Nave Strategies

10/08/2026

If Subscriptions Are Dying, Are We the Ones Killing Them?

That's the headline on a piece I just wrote for American Theatre.

The short version: most of what gets blamed on "patron preference" is actually something more mundane — a renewal ask with bad timing, a discount ladder that quietly flattened, a middle tier between single tickets and full season that never got built on purpose.

I walked through real data from a theatre I work with, including what happened the one season nobody was actively working the pathway back up to full season. The erosion wasn't patrons changing their minds. It was attention, withdrawn.

Full piece here: https://www.americantheatre.org/2026/10/01/if-subscriptions-are-dying-are-we-the-ones-killing-them/

Genuinely curious where other executive and marketing directors land on this — is your organization's "decline" actually a preference shift, or something closer to home?

Declining full season subscriptions look like a shift in what patrons want. Look closer, and it’s usually a shift in what we’ve been selling them.

10/06/2026

No one hands out a crystal ball at the start of a season. By early October, you don't need one. The sales data you already have is saying the same thing a crystal ball would — it just doesn't come with the drama, so it's easy to look past.

Ask most Executive Directors if they're on pace, and they'll give you a number — usually a comparison to last year, same week. That number feels like proof. Ask them what the trend's done over the last several weeks, and that's a harder question to answer.

The comparison tells you where you stood. The trend tells you if there's anything you need to do at all — are sales flat, slowing down, or taking off?

That's not a knowledge gap — it's just easier to pull last year's number than to lay out the last several weeks and actually read what shape they're making. And that's real work, not something you fix with a three-bullet checklist.

This is one of the first things we build with a new retainer client. Not because the math is hard, but because almost nobody carves out the time to build it mid-season.

If you want a second set of eyes on where you actually stand right now, that's a conversation, not a project.

And if you know an Executive Director still waiting to see how it goes — share this with them.

10/01/2026

Most arts organizations don't accept they're behind on their revenue goal until it's too late to do much about it.

The usual check isn't really a check — it's a comparison. "We're at $42K; same week last year we were at $44K." That number feels like information. It mostly isn't.

A single side-by-side snapshot doesn't show you a trend, and it tells you nothing about why last year landed where it did — two seasons rarely move the same way for the same reasons.

Real concern tends to show up on its own schedule, too — usually in the last few days before the event, exactly when there's the least room left to do anything with it.

The question worth asking isn't "how do we compare to last year." It's "what's the trend over the last two weeks, and is it one we can still change." One's a snapshot. The other's a decision point — because there's still time to act on the answer.

Comment: which one are you actually tracking?

09/29/2026

On the first day of Financial Management for the Arts — the graduate course I teach at Indiana University's Arts Administration program — I ask my students a simple question: which matters more — mission or money? The ones who answer mission, I call Team Mission.

Almost every year, nearly the whole room picks Mission. I'd expect the same from most people who work in this field.

Here's where it gets complicated. At a lot of small and mid-sized arts organizations, the single biggest revenue event of the year is a holiday tradition — and the marketing plan for it usually doesn't start until a few weeks out. Not because anyone's neglecting it. It's logical: it's tradition, it sells itself, you always do well with it, so why work harder than you have to?

But could you do even better?

That's not really a money question. The revenue that show brings in is often exactly what pays for the mission work that doesn't cover its own costs — the education program, the smaller ambitious show, the free community concert that goes unsponsored but everyone agrees matters.

Underinvesting in the show that funds that work doesn't protect the mission. It just moves the shortfall onto next season. This is the exact spot where mission and money stop being opposites — and it's where we spend a lot of our time with clients, untangling which is actually true for a given decision.

My students call themselves Team Mission on day one. Most aren't so sure by the end of the term.

If you're Team Mission, your holiday show's promotion timeline is worth a second look — is that choice actually protecting your mission, or quietly costing it? Tell me which one you think you are in the comments.

09/24/2026

Being good in a crisis is a real skill. In a lot of arts organizations, it's also just the job. Not a trait, not something that earns anyone a compliment — it's baked into the role, expected of everyone, and it shows up daily: priorities shift, a deadline sneaks up, an opportunity appears out of nowhere, an event needs saving at the last minute.

That's the problem.

Because it's daily and expected, it becomes the default mode of the job — every day starts to feel like a crisis day, whether or not today actually is one.

And when everything gets treated as urgent, nothing gets the time it actually needs, including the work that isn't on fire and never will be.

Here's the filter worth running before autopilot takes over: before you drop everything for the thing that just landed on your desk, ask — does this actually have to happen before the next thing on my list, or does it just feel that way right now?

And there's a harder question underneath that one: does this actually have to happen at all — or is letting it go the move, even though everything in you wants to fix it?

Not every fire needs you. Some just need to burn out on their own.

Send this to whoever on your team is treating today's fire like it's the whole job.

09/22/2026

Every year around this time, I hear some version of the same plan: do more. More social posts, more emails, more community outreach, more everything — because the season just opened and it feels like everything matters at once.

It doesn't. Not equally.

Your capacity didn't expand just because your calendar got busier. If you try to do all of it, you'll do most of it worse — including the two or three things that actually move ticket sales or donor confidence this fall.

The organizations that come out of the next eight weeks ahead aren't the busiest ones. They're the ones with the clearest "not now" list — the things they decided, on purpose, weren't worth this week's attention.

What's the one thing on your list this week that could actually wait three weeks?

04/14/2026

Staff turnover, for any reason, can be a major disruption. It's also not something that most small and mid-sized arts and cultural organizations face on a weekly basis. Watch our latest Quick Tip video to learn how to make your life easier the next time you find yourself with a position to fill.

04/07/2026

When a show is in high demand, it's a golden opportunity. But what many organizations miss is the chance to turn that demand into a significant success. Here's how to do it right.

03/31/2026

New subscribers are a breath of fresh air to an organization. They’ve taken a leap of faith to subscribe, a huge win for your team and them. But it is important to remember that this doesn’t mean you have them for life. Watch my video, exploring why paying extra attention to them is so essential.

03/24/2026

Single ticket buyers are often the entry point for new audiences into your world. That's why when single tickets go on sale, it's a golden opportunity to make a big impact. What does “making a splash” look like? Watch my video, where I share some insights on how to do it right.