executive Roundtable Discussions. Get more intel and your invites at NEW-MarketingSolutions.com/events.

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    EleeHub was founded in 2021 to address a critical gap in the nonprofit marketing domain. It became evident that most nonprofits could be categorized into three groups: those unaware of the Google Ad Grant, those who had attempted to utilize it but were deterred by its complexity, and those engaged with costly consultants yielding minimal or expensive outcomes. EleeHub emerged as a beacon for small to mid-sized nonprofits seeking an efficient, cost-effective, and impactful marketing strategy.

    As a certified Google Partner, EleeHub champions the belief that all nonprofits should fully utilize the Google Ad Grant, with professional assistance, to optimize their outcomes. The EleeHub team brings together over thirty years of collective expertise in nonprofit marketing and Google Ads, positioning itself as a leading force in the sector.  https://www.eleehub.com/

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    Elevent is the multi-event ticketing & membership platform made to modernize all things ticketing for professionalized venues, festivals, and seasonal event organizers. White-label by design, high-scale, omnichannel, and holistically blended with a real CRM, Elevent digitally transforms your event organization into what you envision. https://readyset.goelevent.com/

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Schedule

August 11, 2026:
Opening Plenary (Program starts at 8:45 a.m.)
Keynote
Breakouts
Lunch on Your Own
Breakouts
Opening Reception with one-on-ones

August 12, 2026:
Breakouts
Networking Reception with one-on-ones
Lunch with the Experts
Closing Plenary
Conference ends at 3:45 p.m.
Program and speakers subject to change.

Among other benefits, Arts Reach Members receive significant discounts on conference registration. Join NOW!