The Value Proposition Playbook

If they don’t care, they won’t come.

RADICAL GROWTH STARTS HERE

The old growth playbook is broken.

Arts organizations today are fighting harder and harder to attract a shrinking, oversaturated pool of traditional patrons.

But arts organizations aren’t failing. Their outdated business models are.

With a customer-first model built on powerful innovation frameworks, unlock relevance, revenue, and sustainability.

EXPLORE THE FRAMEWORK ➤

  • “Audience Alchemy completely changed the way we talked about our concert series. By implementing the customer-first model, we MORE THAN DOUBLED ATTENDANCE at a recent concert compared to our past season’s average.”

    – George Fergus, Director of Music, Christ Church Episcopal, Savannah

  • “What I have learned from you has been SO VALUABLE. Nearly 1,100 people took part in our inaugural weekend! The turnout exceeded all expectations and I am so grateful for your approachable, actionable teachings.”

    —Tekla Cunningham, Founder, Seattle Bach Festival

  • "Ruth ignited our marketing, development, programming and venue hire teams with excellent, tangible recommendations that will now play a critical role in Melbourne Recital Centre’s next chapter."

    —Latoyah Forsyth, Head of Marketing and Visitor Experience, Melbourne Recital Centre

  • "Ruth has an extraordinary vision for arts marketing, and the arts sector needs it now."

    —Mark Schaefer, Author of Marketing Rebellion and Belonging to the Brand

  • "This may well be the salvation that audience-hungry arts marketers are searching for."

    —Trevor O’Donnell, Author of Marketing the Arts to Death

  • "For any org wanting to center their customer and community, Ruth's thinking on this topic is hands down the best I've ever seen."

    —Aubrey Bergauer, Changing the Narrative

  • “Ruth is a champion for your patrons. She sets aside all of the expertise and just asks one simple question: What matters to your customers? It's revolutionary.”

    —Sean Kelly, Founder, Vatic

  • "...an incredible thought leader. Ruth's insight is what we need to hear as a sector right now. "

    —Sarah Weber, Executive Director, Association of California Symphony Orchestras

  • "So grateful that Ruth is not only putting the Jobs to Be Done framework out there, but also providing illustrations on how to enact it."

    —Timothy Myers, Music Director, Austin Opera and Music Director, Spoleto Festival USA

  • “The room was vibrating during Ruth’s Chorus America plenary...lightbulbs were going off, pens were furiously writing.”

    —Alex Gartner, Artistic & Executive Director, Pensacola Children’s Chorus

  • “Thank you for delivering two remarkable presentations. Your work is transformative!”

    —Kevin Eberle-Noel, Executive Director, Redlands Symphony

  • "You were spectacular and opened up a host of necessary questions with which we need to grapple. It was a terrific session."

    —Nick Adams, Executive Director, Cantata Singers

  • “This is one of the most, if not the most, important presentations in my life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

    —Thomas Cooke, President, Voce

ABOUT RUTH

A New Way Forward

I’m a former opera singer who traded the stage for the world of business innovation. Today, I help cultural organizations ignite transformative growth by championing a radically customer-first model.

Blending deep arts and nonprofit experience with eight years at the Clayton Christensen Institute—a global authority on innovation—I equip arts leaders with strategies to redefine relevance, expand markets, and unlock new demand.

A frequent speaker at industry conferences, I’m on a mission to help arts organizations build new models designed for today’s world—and today’s consumer.

READ MY STORY ➤

Blog
Beyond Demographics: Unlocking the Core Drivers of Engagement
Beyond Demographics: Unlocking the Core Drivers of Engagement

For decades, arts orgs have relied on demographic and transactional data to segment their audiences—age, income, ticket history, and zip code serving as proxies for interest and intent. But these traditional models have lost their predictive power.

The 90% myth: What the Oliver Wyman study hid in the footnotes
The 90% myth: What the Oliver Wyman study hid in the footnotes

We’ve all heard that stat: “90% of first-time orchestra attendees don’t return the next season.” But there’s something buried in that study that most people missed.

Churn Isn’t Failure. It’s Our New Reality.
Churn Isn’t Failure. It’s Our New Reality.

Only 9% of people are brand loyal. So why are we still building arts models that depend so heavily on loyalty?

Not All Innovation Sparks Growth
Not All Innovation Sparks Growth

Ask any arts leader how to fix audience decline, and you’ll hear a familiar answer: "We need to innovate." They’re not wrong. But they're innovating in the wrong places.

Arts Organizations Aren’t Failing. Their Models Are.
Arts Organizations Aren’t Failing. Their Models Are.

Business models are designed to defend the assumptions they were built on—even when external realities shift.

Stop Segmenting Like It’s 1999
Stop Segmenting Like It’s 1999

If you're only segmenting your audience by purchase behaviors or demographics, you're overlooking a massive opportunity for radical growth.

Find Your Blue Ocean: Create New Markets Instead of Fighting for Old Ones
Find Your Blue Ocean: Create New Markets Instead of Fighting for Old Ones

This seeming existential crisis is actually a moment of huge opportunity. You just need to rethink the decades-old audience development playbook—and find your Blue Ocean.

How I 16X’d engagement and 6X’d reach in 2024 (plus 1.8X’d my email list)
How I 16X’d engagement and 6X’d reach in 2024 (plus 1.8X’d my email list)

Last January, I set a SMART goal of reaching 5,000 LinkedIn followers (nearly twice what I was starting with) and doubling my LinkedIn reach by the end of the year…

Customer Centricity Success Stories
Customer Centricity Success Stories

What do an opera company, a ballet organization, a university concert series, and a library have in common? They’ve all harnessed the power of customer-centric strategies to redefine their relevance and thrive.

Grab the mic: Your brand voice isn’t enough
Grab the mic: Your brand voice isn’t enough

If you’ve hesitated to post on social media, thinking it’s “not your role” or that your organization’s branded accounts are enough, it’s time to rethink.

Rebrand Roulette: Don’t Gamble Without Audience Insights
Rebrand Roulette: Don’t Gamble Without Audience Insights

New logos, sleek designs, clever taglines—rebrands are exciting to watch. Until I take a closer look and realize it’s all surface and no substance.

What’s your change readiness score?
What’s your change readiness score?

For arts organizations faced with audience declines, there's a lot of pressure to recalibrate. But how ready is your organization for change? And how long will that change take?

$11 tix at Opera Philadelphia: Revolutionary or risky?
$11 tix at Opera Philadelphia: Revolutionary or risky?

Opera Philadelphia’s recent decision to introduce a pay-what-you-can model, with tickets starting as low as $11, has generated considerable buzz.

The for-profit sector is winning this game
The for-profit sector is winning this game

Deeply understanding the customer by regularly gathering customer insights has become a high-stakes game. And it’s a game that the for-profit sector is currently winning. How does the arts and culture sector compare?

6 ways to combat resistance to change
6 ways to combat resistance to change

Leadership buy-in is crucial before real change can occur at any arts organization. On your quest to shift hearts and minds, here are six tactics to consider.

Transform your arts marketing without spending a penny
Transform your arts marketing without spending a penny

In the arts and culture sector reclaiming relevance and unlocking audience growth means crafting compelling narratives that truly resonate with your target audience.

The inclusivity imperative
The inclusivity imperative

It’s no secret—the arts sector struggles to reflect the diversity of the real world. And the NEA’s most recent Survey of Public Participation in the Arts has the hard numbers to prove it.

Warning Signs: The Shifting Landscape of Cultural Audiences
Warning Signs: The Shifting Landscape of Cultural Audiences

The NEA just released their initial findings from the 2022 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts. This new data allows us to view audience decline over the past four decades.