Last Friday, May 24th, we hosted our annual VMU Music Production Student Concert, and it was an unforgettable experience! Our program was richer and more diverse than ever, featuring performances that spanned genres from electronic to rock, indie, solo acts, and even innovative fusions.

While the 4-hour concert was a tremendous success, showcasing the incredible talent and creativity of our students, I want to address some challenges contemporary artists face in today's performance landscape. One of the main challenges is reaching out to invite audiences to shows. The sheer volume of information our community receives makes it difficult to break through the digital noise. Posts and newsletters might not always be effective unless you can flood the town with posters a month before the show. The best strategy often involves direct, person-to-person calls, though this approach has its own limitations (how many can you reach at the end of the day?). While social media is useful for announcements, it doesn't always guarantee that people will retain the information about the event, keep them interested, and committed.

We found that sharing snippets of information about the bands, performances, and what audiences can expect in the coming week was truly helpful. The fact that bands brought their fans was also a great asset. Additionally, the city had its own street festival nearby, and although our concert venue was in the middle of a yard, the loud music definitely helped attract people from the main street.

If you have more ideas on how to attract larger audiences to student concerts, please share them here. I'm sure we will discuss and hopefully apply them in the future!