“The LA Dodgers call it the ‘War Room,’ [a] vastly complex computer screen … capable of calling up, comparing, and analyzing the most in-depth data on every player in the major and minor leagues,” writes Jim Farber in Monday’s (5/2) San Francisco Classical Voice. “I wanted to find out to what extent data-mining and analytics are being applied in the performing arts. The answer is—a great deal. As [performing arts consultant] Duncan Webb … puts it, ‘If you’ve bought a ticket, we know who you are…. Arts organizations have access to a wealth of data, [but] don’t have the necessary budgets to hire the people who can understand their databases and today’s megadata metrics.’ Just because you can’t compete at the billion-dollar level … says arts analytics champion Aubrey Bergauer, is not a reason to avoid the game…. ‘We have access to so much patron/consumer data,’ … Bergauer explains…. ‘Every organization, no matter how big or small, has access to its own online database … beginning with the data you get for free from Google Analytics…. The sheer amount of data can be overwhelming. How do we slice and dice it to get what we need?’ ”
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