Arts and Culture organizations are navigating unprecedented challenges with remarkable resilience. This powerful conversation with Andrew Recinos, President and CEO of Tessitura, reveals how arts leaders are responding to uncertainty with both anxiety and determination.
"I'm seeing a lot of anxiety," Recinos acknowledges, "but right alongside it, I'm seeing grit and tenacity." Rather than freezing or fleeing when faced with funding cuts and political shifts, arts organizations are fighting—not aggressively, but by recommitting to their founding principles and serving communities that need artistic experiences more than ever.
The conversation explores technology's evolving role in arts management, particularly how it should enhance rather than replace meaningful human connections. While AI offers powerful revenue optimization tools, Recinos cautions against treating audiences "like ATMs," advocating instead for community-centered approaches that build lasting relationships.
Beyond strategic considerations, Recinos emphasizes leadership practices crucial for these challenging times: acknowledging anxiety without succumbing to it, providing consistent direction, and prioritizing self-care to prevent burnout. The most resilient arts organizations share three characteristics: they know their mission deeply, provide steady leadership, and focus primarily on serving their communities.
Whether you're leading an arts organization through turbulent times or simply passionate about cultural sustainability, this episode offers invaluable insights into maintaining artistic integrity while building organizational resilience. Take a listen—and maybe a forest bath afterward.
Recorded Tuesday, May 20th, 2025
Hosts: Meghan Goria, Account Group Director for Arts & Culture, Situation & Damian Bazadona, CEO & Founder, Situation
Guest: Andrew Recinos, President and CEO, Tessitura
Producer: Peter Yagecic, Innovation Advisor, Situation
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Peter Yagecic (00:05):
You're listening to Fandom Unpacked the podcast,
an audio version of our regularlive stream series where we
unpack modern fandom with someof the brightest minds in sports
and entertainment.
I'm producer Peter Yagecic, andjoining me for today's Q&A is
Situation CEO and founder,damian Bazadana and account
group director for arts andculture, Meghan Goria.
Founder, Damian Bazadana andaccount group director for arts
(00:27):
and culture, Meghan Goria.
Our guest today is AndrewRecinos, president and CEO of
Tessitura, the software platformthat powers ticketing,
fundraising and more for artsand culture institutions around
the globe.
Here's Damian to get us started.
Damian Bazadona (00:38):
Yeah, no, thank you, peter.
Andrew, thanks for doing this.
I know you got a lot going on.
So, as Peter mentioned, youguys you are like the leading
ticketing and fundraisingplatform for arts organizations
across the globe, and I know Isee you on LinkedIn.
I see your feed of spending alot of time with arts leaders,
both here domestically, but alsooverseas, and their job at Arts
Leadership is about creatingenvironments of resilience.
(01:00):
If I were to summarize, I think, one of the major components of
leading these organizationswhat are you seeing and hearing
about from leaders in the artsand culture space thus far in
2025 under this newadministration, which is
creating a whole bunch of newcomplexities for them?
Andrew Recinos (01:15):
Yeah, I mean.
Thank you, Damian.
I think that I'm seeing a lot.
I'm sensing and I'm feeling,and I'm seeing a lot of anxiety
and I don't think that'll comeas a surprise and I'm also
seeing kind of right alongsideit, I'm seeing grit, tenacity.
I don't think I have to gothrough sort of the litany of
(01:36):
why there's anxiety, right,there's societal anxiety,
there's financial anxiety, asI'm spending some time overseas.
You know this is not containedjust to the United States, right
, Like our.
You know, the changes thatwe've seen in this
administration is impacting ourrelationships with our
organizations overseas as well.
(01:56):
Tessitura serves 10 countries,so, and I've been to most of
them this year or at least inthe last six or seven months, so
I've been to most of them thisyear or at least in the last six
or seven months.
But at the same time, I'mseeing a lot of grit.
If you think about the classicfight, flight, freeze reflex
(02:17):
that we have to new situationsor to potentially
anxiety-causing situations, I'mnot seeing freezing, I'm not
seeing folks or organizationsthat are just sort of stultified
and I'm not seeing fleeing,Seeing, in a way, I'm seeing
fighting.
You know, maybe not overtfighting, but I'm seeing
(02:40):
hunkering down and figuring outhow to continue to go forward in
the best possible way.
I think that for artsorganizations and for arts
leaders, if they've been aroundfor a while, this is not their
first rodeo when it comes to abig sort of uncertain external
force that is impacting theirbusiness.
This is a group of leaders whoare still, you know, still
(03:02):
feeling the after effects of theCOVID pandemic, which was, you
know, five years ago now.
This is a group of arts leadersthat survived the financial
crisis of the 2000s, you know,all the way back to the dot-com
bubble, all the way back to evento 9-11.
So when you think about theword unprecedented one of my
(03:22):
least favorite words when youthink about the word
unprecedented, there's a lotabout this time that's
unprecedented, one of my leastfavorite words.
When you think about the wordunprecedented, there's a lot
about this time that'sunprecedented.
But at the same time,unprecedented has kind of become
the norm.
It makes you start to wonderwhat precedented even was, and I
think that the leaders who arethriving right now are those
that have sort of embraced thatthis kind of uncertainty, this
(03:43):
kind of volatility is just partof the gig now.
Damian Bazadona (03:46):
Yeah, yeah, it feels listen a fair number of
leaders that I've talked to it'sa little bit like rolling up
the sleeves and let's get towork.
And have you seen newstrategies that leadership might
be turning to and navigating?
Again, a lot of it's aboutresilience.
I mean, yeah, and to be inlisten, to be in the arts
business, you need to haveresilience, no matter who's in
office.
This is just part of the game.
It's just a different, verydifferent dynamic now with
(04:08):
probably new levels of stress.
But what are the new strategiesyou're seeing in terms of how
leadership is navigating?
Andrew Recinos (04:20):
You know, for those organizations that are
being really directly impactedby these changes right now,
where they're getting theirfunding pulled at the last
minute, that kind of thing,certainly seeing strategies
around, you know, crowdsourcingto find other funding sources,
that kind of thing.
If you had a good playbookcoming into this, it's leaning
(04:44):
into the playbook you've alreadygot and to me that is things
like your mission and yourvalues, right, leaning into that
.
I think that if there's onething that this period in time
is forcing a lot of us to do asinstitutions and as humans is to
really stop and think aboutwhat we stand for in a way that
(05:05):
maybe had become not somethingwe thought about a lot.
I see organizations kind ofsort of like renewing their vows
, right, with their mission andwith their values, like what do
we really stand for?
I think about Tessituraorganization, baltimore Center
Stage, for instance, when theNational Endowment for the Arts
(05:26):
said that they wouldn't fundorganizations that have DEI
programs, you know thatorganization just said we won't
be accepting federal fundingbecause if we don't do DEI
programs, if we don't doprograms around equity and
inclusion, then who are weanymore?
I think was the quote rightAdam Frank, the managing
director.
Their vision is to createtheater for everybody and they
(05:53):
didn't see how that matched withwhat they were being asked to
do in order to get funding.
So that to me is like thenumber one thing that I see
leaders doing right now isreally rekindling and
recommitting to their foundingprinciples whether it's a
mission or a vision or values Acouple other things that are
(06:15):
again kind of the playbookproviding steady leadership,
consistent leadership.
You know, I know this in ourteam and I know in many of their
teams.
There are your teams areanxious, right, so many folks
working in the arts are walkingaround with sort of this, you
know, perpetual pit in theirstomach about.
(06:36):
You know, whatever today's newsis bringing, that in so many
ways is counter to what artsorganizations are trying to do,
so many ways is counter to whatarts organizations are trying to
do, and that takes a toll,right, it takes I call it the
anxiety tax like on top of yourday-to-day.
You know you can't help thisstuff kind of coming in through
your airwaves.
(06:56):
So I think that consistency ofleadership, not happy talk, not,
you know, and I see leadersthey're not saying everything's
great, ignore it, but it'ssaying you may not be feeling
great right now.
This is a difficult time.
What we're doing is reallyimportant and we need to keep
doing it, which brings me to,kind of, the next thing that I
(07:17):
think about, which is, yes, it'sanxious for us who work in the
arts and it's anxious for thecommunities that we serve.
Right, and arts is here toprovide comfort, to provide
entertainment, to provide joy,to provide a sense of community
and convening, and these arethings that your communities
really need.
Not everybody in a communityfeels this way, but there are
(07:41):
plenty of populations that needthis right now.
Way, but there are plenty ofpopulations that need this right
now.
So, remembering to continue tofocus as much of your energy on
your community, on yourcustomers and I honestly think,
and not just think I see thatwhen organizations really live
their mission right they canquote it chapter and verse and
they can live it in their valuesand when they have steady,
(08:02):
consistent leadership and whenthey put the bulk of their
effort on their customers andtheir community, on their fans,
to use the name of this podcastthat financial sustainability
follows.
Damian Bazadona (08:16):
Yeah, no, I agree, I think you hit.
The word I was going to go tois fans, given this whole
podcast has been centered onessentially talking and getting
around the idea of fandom across.
Different from sports to racecar drag, but we've interviewed
such amazing people and um, andthe arts is no different.
And I think the point ofanxiety around the community,
(08:37):
which is I want to get megan in,I know megan's got a bunch of
questions is you know the ideaof community and anxiety and
what it's sitting with them I'dlove to talk a little bit more
about in the.
Let's talk a little bit moreabout the community, because I
think that is a big part of this.
And Megan, who oversees ourarts and culture business.
What do you think, megan?
Meghan Goria (08:55):
Well, I think everyone who works at Situation
knows that I've been a tessituragirly since the beginning of my
career in the arts and I thinkone of the key things about the
Tessitura community is that youreally genuinely are a community
, you are a nonprofit, you arecommunity owned, and so I'm just
kind of curious.
As you mentioned, we had tokind of just go through this
(09:17):
about five years ago with COVIDand there really had to be
pretty significant technologicalupgrades very quickly to adapt
to this new world.
And so I'm just kind of curious, from the Tessitura side of
things, how do you see the roleof technology and customer
management in being able to kindof support the arts community
as we go through these times ofanxiety and times of change?
Andrew Recinos (09:39):
Yeah, no, it's a great question.
I think it's the same and it'salso quite different.
Right, with COVID, the way thatpeople went about their daily
lives dramatically changed, andso you know, during those times,
tessitura put out three or fourdozen features that were just
all about that, whether it wasintegrating with streaming
(10:00):
platforms or coming up with waysfor people to, you know, scan a
barcode from a distance.
Because of social distancing.
What we're doing now, we havenot changed our playbook, right,
we have.
Certainly, from a company sortof governance and risk
perspective, we added a wholelot of things to our risk
register as a result of thesechanges, as you would, probably
every arts organization on thiscall has as well.
(10:23):
But from a product developmentperspective, we really do come
back to the foundations ofhelping our organizations build
that community, create thosefans and center their customers.
So that means to us technologyshould not be replacing
meaningful human interaction.
It should be enabling it.
(10:45):
So when there are interactionsand we think of what we do as a
business and, frankly, the folksthat we serve, we're all in the
business of connecting peoplewith culture.
Situation and the arts andculture business is about
connecting people with cultureand we think about those
connections a lot.
And what are the connectionsthat are frustrating or mundane
and trying to eliminate them?
Right, having to call the boxoffice to do something you wish
(11:08):
you could do online, that's whatwe're here to eliminate.
What are the connections thatare meaningful?
And wanting to call the boxoffice?
Because you're trying to decidebetween you know two different
shows, the Sondheim or the LloydWebber, and you want to talk to
somebody about sort of the, the, the ups and downs, the
(11:29):
benefits of each.
I was just talking with uh, thedirector of marketing at the
signature theater in in, uh,outside of DC.
You guys probably know JenBazell.
Yeah, um, outside of DC.
You guys probably know JenBizzell and she was.
You know, they just launchedthis great new website and it
ties into Tessitura, of course,and she was talking about how
there's all the self-servicethat they can do.
But it's not to eliminateconnection, it's to allow room
(11:53):
for much better connection.
She oversees the box office aswell.
She was down there the otherday and was having it was
hearing this long conversationone of their box office staff
was having with a patron aboutsort of you know what's your
favorite Sondheim musical andwhy, and they know from those
connections that that improvestheir fandom, that improves the
(12:13):
donations that come in.
And so that's really what sortof centers our roadmap from a
technology perspective is how dowe take away those mundane
interactions so that we can liftup those meaningful ones?
Meghan Goria (12:26):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think that's one thing thatwe learned during the pandemic
is that nothing can replace thatgenuine human interaction, and
that's such a cornerstone to whythe arts are so uplifting to
all of us, to why the arts areso uplifting to all of us.
But at the same time, you know,it's a business.
We need to make sure that weare as efficient as possible and
trying to, you know, as you say, get through the mundane tasks
(12:47):
that we need in order to run ourbusiness, but not to ever
replace that human connectionand that community.
I'm curious, it kind of leads usinto the scary question of AI
and the arts, because, you know,certainly as a technology
company, it's the first thingthat anybody wants to talk about
when we're talking about techis what is the role of AI, what
is the future of AI?
(13:08):
But for the arts, you know, insome cases it's a bit of an
existential threat in terms of,you know, artistry and that true
kind of human creation.
And so I'm curious, just as acompany that kind of straddles
both of those sectors, how areyou thinking about AI?
What are you planning, how areyou having conversations with
arts organizations about whatthe future of AI could look like
(13:29):
?
Andrew Recinos (13:30):
Yeah, I mean, it is complicated, it's hugely
complicated.
It's one of those generalpurpose technologies that's here
and it's not going away generalpurpose technologies that's
here and it's not going away.
And at the same time yeah, toyour point we stand with sort of
a foot in two different worldsOne foot is in the tech world
(13:52):
and one foot is in the arts andculture world.
And from a tech perspective,from a technology perspective,
our team is all in on AI, right,and how we code is now informed
by AI, and how we run ourbusiness, and we are also very
respectful to the fact that AI,as you said, is an existential
threat to you know, protectingthe livelihoods of artists and
(14:15):
other creators.
So the way that we think aboutit is, you know, we're not
looking at AI as an artisticreplacement, right, that's not
even what we do.
What we do is, you know, ishelp people connect with culture
, and so we look at it much morefrom a how can we improve your
(14:37):
business perspective.
We look at it from how we canleverage it for fraud prevention
, huge problem, especially inthe US.
We've got all kinds of AI thatis helping dramatically bring
down fraud and chargebacks rightnow.
That's a huge win for AI,something that a human or 10,000
(14:58):
humans, couldn't have done.
We look at it in our securitystack as well.
From an end-user perspective.
Our members are already seeingAI in our product when it comes
to forecasting our dataanalytics huge upgrade coming
starting this year whereanalytics will have all manner
(15:20):
of AI driven forecasting, aidriven natural language
processing that that spits out avisual or a visualization.
So hopefully that sort of sortof is the tightrope that we walk
and that we walk itsuccessfully.
I don't think I haven't talkedto any arts leader that suggests
(15:44):
that we should, you know, buryour head in the sand about AI or
not use it.
In fact, most of the artsleaders that I talk to are very
curious about how we areapproaching it from a business
perspective.
Peter Yagecic (16:12):
Peter, I think we have a couple questions coming
in from our fantastic audienceis the ability to come together
and help each other out.
How are you seeing that in thegrit you talked about?
What would you say toorganizations that might be
reluctant to kind of reach outand ask for help?
Any advice?
Andrew Recinos (16:28):
Yeah, I mean, I think, certainly within our
community, and thank you for allthe nice things you've said
about the community.
It is foundational to who weare.
Right, it's probably the firstthing people know about
Tessitura, and rightfully so'sprobably the first thing people
know about Tessitura, andrightfully so.
But the first thing to knowabout it is that it is we love
our conferences, right, we havethree a year.
(16:49):
This one's in Anaheim, we justfinished in London and in the
fall we're going to be inMelbourne, australia.
The vast majority of ourcommunity interaction doesn't
happen there, right, it happenson our forums.
It happens in our individualuser community groups.
We've got over 100 of themaround the world that either get
(17:09):
together regionally, virtuallyor in person, or they get
together based on a topic, andpeople are leaning into those
groups right now, and so I wouldencourage you won't find a
friendlier group of people ifyou've never waded into that
water, right?
Megan's nodding.
Megan's been a part of thecommunity for a long time.
(17:32):
If you have a question posted onthe forum, if there is a
community group happening inyour part neck of the world, and
it probably is attended, orattended virtually, um, if there
is a topical one, right, like,we have user group communities
for finance, for box office, fordevelopment, for museums, for
zoos, um, and we have affinitygroups, right, we have people of
(17:55):
color, we have neurodiversity,um, lean into those.
The most active community wehave is a virtual community and
everyone in the Tessituracommunity is invited is mental
wellness and neurodiversity.
They meet weekly and that hasbeen, you know, such a salve,
such a comfort for so many ofour members around the world.
(18:17):
And it's led, it's led by bynationally right, like we've got
one of the leaders in Australia, we've got another one of the
leaders is in the US.
They do, you know, breathingexercises, they do meditation,
they just do like let's holdspace together because we're
really stressed out and we'rescared.
So this is this is alwayscurious to me, because none of
(18:39):
this has to do with software andyet all of it has to do with
lifting up arts and cultureprofessionals and making sure
that they can do that work tobring arts and culture to all of
our communities.
Peter Yagecic (18:56):
Built for live entertainment that champions the
power of unforgettable sharedexperiences around the world.
We offer full marketing andcreative services for
experience-based brands in liveentertainment attractions,
theater, sports, arts andculture, and more.
Check us out atSituationInteractivecom.
Now back to our Q&A.
Damian Bazadona (19:19):
Let's talk, I wonder, about living the mission
, because I this is thing thatI'm sort of um very curious by
in and I and this brings in sortof the ai topic.
Overall, what we have seen onour side at our agency is the
ability for ai across multiplelive experience brands figuring
out that AI appropriately canreally maximize revenue per
(19:41):
ticket.
The amount people will pay foran experience worth experiencing
.
We're starting to see theceiling is very high and so in a
weird way it's kind of turnedinto a drug where it is the
smarter that system gets, thehigher the revenue per ticket
can go and show.
You know, arts and culturalorganizations and brands can
maximize their revenue and AI issort of showing at least at
(20:03):
this point I'm going to probablymake a generalization that is a
lot easier to get another $10or $20 out of a patron than it
is to find a new patron, and soI just would love to get your
take on this of just reallywhere I see AI right now isn't
necessarily being reflective oflet's match this with the
mission, given the power it'sshowing that it can raise ticket
(20:25):
price.
I'm just going really to thevariable ticket pricing
conversation here and I thinkit's a missed opportunity
because I think, if we looked atit and going, what does success
look like, aside from justrevenue?
It's what is the theater makeuplook like?
You can imagine a chart thatsays percentage of new folks,
percentage from particular zipcodes, percentage of name it you
name it, you know I just I'mjust curious what your take is
(20:45):
on that and um, and whether ornot you, I guess you agree with
some of my theory.
Andrew Recinos (20:51):
Yeah, I think it's a really it's.
It's a really provocativequestion.
Um, and you say there's noceiling, and maybe that's true,
right, or the ceiling is prettyhigh and that AI is going to go
out and find match those peoplewho have the discretionary
income to pay, who will buythose seats.
And I think, from a short-termthinking perspective, that is
(21:15):
kind of a drug right.
And I don't want to discountthe fact that there are so many
cultural organizations out therewho are staring down some
pretty scary financial numbers,right, and this predates all of
the sort of what's happened in2025.
You know, the longer story ispost-COVID.
There was a lot of governmentmoney.
The government money has sortof finished up.
(21:35):
Now Audiences are coming back.
Some of them are at or above.
I heard just heard thatBroadway is kind of now above
COVID and expenses went up a ton, right, so even if your
audiences are back, chances areyou're still having a financial
struggle.
So I want to say all of that,because the last thing I want to
(21:56):
say is how could you bethinking about maximizing
revenue using AI and getting thehighest possible, you know,
squeezing the highest possibledollar amount out of your
patrons?
And I will quote a friend ofmine, alan Brown, who's a
principal at Wolf Brown they'rean arts research company when he
(22:17):
says stop using your audienceslike ATMs.
I like that one really, reallywell.
(22:42):
And plenty of them are usingvariable pricing as a technique,
right as a tool in the toolkit,but that they actually have a
much more holistic, much morecustomer-centered approach.
One of my favorite, favoriteexamples is Ballet, austin,
austin, texas.
They are a visionaryorganization.
They rewrote their missionstatement a few years ago.
(23:04):
It used to be, as you wouldexpect, about ballet and dance
in the life of their communityand they actually flipped it so
that their mission is aboutserving their community.
Go back to grammar.
The subject of the mission ofthat sentence is community and
the object is dance.
Right, the community is themost important thing when it
(23:25):
comes to their mission statementand, as a result of that, that
centers them on everything thatthey do and that centers them on
saying when you know you usethis example they found that
when people came to see theballet, some incredibly high
percentage never came back.
It was one and done.
Incredibly high percentagenever came back.
(23:45):
It was one and done.
Transactional mindset would belet's find another whole
audience Relational mindset,customer mindset, community
mindset said no, we want them tocome back.
What do we do to come back?
So they didn't just changetheir marketing, they changed
their whole organization.
They changed how they.
You know what happens to youwhen you walk in the front door.
(24:06):
What happens to you when youget home.
How do they get you back?
And so, suddenly, because theychanged the mission, it's around
the community, they changedtheir strategy, it's around the
customer.
So they keep coming back.
Two years ago they had thehighest ticket sales and revenue
of their 65-year history.
Last year they beat that yearright and they're finishing up
(24:29):
their season now and it's been ahell of a season.
So that is the long game to me.
So when you're talking aboutthe ATM thing, the how do we
maximize every dollar, I'm downwith that, I think, as long as
it's part of a larger strategywhich is about centering your
customer center and your fancenter and your community, which
goes back, hopefully, to yourmission.
Meghan Goria (24:51):
I love hearing that and thinking about an
organizational strategy as awhole, as opposed to a marketing
strategy, a fundraisingstrategy, a communication
strategy, a front of housestrategy.
You know, really I think theorganizations that we see as
really forward-looking and themost successful are the ones who
are thinking about the wholeand thinking about the community
and really centering thataudience first and trying to
(25:14):
break down some of those silosthat inevitably build up over
the years of the arts.
Andrew Recinos (25:20):
Yeah, and it's a drag because it takes longer.
Right, it's not a drag Likeit's virtuous work, but it takes
a lot longer.
And it really does take becauseit takes longer.
Right, it's not a drag Likeit's virtuous work, but it takes
a lot longer and it really doestake everybody.
You know you can't just saymarketing, this is your problem
to solve, right, this iseverybody's problem to figure
out.
Damian Bazadona (25:35):
Yeah, peter, any more questions we do we do
so?
Peter Yagecic (25:47):
coming back to the software for a second, this
one says during COVID we sawsome features developed to
respond to urgent needs at themoment, like streaming of live
events.
Thinking about the currentfeature roadmap, is there
anything on there that feelsmore important today than it did
six or 12 months ago?
Andrew Recinos (25:58):
It's a good question, I would say no,
actually.
I think that again, covid justsort of did Fruitbasket upset
with the way that peopleinteracted with the world and so
the technology had to changebecause of that.
This is sort of a slower-movinganxiety, right, and in some
(26:21):
organizations it's absolutelycrashed ashore, but for most
organizations organizations it'sjust kind of out there, you
know, sort of on the horizon.
So no, I think our continuedfocus on having the best
possible friction-free customerexperience and experience for
the business users who are usingour software is where we're at.
Peter Yagecic (26:41):
Great.
You mentioned at the top thatTessitura is in 10 countries, so
this one kind of relates tothat.
Have you heard from some ofyour non-US members that
audience reluctance to vacationin the US right now may actually
help ticket sales in theirlocal home organizations?
Andrew Recinos (27:21):
I have not heard that.
It's interesting.
I mean, obviously I've heardthe flip side, which is, you
know, we have many organizationsthat rely on international
tourism and they're alreadyplanning to take a real hit
because so many folks don't wantto visit or feel scared to
visit, frankly, that they'regoing to get caught up in visas
and all of that.
But it's interestingly, I haveseen that kind of thing happen
before during the financialcrisis in 2008, 2009.
Really really hard time formost arts organizations.
But the attractions right, themuseums and the zoos they
actually tended to have prettygood ticket sales because those
(27:42):
folks who normally during thesummer would take European
cruises or spend their moneyoutside were staycationing
instead because they just didn'tfeel they had the discretionary
income.
So I remember some of ourorganizations had bumper years,
actually in the middle of thefinancial crisis, for sort of
for the opposite reason.
Meghan Goria (28:01):
We're already starting to see a little bit of
that.
I'll be interested to see howit progresses as we get into
kind of peak tourist season herein New York.
But we are starting to see alittle bit of an increase also
in domestic tourism, not just instaycations but in folks from
the other places in theNortheast Corridor coming down
to New York City or fromelsewhere in the States.
As you say, it may be makingchoices to have a slightly less
(28:25):
expensive vacation and stickcloser to home.
So it'll be interesting to seehow that plays out over the next
couple of months.
Peter Yagecic (28:32):
Yeah, I think we have time for one more audience
question.
Then I'll kick it to Damian tokind of bring us home.
Andrew, you've shared somegreat personal anecdotes of
things that you've seen andheard, kind of as the leader of
your organization.
This question asks as apersonal supporter of the arts,
(28:53):
what type of outreach have youseen lately that you thought was
particularly effective?
And I guess maybe that one'sasking about like messaging or
language that you've seen thathas resonated with you?
Andrew Recinos (29:05):
Yeah, I'm just thinking that's a really good
question.
I think I am on the.
As you would imagine, I'm onthe mailing list of a lot of our
organizations, so I get to see.
I'm sure you guys are too right, like, yeah, I love seeing
what's going on out there.
I think of one which isactually in DC, right.
So we've talked a lot about theanxiety.
(29:26):
I'm from the DC area originallyand I have a lot of friends
there, I have family there andwe have many members there, so I
know that that part of theworld, right, the DMV, as they
call it is at peak anxiety,right.
Like it's just you can't getaway from it and with the
layoffs and the furloughs andthe closing of departments or
the threatened closing ofdepartments, it's just a really
(29:48):
rough time there right now.
And we have a member in thecity itself of DC called
Hillwood Gardens and Museum andthey're doing such a lovely job
because they're not saying weknow you're stressed out, why
don't you come spend time in agarden, but they're creating
(30:10):
programs that are clearlydeveloped around mental wellness
, right.
So they're offering they havethese.
It's this incredible estateright in the heart of the city
and so they're like offeringforest baths, for instance.
Right, if you've ever heard ofthat Japanese term, come do some
forest bathing at the hill wood.
And so I think that they aresaying it without saying it,
(30:33):
which I think is maybe the bestand most effective and most
nuanced way.
And I encourage culturalorganizations to lean into the
fact that there's just a lot ofout there in the world, there's
just a lot of you know.
Out out there in the worldthere's just a lot of of uh, of
anxieties, and and remember,there's nothing better than an
arts you know, than an artsexperience, to to just let you
(30:56):
escape for a while, right, andjust clear all that out of your
system.
Damian Bazadona (31:00):
I.
So I I'll take the lastquestion and let me just sort of
say, andrew, thank you.
I appreciate you taking thetime.
I feel like you have such aunique perspective.
We're obviously big fans ofwork.
Tessitura, does you power thearts and culture community and
thank God for Tessitura.
Will you guys run yourorganization Truly?
Thank you.
We end a little bit on aleadership question.
You know we talked anxiety,rising costs, rising costs is
(31:22):
hard to be a leader in thisbusiness, in the arts and
culture business, but again,it's been like this way for a
while, but I would say it's on anew level.
It feels that way to me alittle bit as someone who spends
a fair amount of time withfolks but at the same time, I
think, real conviction andbelief of the impact the arts
can have, which is justremarkable, and consumers are
showing they're willing to payfor it, like there's a real love
for it.
But what's your advice toleadership?
(31:44):
You know we've talked a littlebit on this webinar already of
sustaining resilience as we goforward, whether that's with
your internal staff, with theartists that are doing the work,
with the fans, the patrons ofthe arts.
Like, what do you feel like?
If you were to summarize yousay just my advice to leadership
going forward in thisenvironment, based on everything
you've seen and heard fromfolks on the ground, how would
(32:04):
you summarize it as we wraptoday?
Andrew Recinos (32:09):
Well, this is speaking directly to leaders.
I think number one is self-care.
To be honest, I have seen somuch burnout from folks who
literally just gave their alland at some point there was
nothing left to give and so soreally right, like, like I don't
(32:31):
have time for self-care is notacceptable answer.
I think that's number one.
And then beyond that, from astrategic perspective, I'll go
back to what I was saying.
I just I see it again and againwith the leaders and the
companies and the organizationsthat are resilient.
They know who they are right,the mission level.
Ask them their mission and theycan recite it chapter and verse
.
They are constant andconsistent with their team and
(32:58):
they put the vast majority oftheir effort into their fans,
into the customers, andtherefore their fans or their
customers give backexponentially.
Damian Bazadona (33:11):
Well said, thank you.
Andrew Recinos (33:14):
Thank you.
Damian Bazadona (33:14):
Thanks for the opportunity.
Andrew Recinos (33:16):
This is fantastic.
You guys are great.
Peter Yagecic (33:17):
Thank you, and everyone take a forest bath as
well.
Andrew Recinos (33:21):
That's great man .
It's the best.
I'm here in Portland Oregon,where there's an embarrassment
of riches when it comes toforest bathing.
Peter Yagecic (33:30):
That's going to do it for this episode of Fandom
Unpacked the podcast.
If you liked what you heard,please be sure to leave us a
review on Apple Podcasts.
Find out how to join us livefor an upcoming recording at
SituationLivecom slash fan.
We'll see you next time, truebelievers.
You're listening to Fandom Unpacked the podcast,
an audio version of our regularlive stream series where we
unpack modern fandom with someof the brightest minds in sports
and entertainment.
I'm producer Peter Yagecic, andjoining me for today's Q&A is
Situation CEO and founder,damian Bazadana and account
group director for arts andculture, Meghan Goria.
Founder, Damian Bazadana andaccount group director for arts
(00:27):
and culture, Meghan Goria.
Our guest today is AndrewRecinos, president and CEO of
Tessitura, the software platformthat powers ticketing,
fundraising and more for artsand culture institutions around
the globe.
Here's Damian to get us started.
Damian Bazadona (00:38):
Yeah, no, thank you, peter.
Andrew, thanks for doing this.
I know you got a lot going on.
So, as Peter mentioned, youguys you are like the leading
ticketing and fundraisingplatform for arts organizations
across the globe, and I know Isee you on LinkedIn.
I see your feed of spending alot of time with arts leaders,
both here domestically, but alsooverseas, and their job at Arts
Leadership is about creatingenvironments of resilience.
(01:00):
If I were to summarize, I think, one of the major components of
leading these organizationswhat are you seeing and hearing
about from leaders in the artsand culture space thus far in
2025 under this newadministration, which is
creating a whole bunch of newcomplexities for them?
Andrew Recinos (01:15):
Yeah, I mean.
Thank you, Damian.
I think that I'm seeing a lot.
I'm sensing and I'm feeling,and I'm seeing a lot of anxiety
and I don't think that'll comeas a surprise and I'm also
seeing kind of right alongsideit, I'm seeing grit, tenacity.
I don't think I have to gothrough sort of the litany of
(01:36):
why there's anxiety, right,there's societal anxiety,
there's financial anxiety, asI'm spending some time overseas.
You know this is not containedjust to the United States, right
, Like our.
You know, the changes thatwe've seen in this
administration is impacting ourrelationships with our
organizations overseas as well.
(01:56):
Tessitura serves 10 countries,so, and I've been to most of
them this year or at least inthe last six or seven months, so
I've been to most of them thisyear or at least in the last six
or seven months.
But at the same time, I'mseeing a lot of grit.
If you think about the classicfight, flight, freeze reflex
(02:17):
that we have to new situationsor to potentially
anxiety-causing situations, I'mnot seeing freezing, I'm not
seeing folks or organizationsthat are just sort of stultified
and I'm not seeing fleeing,Seeing, in a way, I'm seeing
fighting.
You know, maybe not overtfighting, but I'm seeing
(02:40):
hunkering down and figuring outhow to continue to go forward in
the best possible way.
I think that for artsorganizations and for arts
leaders, if they've been aroundfor a while, this is not their
first rodeo when it comes to abig sort of uncertain external
force that is impacting theirbusiness.
This is a group of leaders whoare still, you know, still
(03:02):
feeling the after effects of theCOVID pandemic, which was, you
know, five years ago now.
This is a group of arts leadersthat survived the financial
crisis of the 2000s, you know,all the way back to the dot-com
bubble, all the way back to evento 9-11.
So when you think about theword unprecedented one of my
(03:22):
least favorite words when youthink about the word
unprecedented, there's a lotabout this time that's
unprecedented, one of my leastfavorite words.
When you think about the wordunprecedented, there's a lot
about this time that'sunprecedented.
But at the same time,unprecedented has kind of become
the norm.
It makes you start to wonderwhat precedented even was, and I
think that the leaders who arethriving right now are those
that have sort of embraced thatthis kind of uncertainty, this
(03:43):
kind of volatility is just partof the gig now.
Damian Bazadona (03:46):
Yeah, yeah, it feels listen a fair number of
leaders that I've talked to it'sa little bit like rolling up
the sleeves and let's get towork.
And have you seen newstrategies that leadership might
be turning to and navigating?
Again, a lot of it's aboutresilience.
I mean, yeah, and to be inlisten, to be in the arts
business, you need to haveresilience, no matter who's in
office.
This is just part of the game.
It's just a different, verydifferent dynamic now with
(04:08):
probably new levels of stress.
But what are the new strategiesyou're seeing in terms of how
leadership is navigating?
Andrew Recinos (04:20):
You know, for those organizations that are
being really directly impactedby these changes right now,
where they're getting theirfunding pulled at the last
minute, that kind of thing,certainly seeing strategies
around, you know, crowdsourcingto find other funding sources,
that kind of thing.
If you had a good playbookcoming into this, it's leaning
(04:44):
into the playbook you've alreadygot and to me that is things
like your mission and yourvalues, right, leaning into that
.
I think that if there's onething that this period in time
is forcing a lot of us to do asinstitutions and as humans is to
really stop and think aboutwhat we stand for in a way that
(05:05):
maybe had become not somethingwe thought about a lot.
I see organizations kind ofsort of like renewing their vows
, right, with their mission andwith their values, like what do
we really stand for?
I think about Tessituraorganization, baltimore Center
Stage, for instance, when theNational Endowment for the Arts
(05:26):
said that they wouldn't fundorganizations that have DEI
programs, you know thatorganization just said we won't
be accepting federal fundingbecause if we don't do DEI
programs, if we don't doprograms around equity and
inclusion, then who are weanymore?
I think was the quote rightAdam Frank, the managing
director.
Their vision is to createtheater for everybody and they
(05:53):
didn't see how that matched withwhat they were being asked to
do in order to get funding.
So that to me is like thenumber one thing that I see
leaders doing right now isreally rekindling and
recommitting to their foundingprinciples whether it's a
mission or a vision or values Acouple other things that are
(06:15):
again kind of the playbookproviding steady leadership,
consistent leadership.
You know, I know this in ourteam and I know in many of their
teams.
There are your teams areanxious, right, so many folks
working in the arts are walkingaround with sort of this, you
know, perpetual pit in theirstomach about.
(06:36):
You know, whatever today's newsis bringing, that in so many
ways is counter to what artsorganizations are trying to do,
so many ways is counter to whatarts organizations are trying to
do, and that takes a toll,right, it takes I call it the
anxiety tax like on top of yourday-to-day.
You know you can't help thisstuff kind of coming in through
your airwaves.
(06:56):
So I think that consistency ofleadership, not happy talk, not,
you know, and I see leadersthey're not saying everything's
great, ignore it, but it'ssaying you may not be feeling
great right now.
This is a difficult time.
What we're doing is reallyimportant and we need to keep
doing it, which brings me to,kind of, the next thing that I
(07:17):
think about, which is, yes, it'sanxious for us who work in the
arts and it's anxious for thecommunities that we serve.
Right, and arts is here toprovide comfort, to provide
entertainment, to provide joy,to provide a sense of community
and convening, and these arethings that your communities
really need.
Not everybody in a communityfeels this way, but there are
(07:41):
plenty of populations that needthis right now.
Way, but there are plenty ofpopulations that need this right
now.
So, remembering to continue tofocus as much of your energy on
your community, on yourcustomers and I honestly think,
and not just think I see thatwhen organizations really live
their mission right they canquote it chapter and verse and
they can live it in their valuesand when they have steady,
(08:02):
consistent leadership and whenthey put the bulk of their
effort on their customers andtheir community, on their fans,
to use the name of this podcastthat financial sustainability
follows.
Damian Bazadona (08:16):
Yeah, no, I agree, I think you hit.
The word I was going to go tois fans, given this whole
podcast has been centered onessentially talking and getting
around the idea of fandom across.
Different from sports to racecar drag, but we've interviewed
such amazing people and um, andthe arts is no different.
And I think the point ofanxiety around the community,
(08:37):
which is I want to get megan in,I know megan's got a bunch of
questions is you know the ideaof community and anxiety and
what it's sitting with them I'dlove to talk a little bit more
about in the.
Let's talk a little bit moreabout the community, because I
think that is a big part of this.
And Megan, who oversees ourarts and culture business.
What do you think, megan?
Meghan Goria (08:55):
Well, I think everyone who works at Situation
knows that I've been a tessituragirly since the beginning of my
career in the arts and I thinkone of the key things about the
Tessitura community is that youreally genuinely are a community
, you are a nonprofit, you arecommunity owned, and so I'm just
kind of curious.
As you mentioned, we had tokind of just go through this
(09:17):
about five years ago with COVIDand there really had to be
pretty significant technologicalupgrades very quickly to adapt
to this new world.
And so I'm just kind of curious, from the Tessitura side of
things, how do you see the roleof technology and customer
management in being able to kindof support the arts community
as we go through these times ofanxiety and times of change?
Andrew Recinos (09:39):
Yeah, no, it's a great question.
I think it's the same and it'salso quite different.
Right, with COVID, the way thatpeople went about their daily
lives dramatically changed, andso you know, during those times,
tessitura put out three or fourdozen features that were just
all about that, whether it wasintegrating with streaming
(10:00):
platforms or coming up with waysfor people to, you know, scan a
barcode from a distance.
Because of social distancing.
What we're doing now, we havenot changed our playbook, right,
we have.
Certainly, from a company sortof governance and risk
perspective, we added a wholelot of things to our risk
register as a result of thesechanges, as you would, probably
every arts organization on thiscall has as well.
(10:23):
But from a product developmentperspective, we really do come
back to the foundations ofhelping our organizations build
that community, create thosefans and center their customers.
So that means to us technologyshould not be replacing
meaningful human interaction.
It should be enabling it.
(10:45):
So when there are interactionsand we think of what we do as a
business and, frankly, the folksthat we serve, we're all in the
business of connecting peoplewith culture.
Situation and the arts andculture business is about
connecting people with cultureand we think about those
connections a lot.
And what are the connectionsthat are frustrating or mundane
and trying to eliminate them?
Right, having to call the boxoffice to do something you wish
(11:08):
you could do online, that's whatwe're here to eliminate.
What are the connections thatare meaningful?
And wanting to call the boxoffice?
Because you're trying to decidebetween you know two different
shows, the Sondheim or the LloydWebber, and you want to talk to
somebody about sort of the, the, the ups and downs, the
(11:29):
benefits of each.
I was just talking with uh, thedirector of marketing at the
signature theater in in, uh,outside of DC.
You guys probably know JenBazell.
Yeah, um, outside of DC.
You guys probably know JenBizzell and she was.
You know, they just launchedthis great new website and it
ties into Tessitura, of course,and she was talking about how
there's all the self-servicethat they can do.
But it's not to eliminateconnection, it's to allow room
(11:53):
for much better connection.
She oversees the box office aswell.
She was down there the otherday and was having it was
hearing this long conversationone of their box office staff
was having with a patron aboutsort of you know what's your
favorite Sondheim musical andwhy, and they know from those
connections that that improvestheir fandom, that improves the
(12:13):
donations that come in.
And so that's really what sortof centers our roadmap from a
technology perspective is how dowe take away those mundane
interactions so that we can liftup those meaningful ones?
Meghan Goria (12:26):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think that's one thing thatwe learned during the pandemic
is that nothing can replace thatgenuine human interaction, and
that's such a cornerstone to whythe arts are so uplifting to
all of us, to why the arts areso uplifting to all of us.
But at the same time, you know,it's a business.
We need to make sure that weare as efficient as possible and
trying to, you know, as you say, get through the mundane tasks
(12:47):
that we need in order to run ourbusiness, but not to ever
replace that human connectionand that community.
I'm curious, it kind of leads usinto the scary question of AI
and the arts, because, you know,certainly as a technology
company, it's the first thingthat anybody wants to talk about
when we're talking about techis what is the role of AI, what
is the future of AI?
(13:08):
But for the arts, you know, insome cases it's a bit of an
existential threat in terms of,you know, artistry and that true
kind of human creation.
And so I'm curious, just as acompany that kind of straddles
both of those sectors, how areyou thinking about AI?
What are you planning, how areyou having conversations with
arts organizations about whatthe future of AI could look like
(13:29):
?
Andrew Recinos (13:30):
Yeah, I mean, it is complicated, it's hugely
complicated.
It's one of those generalpurpose technologies that's here
and it's not going away generalpurpose technologies that's
here and it's not going away.
And at the same time yeah, toyour point we stand with sort of
a foot in two different worldsOne foot is in the tech world
(13:52):
and one foot is in the arts andculture world.
And from a tech perspective,from a technology perspective,
our team is all in on AI, right,and how we code is now informed
by AI, and how we run ourbusiness, and we are also very
respectful to the fact that AI,as you said, is an existential
threat to you know, protectingthe livelihoods of artists and
(14:15):
other creators.
So the way that we think aboutit is, you know, we're not
looking at AI as an artisticreplacement, right, that's not
even what we do.
What we do is, you know, ishelp people connect with culture
, and so we look at it much morefrom a how can we improve your
(14:37):
business perspective.
We look at it from how we canleverage it for fraud prevention
, huge problem, especially inthe US.
We've got all kinds of AI thatis helping dramatically bring
down fraud and chargebacks rightnow.
That's a huge win for AI,something that a human or 10,000
(14:58):
humans, couldn't have done.
We look at it in our securitystack as well.
From an end-user perspective.
Our members are already seeingAI in our product when it comes
to forecasting our dataanalytics huge upgrade coming
starting this year whereanalytics will have all manner
(15:20):
of AI driven forecasting, aidriven natural language
processing that that spits out avisual or a visualization.
So hopefully that sort of sortof is the tightrope that we walk
and that we walk itsuccessfully.
I don't think I haven't talkedto any arts leader that suggests
(15:44):
that we should, you know, buryour head in the sand about AI or
not use it.
In fact, most of the artsleaders that I talk to are very
curious about how we areapproaching it from a business
perspective.
Peter Yagecic (16:12):
Peter, I think we have a couple questions coming
in from our fantastic audienceis the ability to come together
and help each other out.
How are you seeing that in thegrit you talked about?
What would you say toorganizations that might be
reluctant to kind of reach outand ask for help?
Any advice?
Andrew Recinos (16:28):
Yeah, I mean, I think, certainly within our
community, and thank you for allthe nice things you've said
about the community.
It is foundational to who weare.
Right, it's probably the firstthing people know about
Tessitura, and rightfully so'sprobably the first thing people
know about Tessitura, andrightfully so.
But the first thing to knowabout it is that it is we love
our conferences, right, we havethree a year.
(16:49):
This one's in Anaheim, we justfinished in London and in the
fall we're going to be inMelbourne, australia.
The vast majority of ourcommunity interaction doesn't
happen there, right, it happenson our forums.
It happens in our individualuser community groups.
We've got over 100 of themaround the world that either get
(17:09):
together regionally, virtuallyor in person, or they get
together based on a topic, andpeople are leaning into those
groups right now, and so I wouldencourage you won't find a
friendlier group of people ifyou've never waded into that
water, right?
Megan's nodding.
Megan's been a part of thecommunity for a long time.
(17:32):
If you have a question posted onthe forum, if there is a
community group happening inyour part neck of the world, and
it probably is attended, orattended virtually, um, if there
is a topical one, right, like,we have user group communities
for finance, for box office, fordevelopment, for museums, for
zoos, um, and we have affinitygroups, right, we have people of
(17:55):
color, we have neurodiversity,um, lean into those.
The most active community wehave is a virtual community and
everyone in the Tessituracommunity is invited is mental
wellness and neurodiversity.
They meet weekly and that hasbeen, you know, such a salve,
such a comfort for so many ofour members around the world.
(18:17):
And it's led, it's led by bynationally right, like we've got
one of the leaders in Australia, we've got another one of the
leaders is in the US.
They do, you know, breathingexercises, they do meditation,
they just do like let's holdspace together because we're
really stressed out and we'rescared.
So this is this is alwayscurious to me, because none of
(18:39):
this has to do with software andyet all of it has to do with
lifting up arts and cultureprofessionals and making sure
that they can do that work tobring arts and culture to all of
our communities.
Peter Yagecic (18:56):
Built for live entertainment that champions the
power of unforgettable sharedexperiences around the world.
We offer full marketing andcreative services for
experience-based brands in liveentertainment attractions,
theater, sports, arts andculture, and more.
Check us out atSituationInteractivecom.
Now back to our Q&A.
Damian Bazadona (19:19):
Let's talk, I wonder, about living the mission
, because I this is thing thatI'm sort of um very curious by
in and I and this brings in sortof the ai topic.
Overall, what we have seen onour side at our agency is the
ability for ai across multiplelive experience brands figuring
out that AI appropriately canreally maximize revenue per
(19:41):
ticket.
The amount people will pay foran experience worth experiencing
.
We're starting to see theceiling is very high and so in a
weird way it's kind of turnedinto a drug where it is the
smarter that system gets, thehigher the revenue per ticket
can go and show.
You know, arts and culturalorganizations and brands can
maximize their revenue and AI issort of showing at least at
(20:03):
this point I'm going to probablymake a generalization that is a
lot easier to get another $10or $20 out of a patron than it
is to find a new patron, and soI just would love to get your
take on this of just reallywhere I see AI right now isn't
necessarily being reflective oflet's match this with the
mission, given the power it'sshowing that it can raise ticket
(20:25):
price.
I'm just going really to thevariable ticket pricing
conversation here and I thinkit's a missed opportunity
because I think, if we looked atit and going, what does success
look like, aside from justrevenue?
It's what is the theater makeuplook like?
You can imagine a chart thatsays percentage of new folks,
percentage from particular zipcodes, percentage of name it you
name it, you know I just I'mjust curious what your take is
(20:45):
on that and um, and whether ornot you, I guess you agree with
some of my theory.
Andrew Recinos (20:51):
Yeah, I think it's a really it's.
It's a really provocativequestion.
Um, and you say there's noceiling, and maybe that's true,
right, or the ceiling is prettyhigh and that AI is going to go
out and find match those peoplewho have the discretionary
income to pay, who will buythose seats.
And I think, from a short-termthinking perspective, that is
(21:15):
kind of a drug right.
And I don't want to discountthe fact that there are so many
cultural organizations out therewho are staring down some
pretty scary financial numbers,right, and this predates all of
the sort of what's happened in2025.
You know, the longer story ispost-COVID.
There was a lot of governmentmoney.
The government money has sortof finished up.
(21:35):
Now Audiences are coming back.
Some of them are at or above.
I heard just heard thatBroadway is kind of now above
COVID and expenses went up a ton, right, so even if your
audiences are back, chances areyou're still having a financial
struggle.
So I want to say all of that,because the last thing I want to
(21:56):
say is how could you bethinking about maximizing
revenue using AI and getting thehighest possible, you know,
squeezing the highest possibledollar amount out of your
patrons?
And I will quote a friend ofmine, alan Brown, who's a
principal at Wolf Brown they'rean arts research company when he
(22:17):
says stop using your audienceslike ATMs.
I like that one really, reallywell.
(22:42):
And plenty of them are usingvariable pricing as a technique,
right as a tool in the toolkit,but that they actually have a
much more holistic, much morecustomer-centered approach.
One of my favorite, favoriteexamples is Ballet, austin,
austin, texas.
They are a visionaryorganization.
They rewrote their missionstatement a few years ago.
(23:04):
It used to be, as you wouldexpect, about ballet and dance
in the life of their communityand they actually flipped it so
that their mission is aboutserving their community.
Go back to grammar.
The subject of the mission ofthat sentence is community and
the object is dance.
Right, the community is themost important thing when it
(23:25):
comes to their mission statementand, as a result of that, that
centers them on everything thatthey do and that centers them on
saying when you know you usethis example they found that
when people came to see theballet, some incredibly high
percentage never came back.
It was one and done.
Incredibly high percentagenever came back.
(23:45):
It was one and done.
Transactional mindset would belet's find another whole
audience Relational mindset,customer mindset, community
mindset said no, we want them tocome back.
What do we do to come back?
So they didn't just changetheir marketing, they changed
their whole organization.
They changed how they.
You know what happens to youwhen you walk in the front door.
(24:06):
What happens to you when youget home.
How do they get you back?
And so, suddenly, because theychanged the mission, it's around
the community, they changedtheir strategy, it's around the
customer.
So they keep coming back.
Two years ago they had thehighest ticket sales and revenue
of their 65-year history.
Last year they beat that yearright and they're finishing up
(24:29):
their season now and it's been ahell of a season.
So that is the long game to me.
So when you're talking aboutthe ATM thing, the how do we
maximize every dollar, I'm downwith that, I think, as long as
it's part of a larger strategywhich is about centering your
customer center and your fancenter and your community, which
goes back, hopefully, to yourmission.
Meghan Goria (24:51):
I love hearing that and thinking about an
organizational strategy as awhole, as opposed to a marketing
strategy, a fundraisingstrategy, a communication
strategy, a front of housestrategy.
You know, really I think theorganizations that we see as
really forward-looking and themost successful are the ones who
are thinking about the wholeand thinking about the community
and really centering thataudience first and trying to
(25:14):
break down some of those silosthat inevitably build up over
the years of the arts.
Andrew Recinos (25:20):
Yeah, and it's a drag because it takes longer.
Right, it's not a drag Likeit's virtuous work, but it takes
a lot longer.
And it really does take becauseit takes longer.
Right, it's not a drag Likeit's virtuous work, but it takes
a lot longer and it really doestake everybody.
You know you can't just saymarketing, this is your problem
to solve, right, this iseverybody's problem to figure
out.
Damian Bazadona (25:35):
Yeah, peter, any more questions we do we do
so?
Peter Yagecic (25:47):
coming back to the software for a second, this
one says during COVID we sawsome features developed to
respond to urgent needs at themoment, like streaming of live
events.
Thinking about the currentfeature roadmap, is there
anything on there that feelsmore important today than it did
six or 12 months ago?
Andrew Recinos (25:58):
It's a good question, I would say no,
actually.
I think that again, covid justsort of did Fruitbasket upset
with the way that peopleinteracted with the world and so
the technology had to changebecause of that.
This is sort of a slower-movinganxiety, right, and in some
(26:21):
organizations it's absolutelycrashed ashore, but for most
organizations organizations it'sjust kind of out there, you
know, sort of on the horizon.
So no, I think our continuedfocus on having the best
possible friction-free customerexperience and experience for
the business users who are usingour software is where we're at.
Peter Yagecic (26:41):
Great.
You mentioned at the top thatTessitura is in 10 countries, so
this one kind of relates tothat.
Have you heard from some ofyour non-US members that
audience reluctance to vacationin the US right now may actually
help ticket sales in theirlocal home organizations?
Andrew Recinos (27:21):
I have not heard that.
It's interesting.
I mean, obviously I've heardthe flip side, which is, you
know, we have many organizationsthat rely on international
tourism and they're alreadyplanning to take a real hit
because so many folks don't wantto visit or feel scared to
visit, frankly, that they'regoing to get caught up in visas
and all of that.
But it's interestingly, I haveseen that kind of thing happen
before during the financialcrisis in 2008, 2009.
Really really hard time formost arts organizations.
But the attractions right, themuseums and the zoos they
actually tended to have prettygood ticket sales because those
(27:42):
folks who normally during thesummer would take European
cruises or spend their moneyoutside were staycationing
instead because they just didn'tfeel they had the discretionary
income.
So I remember some of ourorganizations had bumper years,
actually in the middle of thefinancial crisis, for sort of
for the opposite reason.
Meghan Goria (28:01):
We're already starting to see a little bit of
that.
I'll be interested to see howit progresses as we get into
kind of peak tourist season herein New York.
But we are starting to see alittle bit of an increase also
in domestic tourism, not just instaycations but in folks from
the other places in theNortheast Corridor coming down
to New York City or fromelsewhere in the States.
As you say, it may be makingchoices to have a slightly less
(28:25):
expensive vacation and stickcloser to home.
So it'll be interesting to seehow that plays out over the next
couple of months.
Peter Yagecic (28:32):
Yeah, I think we have time for one more audience
question.
Then I'll kick it to Damian tokind of bring us home.
Andrew, you've shared somegreat personal anecdotes of
things that you've seen andheard, kind of as the leader of
your organization.
This question asks as apersonal supporter of the arts,
(28:53):
what type of outreach have youseen lately that you thought was
particularly effective?
And I guess maybe that one'sasking about like messaging or
language that you've seen thathas resonated with you?
Andrew Recinos (29:05):
Yeah, I'm just thinking that's a really good
question.
I think I am on the.
As you would imagine, I'm onthe mailing list of a lot of our
organizations, so I get to see.
I'm sure you guys are too right, like, yeah, I love seeing
what's going on out there.
I think of one which isactually in DC, right.
So we've talked a lot about theanxiety.
(29:26):
I'm from the DC area originallyand I have a lot of friends
there, I have family there andwe have many members there, so I
know that that part of theworld, right, the DMV, as they
call it is at peak anxiety,right.
Like it's just you can't getaway from it and with the
layoffs and the furloughs andthe closing of departments or
the threatened closing ofdepartments, it's just a really
(29:48):
rough time there right now.
And we have a member in thecity itself of DC called
Hillwood Gardens and Museum andthey're doing such a lovely job
because they're not saying weknow you're stressed out, why
don't you come spend time in agarden, but they're creating
(30:10):
programs that are clearlydeveloped around mental wellness
, right.
So they're offering they havethese.
It's this incredible estateright in the heart of the city
and so they're like offeringforest baths, for instance.
Right, if you've ever heard ofthat Japanese term, come do some
forest bathing at the hill wood.
And so I think that they aresaying it without saying it,
(30:33):
which I think is maybe the bestand most effective and most
nuanced way.
And I encourage culturalorganizations to lean into the
fact that there's just a lot ofout there in the world, there's
just a lot of you know.
Out out there in the worldthere's just a lot of of uh, of
anxieties, and and remember,there's nothing better than an
arts you know, than an artsexperience, to to just let you
(30:56):
escape for a while, right, andjust clear all that out of your
system.
Damian Bazadona (31:00):
I.
So I I'll take the lastquestion and let me just sort of
say, andrew, thank you.
I appreciate you taking thetime.
I feel like you have such aunique perspective.
We're obviously big fans ofwork.
Tessitura, does you power thearts and culture community and
thank God for Tessitura.
Will you guys run yourorganization Truly?
Thank you.
We end a little bit on aleadership question.
You know we talked anxiety,rising costs, rising costs is
(31:22):
hard to be a leader in thisbusiness, in the arts and
culture business, but again,it's been like this way for a
while, but I would say it's on anew level.
It feels that way to me alittle bit as someone who spends
a fair amount of time withfolks but at the same time, I
think, real conviction andbelief of the impact the arts
can have, which is justremarkable, and consumers are
showing they're willing to payfor it, like there's a real love
for it.
But what's your advice toleadership?
(31:44):
You know we've talked a littlebit on this webinar already of
sustaining resilience as we goforward, whether that's with
your internal staff, with theartists that are doing the work,
with the fans, the patrons ofthe arts.
Like, what do you feel like?
If you were to summarize yousay just my advice to leadership
going forward in thisenvironment, based on everything
you've seen and heard fromfolks on the ground, how would
(32:04):
you summarize it as we wraptoday?
Andrew Recinos (32:09):
Well, this is speaking directly to leaders.
I think number one is self-care.
To be honest, I have seen somuch burnout from folks who
literally just gave their alland at some point there was
nothing left to give and so soreally right, like, like I don't
(32:31):
have time for self-care is notacceptable answer.
I think that's number one.
And then beyond that, from astrategic perspective, I'll go
back to what I was saying.
I just I see it again and againwith the leaders and the
companies and the organizationsthat are resilient.
They know who they are right,the mission level.
Ask them their mission and theycan recite it chapter and verse
.
They are constant andconsistent with their team and
(32:58):
they put the vast majority oftheir effort into their fans,
into the customers, andtherefore their fans or their
customers give backexponentially.
Damian Bazadona (33:11):
Well said, thank you.
Andrew Recinos (33:14):
Thank you.
Damian Bazadona (33:14):
Thanks for the opportunity.
Andrew Recinos (33:16):
This is fantastic.
You guys are great.
Peter Yagecic (33:17):
Thank you, and everyone take a forest bath as
well.
Andrew Recinos (33:21):
That's great man .
It's the best.
I'm here in Portland Oregon,where there's an embarrassment
of riches when it comes toforest bathing.
Peter Yagecic (33:30):
That's going to do it for this episode of Fandom
Unpacked the podcast.
If you liked what you heard,please be sure to leave us a
review on Apple Podcasts.
Find out how to join us livefor an upcoming recording at
SituationLivecom slash fan.
We'll see you next time, truebelievers.
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