Communities can react angrily to changes in a once-familiar program. Image: www.blurrent.com
For some arts organisations, the struggle is not to find and connect with new audiences, but to coax rusted-on audience members to accept the inevitability of change. Subscribers and regular visitors to a gallery or performing arts centre can easily grow accustomed to a familiar program of events and exhibitions, creating challenges for new staff members determined to shake up increasingly stale or moribund programs.