BmoreArt

“BmoreArt started our own membership program as a subscription service during the pandemic in the spring of 2020 as a way to make up for lost income and ship our print journals directly,” shares this publication’s ED, Cara Ober. “We offer different levels of engagement, so—for those who are able to pay a bit more, we create special events, lectures, programs, and products—and for those who want less engagement and just want the magazine mailed to them, we provide that as well. It is a ton of work, but gives BmoreArt a level of renewing support each year that we really need.”

Other arts organizations have been offering memberships for even longer. Since 2017, Metro Gallery has been selling a year-long pass for a one-time fee. As a for-profit business, Metro can’t entice customers with tax deductions. Still, the venue provides a case study of the other effects of a membership program. In particular, the venue’s managers have marveled at the physical goods orbiting around the year pass.

“A lot of our year-pass holders actually made separate accounts for their merch grabs,” Metro’s Eric Mach told me in October during an interview, referring to his patrons’ Instagram accounts. “You’re not spending $25 to get in, you’ll go up, and you’ll buy a T-shirt and a record.”

Mach added that the venue had commissioned a T-shirt with illustrations of pass holders’ faces. Emily Gordon, Metro’s marketing director, told me that one patron keeps her membership card inside a diorama of the building.

Usually, Metro sells the year pass for a limited time beginning in late November. Metro’s pass holders are guaranteed entry to every single one of the next year’s events, from film festivals to mathcore performances to photography exhibitions.

“What sets ours apart is that we have no exceptions. If it’s sold out, you can still come,” Gordon told me. “We recently had a film festival party. Yes, you can still come to that.” Michael Habif, who runs the Baltimore Showplace account on Instagram, has been buying a Metro pass every year since the first offering, pandemic notwithstanding. He praised the year pass for encouraging a stable involvement in music. 

“It helps you to become enmeshed in the music community,” Habif told me on a phone call in October.

He’s not the only one. Public artist Graham Coreil-Allen, a Current Space member, touted his continuous access to the space. “I’ve been thinking about the membership as a kind of modern-day social club,” Coreil-Allen told me last month at a reception for Current Space members. “In the past, there used to be these private clubs. Sometimes there would be a cultural theme about it, like naturalists or history or whatever they may be, and they would have an appointed clubhouse.” 

Some customers became members not just for access, but also for patronage, regardless of the tax benefits. “This is a good thing for sustainability, too,” charcoal artist Erin Fostel told me at Current’s reception. “They’re finding other ways to make this financially tenable.” Fostel is not a member of Current Space, but like Coreil-Allen, she was displaying a piece at the reception.

Regarding Metro, Habif told me something similar: “They should be able to make money.” Habif has two season passes, one at Metro and one at Ottobar.

Some nights, he switches back and forth between the two nearby venues. He told me about his habit of attending an event just to kill 45 minutes, or to see the first performer on a bill of four. He added that he’s seen bands he would never pay to see. The members aren’t the only ones taking risks. Some venues have taken advantage of their built-in audiences.

“It’s cumulative, and it’s consistent every month,” Benevento said of Current’s membership revenue. “It allows us to take chances on programming. We can book something even if we don’t think it’s going to financially support itself.”

Current Space, a nonprofit, began its membership program to continue its free programming, Benevento said. “We do so many free events,” he told me. “It’s kind of like supporting your radio station.”

“To be clear, not all art space membership programs are as active—yet. Maryland Art Place’s Executive Director Amy Cavanaugh said of their membership program, “It’s just offering VIP experiences for some, which really just means that when tickets to things go on sale or events happen, they’ll get notified about the tickets before everyone else or they’ll be invited to a free preview before anyone else.”

MAP Exhibitions Director Caitlin Gill counted only about 40 members, spread across three tiers, starting at just $30/year. “Our biggest push for membership is at the beginning of the year, and it’s tied to our silent auction in April,” Cavanaugh told me. “If anyone becomes a member, not just artists, between January and April, they get a free ticket to the event.”

For the near future, Gill foresees growth in MAP’s membership program. She and Cavanaugh have announced plans to open a members-only bar in the basement.

“We are going to be reopening the basement cabaret bar, which is going to have a hard launch at some point, maybe in 2025, with the goal being that membership would gain you access into that space,” Gill told me in October. “So that will incentivize membership a little bit more.”

Like MAP, Creative Alliance still fundraises more from grants than memberships. “A lot of them are on the $50 side, and we bring in about $30,000 from there,” Development Director Julia Keller told me on a phone call in November. “The grants are $10,000 and above. So, that’s even ten A-list memberships.”

Creative Alliance has since raised the minimum from $50 to $60. The art center offers memberships on a sliding scale up to $1,000, and it gives A-list benefits, like free tickets, to members paying $1,000 or more. “The higher tiers, the members who give $5,000, that’s philanthropic,” Keller explained.

Some venues have faced predictable challenges in building their membership programs. At Current Space, Hamilton mentioned expiring credit cards and changing household budgets, two issues typical of subscription services.

Other venues see memberships as another obstacle to keeping events under capacity. “There was one time I didn’t actually register,” Coreil-Allen said of a past event at Current Space. “They were like, ‘You should register when you’re coming to an event so we know, because of the fire marshal.’”

Plus, some members have begun to treat galleries primarily as service providers. “Every once in a while, there’s someone who says, ‘I don’t like that you say a land acknowledgment before a concert,’ or something like that,” Keller told me. Still, I’ve heard mostly positive feedback from members. After all, they can cancel anytime.

“People become members because they want to come to events or they want to support what we’re doing,” Benevento said of Current Space members.

Keller ended our phone call by urging everyone to consider the benefits memberships may offer them. She herself is a member of  MAP. “Join,” Keller said. “You become a part of your favorite arts organization.”