An ArtsBuffalo series exploring how arts and culture can help shape the future of downtown Buffalo.
For those of us who produce arts and cultural experiences, attendance has always mattered.
How many people came? Was the room full? Did we sell enough tickets? Did the audience meet our expectations?
Those are important questions. But as I’ve thought more about the role arts and culture can play in the future of downtown Buffalo, I’ve begun to believe there is another question we should be asking.
Do people want to come back?
Getting someone downtown once is an event strategy. Giving someone reasons to return is a downtown strategy.
There is an important difference between the two.
A concert can bring someone downtown for an evening. A festival can fill a street for an afternoon. A theater performance can bring hundreds of people into the city for a few hours.
All of that matters.
But something more meaningful begins to happen when those experiences become part of how people think about spending their time.
We’ve seen this firsthand through JazzBuffalo.
JazzMondays at Tappo didn’t become successful because people attended one Monday night. Over time, Monday became associated with jazz, seeing familiar faces, enjoying dinner or a drink, and spending an evening downtown.
The Jazz Lounge has developed in much the same way. People don’t simply buy a ticket to hear a particular artist. Many return because they know what the evening will feel like. They know there will be great music. They know they’ll see people they recognize. And they know they’ll be part of a shared experience.
Art Meets Jazz offers another example. What began as an idea to bring visual art and jazz together has become a recurring experience that brings people into the revitalized Brisbane Building. People come for the art and the music, but in the process they also discover the building, spend time there, and experience a part of downtown they may not otherwise have visited.
That’s an important part of revitalization, too.
Arts and culture can introduce people to places.
And when the experience is memorable, those places begin to mean something.
We’re seeing another version of this with Summer of Jazz on Ellicott Street. Sunday afternoon begins to mean something. Music. People. Food. A beautiful summer afternoon. A chance to spend a few hours downtown and enjoy being part of what’s happening.
These experiences have taught me something.
People return to places where they’ve felt good being there.
The artist matters. The performance matters. Quality matters tremendously.
But so does everything surrounding the experience.
Was it easy to get there? Did the area feel welcoming? Was there somewhere to have dinner beforehand or a drink afterward? Did they encounter other people enjoying themselves? Did something unexpected happen that made the experience memorable?
And perhaps most importantly, when they left, did they think:
I’d like to do this again.
This extends far beyond jazz.
Every theater performance, gallery opening, museum visit, concert, festival, restaurant experience, and cultural gathering has the potential to strengthen someone’s relationship with downtown Buffalo.
One positive experience makes the next decision easier.
Instead of asking, “Should we go downtown?” people begin asking, “What’s happening downtown?”
That’s the shift that matters.
In our recent ArtsBuffalo listening efforts, we’ve heard from more than 120 members of our community. One of the themes that continues to emerge is that people aren’t simply asking for more events. They’re looking for more reasons to spend time downtown.
That distinction is important.
The goal shouldn’t be to fill every available date on the calendar. It should be to create enough meaningful, high-quality experiences that people begin to see downtown as a place where there is regularly something worth experiencing.
That’s how habits form.
And habits are much more powerful than individual events.
If we’re serious about revitalizing downtown Buffalo through arts and culture, perhaps attendance shouldn’t be the only measure of success.
Of course we should celebrate a sold-out performance. We should celebrate a crowded festival and a packed gallery opening.
But we should also ask what happened afterward.
Did people stay downtown?
Did they discover somewhere new?
Did they tell someone about the experience?
And, most importantly, did they want to come back?
Because a desirable downtown isn’t simply a place people visit.
It’s a place people choose to return to.
Again and again.
Perhaps that’s the measure we should be building toward.
