This discussion guide is designed to help administrators, board members and arts practitioners working in organizations of varying budget sizes and disciplines apply Ballet Austin’s lessons in audience building to their own context.

The guide is divided into several categories of questions created to prompt discussion and reflection. It can be used in conjunction with the original story, Ballet Austin: Expanding Audiences for Unfamil­iar Works. The story follows the ballet’s early stage efforts to attract and retain new audiences, from its initial assumptions through market research and the development new strategies. It is part of a larger series documenting the preliminary insights of performing arts organizations participating in Wallace’s Building Audiences for Sustainability (BAS) initiative.

The Ballet Austin discussion guide can serve as a teaching aid for group discussions or for individual study.