The Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Centeropened in 2008 as the performing arts home for the Austin Symphony, Ballet Austin and Austin Opera. Ten years later, it is asking its audiences – and people who don't attend shows there – what they think of the center and how it can do better.
Cory Baker, the Long Center's president and CEO, says the venue worked with Austin-based ad agency Archer Malmo to dig more deeply into what people think and to use that information to guide the center's next 10 years and beyond.
Baker says the feedback was partly positive, partly negative, but all helpful.
"There wasn't a lot of clarity about what is the Long Center," Baker says. "Who are we, what are we for, and who are we for." She also acknowledges there can be a "house on the hill" feel to the Long Center campus that can be off-putting to some potential visitors.
Baker says part of the Long Center's vision emerging from the process is that "all Austinites deserve access to world-class arts and culture."
Listen to the interview to hear more about what respondents told the Long Center and how those insights will shape its future programming and outreach.
