Amidst the challenges of COVID-19, the TSO embraced an opportunity to focus on reinforcing core identity and reaching into its wealth of internal talent to build organisational capacity. The vacuum created by live performance created an opportunity to refocus and recalibrate strategy.
The orchestra emerged with an even stronger sense of its role as Tasmania’s orchestra with a deeper realisation of what it means to be an orchestra in and of Tasmania. What are new ways to leverage the body of talent that exists within the orchestra? How does every individual that makes up the TSO contribute to its identity? Most relevant in a post-COVID environment, how does the TSO take its unique brand to the world?
Publishing arm TSO House was launched to facilitate packaging and marketing of original TSO performance products for domestic and international markets. With a selection of the TSO’s innovative and engaging concerts and learning programs for children – suitable for any market or any language – the TSO will contribute to building a love of classical music and the experience of an orchestral concert for the next generation.
Just as relevant for lifelong learners as for children commencing their journey of music education, the global need for these arrangements was clearly identified and will be marketed worldwide.
TSO’s rapidly expanding digital capability enabled the orchestra to drastically accelerate distribution, and digital integration is now core to its performance activity. With 90% of TSO concerts captured on film for streaming – and soon, on-demand consumption – the orchestra is on the verge of a massive opportunity to connect with a global audience. The TSO dismantled the traditional subscription structure, to create a new engagement model. Marketing will open up untapped domestic and international markets, providing opportunities for artistic, cultural and corporate collaborators from all corners of the globe.
The commonality of both these new endeavours is a head-first embrace of digital capability and a determination to transcend geographical boundaries to build a unique presence for the TSO. The forced recalibration resulting from COVID-19 provided the TSO – which remains proudly Tasmania’s Orchestra – an opportunity to proactively rethink, iterate and innovate and emerge as a vibrant, dynamic and globally focused arts company.