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Claudia Keenan, marketing director for the Manhattan Theatre Club, has faced some harsh realities while going through the subscription list in recent months.
"You see all the people who have died or moved to Florida, and you know you have to find ways to replace them if you're going to survive," she says.
Manhattan Theatre is not alone. Two generations without a signifrcant focus on the arts in the public schools has left New York's performing arts institutions with increasingly gray-haired audiences.
For years, arts groups have talked about the need to interest younger viewers. Now, many are actually doing something about it. Some are offering special ticket discounts for teens and kids. Others have organized marketing efforts targeted to younger viewers. A number are even tailoring programming to reach out to children as never before.
Such outreach isn't easy or, in most cases, cheap. It often means forging relationships with city schools and finding new sources of funding. But, more and more, New York's arts groups see no alternative.
"I see our work as the investment banking arm of the Philharmonic," says Polly Kahn, education director of the New York Philharmonic, whose education programs have increased in number to 15 from five...