As I’ve traveled around the world to teach, speak, and lecture about audience development, in particular, Africa, is that what I’ve learned is that at the end of the day, people want to feel welcome, they want to have a good time, even if it’s something that made them want to laugh, but to feel like, ‘Wow, this was thought-provoking, this was interesting, and to feel that I made a good choice coming. And maybe I met someone that I didn’t know.’ I learned how class, particularly in America, is such a barrier for people to feel they belong. ~Donna Walker-Kuhne
“I firmly believe that the arts are the only pure vehicle we have in today’s society that cross cultural and ethnic barriers and allow people to transcend their differences.”
Donna Walker-Kuhne is an award-winning author, strategist and expert in building diverse audiences and engaging communities for arts experiences. She believes that thriving communities embrace the arts and are invited to participate in the arts in a consistent and predictable manner.
Donna Walker-Kuhne is the founder of Walker International Communications Group (WICG), a boutique marketing, press and audience development consulting agency. Her team specializes in multicultural marketing, group sales, multicultural press and promotional events. They have over 75 years of experience executing successful marketing and audience development campaigns for Broadway productions and cultural arts organizations with sales over $22MM. Donna is acknowledged as the nation’s foremost expert in Audience Development by the Arts &Business Council and has devoted her professional career to increasing access to the arts. Her company has developed a brand reputation among performing arts patrons of exposing them to high-quality productions and unique experiences in a way that exceeds audience members and clients’ expectations alike.
Donna Walker-Kuhne, one of the nation’s foremost experts in community engagement and audience development for arts and cultural organizations, has written a new book, Champions for the Arts: Successful Strategies for Engaging Dynamic Communities. While this book is targeted toward leaders of arts and cultural organizations, its lessons can be adapted and used by any nonprofit leader or business executive.
Walker-Kuhne begins by making a distinction between community engagement, which is focused on facilitating partnerships and engaging in a collaborative process with communities, and audience development, which is about creating promotional and sales opportunities. One is transactional – targeting a specific audience (or customer segment) for specific events (or products) in a specific place, while the other is transformational – meeting audiences (or customers) where they are and building a bridge that helps an organization (or business) foster a meaningful connection that extends well beyond its walls.
Both are necessary building blocks for an organization’s long-term sustainability, but community engagement takes time – it is centered around the lives, the needs, and the issues of the community rather than simply inviting a community into a space (or store or website). Walker-Kuhne notes that community engagement is complex and labor intensive requiring dedicated resources like time, funding, and a passionate staff who have solid listening skills, a commitment to engaging communities, and the ability to produce events and opportunities on a variety of levels, both large and small.
Currently her portfolio includes social justice initiatives and Equity Diversity Inclusion workshops. Her current clients include The Whitney Museum of Art, HARLEM WEEK, Harlem Stage and The Black Orchestral Network. She is currently Senior Advisor, Community Engagement at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center charged with developing and deepening relationships with targeted communities through partnerships and special events.
Broadway productions include: A Raisin in the Sun starring Denzel Washington; A Trip To Bountiful starring Cicely Tyson; HUGHIE starring Forest Whitaker; Porgy and Bess featuring Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis; A Streetcar Named Desire featuring Blair Underwood; Alicia Keys’Stick Fly; Hairspray; Ragtime; Ann starring Holland Taylor; Thurgood starring Laurence Fishburne, Driving Miss Daisy featuring James Earl Jones and Vanessa Redgrave, August Wilson’s Radio Golf; Caroline, or Change; Time Stands Still featuring Laura Linney, Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk, etc.
Off Broadway, WICG has worked with Playwrights Horizons, Public Theater, Signature Theatre, Cherry Lane Theatre, New York Musical Theatre Festival, Second Stage Theatre, New York Fringe Festival, National Black Theatre, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company as well as arts organizations such as Dance Theater of Harlem, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities and WNYC Radio. She provides consulting services to numerous arts organizations throughout the country and worldwide including Australia, Berlin, Moscow, Sochi, Edinburgh, and Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Donna Walker-Kuhne is the recipient of over 50 awards acknowledging her distinguished service in the field of audience development and serves on several Boards of Directors. She is an adjunct professor of over 35 years at New York University and 20 years at Columbia University. Her first book, Invitation to the Party: Building Bridges to Arts, Culture and Community, was published in 2005. Ms. Walker-Kuhne is a volunteer with the SGI-USA, a worldwide peace organization serving as Vice Director for New York.