“You know, being here feels like home.”

According to Andrew Recinos, there’s no better sentiment you could receive from your fans or audiences. The President and CEO of Tessitura took the stage at INTIX 2025 to address professionals across the ticketing industry. “In a moment when all of us are struggling to get people off the couch and back into our venues, cultivating a feeling of home is an incredibly powerful tool,” he declared. 

How can organizations accomplish this? “For me, it comes down to three words: warmth, familiarity and connection,” Andrew said. He shared three stories from organizations in the Tessitura community that are finding success with these ingredients. 

When all of us are struggling to get people off the couch and back into our venues, cultivating a feeling of home is an incredibly powerful tool.

Creating warmth

Cultivating a sense of home at a beloved theatre might seem impossible when your building needs to be demolished. But the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool found a way. Choosing to lead with warmth, the Everyman invited the entire community inside to say goodbye. They opened the lobby, the stage floor and the green room. “This was not knocking down some old building; this was a wake for an old friend,” Andrew said. 

Two years later, the theatre threw open the doors of their new building and invited everyone back. “Thousands streamed in to say hello,” Andrew said. A joyful parade wound through the city. Together, the Liverpool community celebrated the Everyman’s next chapter. 

The new Everyman Theatre in Liverpool

Growing familiarity

Ballet Austin identified two important insights from their audience data. One posed a challenge: The first-time attendees they worked so hard to attract almost never returned. The second offered an opportunity: Audience members who attended three times within 18 months were highly likely to become loyal subscribers, donors and volunteers. 

So, Ballet Austin created a variety of preshow experiences to help audiences grow familiar with the building, the art form and the buzz of attending a live dance performance. “Does this take money and time? It absolutely does,” Andrew acknowledged. But the investment has paid off, growing ticket revenue and attendance. 

“In a moment where arts and culture audiences and revenues are declining, this is an astounding result. And it is a result attributable to cultivating a sense of home through warmth and through familiarity,” Andrew said. 

In a moment where arts and culture audiences and revenues are declining, this astounding result is attributable to cultivating a sense of home through warmth and familiarity.

Creating connection

In March 2020, the National Portrait Gallery in London closed its doors to begin a multiyear renovation. During the country’s strict lockdowns, the gallery invited everyone in the UK to submit personal portraits of that time. They received thousands more than they’d anticipated, images that resonated deeply with the curatorial team. 

When the digital exhibit received millions of views, they extended the virtual walls of the gallery even farther. Portraits appeared in grocery stores, on billboards and on the sides of buildings. An accompanying book became a bestseller. 

Why did this experiment go viral? “It was about ordinary people going through life in an extraordinary time, and we could all relate,” Andrew said. The exhibit created deep connections with the community. And when the gallery reopened in 2023, that community showed up in huge numbers, breaking previous attendance records. 

All because the National Portrait Gallery now felt like home.

•     •     •     

Andrew delivered this talk live at the INTIX conference in New York City in January 2025.

Photos courtesy of Everyman Theatre, Ballet Austin and National Portrait Gallery.