Local arts world wobbles as patrons feel squeeze

Deep discounts at the mall are de rigueur, but at Symphony Hall?

Tickets for the Oct. 4 Boston Symphony Orchestra concert featuring André Previn were sold at half price - and they threw in a free drink. This isn't the first time the BSO has slashed prices for a slow-selling show. But it is a sign of the economic times.

"This is when we tend to get a big push in single-ticket sales, and right now it's less intense than what we've experienced in previous years," says BSO managing director Mark Volpe. "Things are OK. We ran a subscription campaign and it has exceeded our goal. But we're not immune, and I frankly have some concern. We're meeting and talking. The trouble is this is all happening so quickly."

As the economy veers swiftly and sharply downward, arts lovers are faced with tougher choices about where, and if, to spend their money on entertainment. For some that means reacting in real time to the news.

"It changes day to day, depending on what I read or hear," says Jan DeKenis, a Cambridge resident and lifelong arts patron. "I have a kid in college. Do I really need to spend $80 or $100 on a concert? On the other hand, I might treat myself. Often I think, 'I'll just wait to see what happens.' "

Others aren't waiting. Terra Friedrichs, an ardent music and theater fan and recently elected selectman in West Acton, attends few arts events these days.

"I can barely pay taxes to live in my own hometown anymore," she says, "and in terms of entertainment I go to anything free. I rarely spend a buck in a club anymore. I still go to the theater, but not monthly like I used to. I'll wait until the show is up and read the reviews before I buy tickets. It's not like the good old days, when I would go out once a week."

Many would argue that a concert or a play is a bona fide nonessential, a luxury item compared with a tank of gas or a bag of groceries. But it's also true that art provides the sort of sustenance some feel is more vital than ever in uncertain, high-stress times.

"Coming together as a community to laugh or cry has enormous value," says Katherine Knowles, executive director of the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center in New Bedford, which lowered ticket prices 10 percent this season. "I believe that it really changes people's outlook, at least for the evening, and that's important. We also have to acknowledge reality and think outside the box about how we can make it easier."

To that end, the Zeiterion offered $5 gas cards with the purchase of a pair of tickets and arranged for a local Portuguese restaurant to donate food for a free dinner for concertgoers at Brazilian star Milton Nascimento's concert last Saturday.

American Repertory Theatre, which historically has raised ticket prices each season, has instituted a price freeze for the first time in many years, according to executive director Rob Orchard. While the subscription campaign is "doing gangbusters," Orchard says, "we're looking with great concern at the trend. We've introduced a more flexible menu of choices. People can choose fewer plays and create a package. And we're offering a Zipcar membership if you subscribe."

While the full impact of the deepening financial crisis has yet to be felt in arts communities, so far consumers seem to be opting to shell out for that once-in-a-lifetime, big-ticket event, but they're tightening their belts when it comes to everything else.

"I'm going to fewer local shows," says Bob Segal, a technical writer who lives in Somerville. "The other thing I'm doing is not running out and buying tickets right away. I was thinking of going to the Liz Phair concert, but I didn't want to commit, and a few days before the show there was a motivated seller on Craigslist who sold me a ticket with no Ticketmaster fee."

Segal says he and his friends are looking for entertainment deals across the board: buying coupon books at movie theaters, going out to eat less often, and patronizing clubs with no cover charge.

Seth Rappaport is a booking agent at the Agency Group in New York, whose roster includes indie upstarts Lavender Diamond and Apostle of Hustle and global stars like Pink Floyd and Brian Wilson. Rappaport says that "attendance at club shows has been suffering, particularly in the last couple of months. The biggest problem we're facing is advance tickets, because Ticketmaster fees continue to go up as people's dollars dwindle."

Boston artist manager Ralph Jaccodine, who works with folk artist Ellis Paul and the hard-rock band Bang Camaro, says that in the past month tickets sales have taken a drastic downward turn, "in the 30 to 40 percent range," he estimates.

But when it comes to the high-priced shows, attendance is actually on the rise. Jason Garner, CEO of global music for the powerhouse events promoter Live Nation, says that historically it's the big-ticket shows that sell consistently, through good times and bad.

"You might not go out to dinner and have a bottle of wine. But there's an expiration date on a concert," says Garner. "There are 50 hockey games and multiple nights of theater, but that Police show or Madonna concert won't happen again. And there are only a thousand tickets right in front of the stage, where demand is even more dramatic. Why? I don't know, but my gut and our experience tells me that music is such a special thing, even in tough economic times people won't miss their favorite band."

Joan Anderman can be reached at anderman@globe.com.