ARTS: Insights on Attendance, Engagement, and Belonging

Join us on Monday, September 29 for the next edition of the Speaker Series!

At the top of the webinar, Nik Nanos will present the latest findings from the Arts Response Tracking Survey (ARTS), focusing on audience engagement and attendance this past summer, followed by a panel of arts leaders sharing insights from their own work in the sector.

Together, we’ll explore Canadians’ views on free admission, shared responsibility for arts funding, motivators for attendance, and the role of cultural experiences in fostering belonging. We will also consider the impacts of the Canada Strong Pass and the influence of “social organizers”—those who take the lead in bringing friends and family together to attend arts and cultural events.

Speakers will include:

• Teresa Cotroneo, Executive Director, Folkorama Festival
• Stephanie Fortin, Director, Commercial Operations, Canadian Museum of History and Canadian War Museum
• Renaud Legoux, Professor, Department of Marketing, HEC Montréal
• Nik Nanos, Chief Data Scientist and Founder, Nanos Research

Event Details:

When: Monday, September 29, 2025, 3:00 – 4:15 pm ET
Where: Zoom Webinar
Accessibility: This session will be presented with ASL interpretation and auto-generated English and French captions

About the Speakers

Stephanie Fortin is the Director, Commercial Operations at the Canadian Museum of History and the Canadian War Museum, where she leads the strategic direction and management of the Museums’ revenue-generating streams. Her responsibilities include Boutiques, Food Services and Catering, Facility Rentals and Event Production, Box Office and Group Sales, as well as Tourism—key areas that contribute significantly to both visitor experience and financial sustainability. With extensive experience in business development and tourism in the context of a cultural institution, Stephanie brings a deep understanding of how operational innovation and audience engagement intersect to drive revenue growth. She is committed to advancing the role of the Museums as dynamic, visitor-focused destinations. In today’s session, Stephanie will share insights into attendance trends this past summer and impacts of the Canada Strong Pass, offering a practical look at how Museums can quickly adapt and thrive in an evolving cultural landscape.

Renaud Legoux is Full Professor of Marketing at HEC Montréal. He is the scientific director at Synapse C, a non-profit organization that supports the promotion of data analytics for cultural organizations in Quebec and Canada. He received his PhD in Management with a concentration in Marketing from McGill University. Before his academic career, he worked as a manager in the cultural field. He has contributed to the publication of research on arts marketing, the marketing/finance interface, and service failures in major journals, including Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, and International Journal of Research in Marketing.

What is the Arts Response Tracking Survey (ARTS)? 

ARTS is a partnership between Business / Arts, the National Arts Centre, and Nanos Research that conducts quarterly surveys of over 1000 Canadian culture-goers. Since its launch in May 2020, ARTS has offered valuable insights into audience behaviours and helped inform the reopening procedures and programming models of Canadian arts organizations throughout the pandemic.

To address the changing needs of our sector, ARTS entered a new, two-year phase in May 2023. With its newly structured approach, ARTS continues to offer insights into audience behaviours and attitudes on a quarterly basis, with each quarter focusing on a specific topic area. Winter focuses on marketing, spring on sales, summer on public perceptions and engagement, and fall on fundraising. Read more.

Arts Response Tracking Survey (ARTS)

ARTS Supporting Partners

Speaker Series Presenting Partner

Speaker Series Supporting Partners