Symphony Orchestras:
How Can They Attract a Younger Audience?
The Problem
Founded in 1981, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is consistently hailed as one of the greatest orchestras in the world. However, the CSO is worried about maintaining relevance in the community for years to come. The majority of actively engaged CSO patrons are aging and represent a narrow demographic range.
The CSO does have wonderful programs directed toward Chicago’s youth (for example: Juvenile Justice, CSO in public schools) but they haven't been able to engage a significant group of young people in our society: the 19–35 year olds (or for lack of a less divisive term, millennials).
To remain relevant and sustain growth, the CSO needs to target, engage and adapt to the diverse demographics of Chicago’s millennial community.
2 week sprint 3 person team Role: UX Designer
Research
We really wanted to capture what music means to millennials as well as their opinion on classical music. If millennials are already listening to classical music, when are they doing it? Why are they listening? On what platform? If millennials are NOT listening to classical music, what are they listening to? Why? How? What are their opinions on the CSO? Why? etc. etc.
Insights
The majority of millennials listen to their favorite genres (hip hop was #1) streaming on mobile because it’s easily accessible and free
Millennials musical taste is influenced by family and friends because they value personal connections
Most millennials only listen to classical music while doing passive activities (sleeping, studying, reading)
Music is so integral to millennials that it plays into every aspect of their lives
Because of time constraints and budget constraints, millennials weren’t likely to attend expensive concerts at the CSO or any other venues
Design Principles
*I want to note that we had to reel in our design principles on this project because there were many directions we could have gone. A big observation we had in our research was the perception of classical music itself (as well as the CSO )— there is a very “upper-class white establishment tone” associated with classical music and the CSO. Average people see the two as elitist.
It is apparent that millennials who play classical music or have a deep appreciation for it were introduced by their parents when they were young and had the privilege of being able to afford instruments/lessons. When we realized this, unfortunately, we didn’t have time to dive deeper (by say, exploring classical music appreciation related to income level, race/ethnicity, geography, etc.) so we decided that for this project we would touch on the disparity by making the CSO more affordable and meeting millennials where they are.*
The Journey is the Solution
We decided that our solution would need to be more than digital because there was no way to get the “long-term engagement and appreciation” by just creating an app or updating the CSO website, etc.
Personas
For our user base, we came up with three personas and persona journeys.
We mapped each out and after concept testing, found Gabriella would showcase our solution best.
Gabriella represents our Millennial group with eclectic musical taste and is a passive classical listener, only listening to classical to fall asleep
She has a busy life and is thwarted from attending concerts due to budget constraints and time
Path
Digital Deliverables
UI screens and UX copy
when catering towards millennials, I wanted to bring sounds and verbiage familiar to them
I wanted to make sure the word "free" was in the concert title to be transparent and pique interest
utilizing Spotify is a great way for the CSO to be in any and everyone's ear no matter age, race, or socioeconomic status
Spotify Prototype Recording:
finding CSO as an artist
playing and sharing the music
viewing all upcoming concerts
Summary & Next Steps
In conclusion, we suggest that the CSO invest in programs directed at millennials:
free street performances
free and discounted movies & music (ex: performing the soundtrack of a movie while it plays)
in the park during the summer
at the CSO in the winter
curated Spotify playlists
Other ideas I would like to expand upon with the CSO in the future:
Collaborate with known or local hip hop artists to create contemporary classical sounds
Open up the CSO doors during orchestra practice so people can come in and listen to the practices for free
Showcase the orchestra musicians in such a way to make them more personable and relatable
More marketing directed towards millennials that would encompass engaging and affordable programs