||| October 20, 2025 by William Rogers

Campus Connection: Brainstorming Session

Our last Learning Forum, Campus Connection: Engaging College students in the Arts, concluded with a brainstorming session to get organizations talking about what they learned from the college students and student life professionals on the panel.  We had hoped to spark some ideas that could be taken home.  Our very own Maureen Burns compiled these top-of-head thoughts into an informal summary in our resources section.  But just in case you missed it, we thought we would give you the highlights from her summary and a link to view the entire thing.

Students say they don't mind an online processing fee because buying tickets online saves them time and money

To read the entire summary click here.
The following are some selected thoughts to wet your appetite.

Many of the ideas that resounded dealt with communicating and advertising to college students.  Offering food and beverages is, of course, a must. Organizations must also appeal to their passion and excitement. When advertising to college students, images should be bold and adverts should be intriguing to inspire curiosity.

Beyond the typical ways of advertising through social media, organizations can also develop specific ticketing programs for students. Several ideas were shared for creating special student tickets. Tickets can be offered free, as pay-what-you-can, at day-of prices, or discounted for groups… Students say they don’t mind an online processing fee because buying tickets online saves them time and money from going to the theater.

Students, however, need to have consistent access to tickets, beyond rush tickets. One of the major concerns is the need to build healthy buying habits and expectations, like having student membership plans.

Other ideas focused on connecting with students on their own turf. For example, programs could be directed more toward college students. Performances could focus on issues important to students today and celebrate diversity. These performances could also be conducted as short campus performances. Additionally, arts organizations could target university departments to create dissertation support networks that would put students in touch with relevant arts centers and organizations. On a much larger level, the existing Emerging Leaders Network could be expanded as a possible forum to involve students from the many universities.

Following these ideas, many present offered some valuable advice. Arts organizations need to be aware of the particulars of a given university. Asking the right questions of your audience is still important. Students will need to be segmented down into thoughtful and specific groups.

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